<< Objectives >>Our main objective is to provide materials and trainings for cooperative entrepreneurship based on the innovative GenoSo-Model with combines the organization-form “cooperative” with the organisational model ”sociocracy“ for effective democratic governance structures within cooperative businesses, for more engagement and co-responsibility for a value based sustainable, inclusive and diverse economy.<< Implementation >>We will develop good cooperation and management between the partnerorgs.We will reach out to targetgroups with questionairs to align our focus for the guide based on their needs.We will develop a guide as information material for targetgroupsWe will publish our guide in relevant media, on our websites etc., print and distribute them.We will develop a seminar-conceptWe will organize a network-event where we invite our targetgroups to present the guide and facilitate exchange<< Results >>We will have a sustainable cooperation between partnersHigh quality and increased usefulness of the guide's content for our targetgroupsThe guide with about 20 pages will be available for free as download an printWe will have reached and inspired our targetgroups for GenSoWe will have a concept for a GenSo professional-training ready for rolling out We will have had an online-network-event and contacts for further activities

<< Objectives >>The aim of CONNECT is to develop a multipliable guideline for digital and green skills teaching for vocational training in sculpture, to enable them to use digital tools in the development and positioning of sculptures in the virtual world and to use materials in a resource-saving and circular way. The project will be implemented and established in a partnership between vocational schools and a developer of innovative delivery formats.<< Implementation >>CONNECT is implemented in 5 activities. In a workshop on knowledge transfer, analysis of strengths and weaknesses, definition of curriculum requirements. In an analysis of good examples. In the development and testing of a practice-oriented intensive training. Finally, the results will be incorporated into a guideline for teaching digital and green skills and disseminated to the partner schools and other arts and crafts schools<< Results >>As a result, a guideline for digital and green skills training, consisting of a best practice collection and a proven curriculum for a practice-oriented intensive training, will be developed and can be used in different contexts of arts and crafts schools. A roadmap will sustainably establish the innovative educational partnership between vocational schools and a developer of practice-oriented training offers for digital technologies.

RurInno acknowledges social enterprises as promising but often neglected drivers of social innovations in structurally weak rural regions that tackle social problems and stabilise and improve the living conditions in these regions. But reports show that social entrepreneurs still lack specialised trainings and education, a supporting infrastructure and recognition. Against this background, RurInno aims at 1) strengthening the skills and the innovative capacity of social entrepreneurs operating in rural regions, 2) improving the knowledge of how social innovations are implemented in rural regions and 3) raising awareness of social entrepreneurship in rural regions in order to foster enabling environments for their activities. The successful implementation will be enabled by the close collaboration of two outstanding research institutes and four award winning social enterprises with complementary expertise - including ERs, ESRs and administrative staff. The short project duration of 26 months will generate rapid outcomes that increase the competitiveness of social enterprises. We will strengthen the innovative skills of social entrepreneurs with a structured training programme and knowledge exchange. Both will be enabled during innovation secondments, taking place in the research institutes. Multifaceted training modules like workshops, field inspections, research-practice labs and joint analyses sessions foster skills enhancement in different ways: knowledge sharing and applying, best practice learning, learning by doing and learning from comparisons. We will enhance the knowledge about the innovative capacity of social enterprises in rural regions by field research in the four participating social enterprises and their respective rural regions. We will integrate the social enterprises into the research process as objects of investigation. Thus, we will enhance the perspective from doing research on social entrepreneurs to doing research with social entrepreneurs.

CORAL aims to unpack the latent dynamics and impacts of collaborative workspaces (CWS) in rural and peripheral areas and integrate them as development tools in local and regional policies to open up new potentials for socio-economic development. Whereas we have observed the rapid rise of CWS in urban agglomerations the past 15 years, there is now a gradual rise of CWS in rural and peripheral areas too. However, there is no clear evidence about their functions, impacts and the ways that policymaking should promote the rural CWS wave and assist in linking the development of CWS with processes of local socio-economic development. In fact, that policy link is much needed for those disadvantaged places (places that don’t matter) , as only a few EU policies (e.g. Interreg) have assisted, in a fragmented way, the development of CWS in peripheral and rural areas. At the same time, there is an urgent need for qualified professionals in academia and the policy arena, in order to effectively promote CWS in the lagging parts of the EU and by that, open up new development futures. CORAL envisages to provide specialized and tailor-made training to 15 young researchers to better understand and support the development processes of CWS in rural and peripheral areas, their wider impacts at the local and regional level, as well as at the level of the individual worker and the enterprise. Moreover, through different means of dissemination and exploitation (knowledge exchange days, CORAL schools, digital platform), the impacts of CORAL aim to reach a wider audience ranging from public policymakers to private stakeholders and CWS communities across the EU. The CORAL consortium consists of nine beneficiaries (five academic and four non-academic) and 6 partner organisations (four academic and two non-academic) from six EU Member States.

Structurally weak rural regions are faced with major social and economic problems. In comparison to urban or intermediate regions, predominantly rural regions are economically less productive and they provide a less extensive scope of desired goods and services. As a consequence, the regions experience a loss of inhabitants, especially of young and highly skilled people. Thus, downward spirals are set in motion that further reduce economic opportunities and prevent rural regions from overcoming their structural deficits. The proposed RURACTION research and training network focuses on socially innovative solutions to these rural problems developed by social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs are understood as practitioners who create and implement social innovations by entrepreneurial means. The question arises under which conditions they operate, how they organise solutions, how they network and empower residents, which impacts they actually have on rural development, and how they can be supported in their problem-solving activities. The European Commission identifies the subject of social innovation in rural regions as a research gap. RURACTION intends to fill this gap. The research and training network brings together highly acknowledged academics and very experienced practitioners from social enterprises to contribute their expertise in this field (e.g. with spring schools, autumn skills seminars and cross-sectoral secondments). It strives to achieve excellent research results and aims at qualifying early stage researcher as equally scientifically and practically skilled experts for social entrepreneurship and social innovations in rural regions – be it in order to conduct further research in this complex scientific field, to professionally support and promote initiatives of existing social entrepreneurial organisations, and/or to professionally start their own initiatives and social enterprises.