<< Objectives >>Our Erasmus+ project aims at reinforce the capacity of Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) in conducting applied research activities, specifically by better supporting the involvement of students in such activities and emphasise the opportunity this partnership represents for both teachers/researchers and students. In the end, we aim at increasing and strengthen the role of UAS in the knowledge society.<< Implementation >>We intend to identify best practices in the matter, develop a new training framework, publish a guidebook and a toolbox as concrete resources to support teachers, researchers and students to collaborate in research activities. International opportunities and gender dimension will also be integrated in our activities. We will also organise several events to train the staff on the subject and sensitise the UASs communities on the opportunity to liaising students and research activities.<< Results >>Concrete results of the project are multiple: creation of a new training framework, development of a guidebook, construction of the toolbox, organisation of national and transnational (networking) events. In the end, the effect of the project will be to create better conditions to integrate students in research activities and reinforce the partnership between teaching and research missions of UAS in a long-term perspective.

NGI Enrichers aims to be the European gateway for Internet innovators to both the US and Canada. An agile and flexible fellowship programme will provide financial support to Internet innovators from European and Horizon Europe associated countries to travel to the US or to Canada and collaborate with their counterparts on NGI (Next generation Internet)-related topics, such as on trust and data sovereignty, internet architecture renovation and decentralised technologies and solutions. Three open calls will be organised and 70 to 90 EU Internet researchers and innovators will be selected for 3 to 6 months fellowships (travel and monthly allowance), and be hosted by world class US and Canadian universities, research centers, or cutting-edge Internet private sector organisations to jointly develop innovative solutions and services in line with EU values and policy priorities. A community platform will support knowledge sharing and help establish long-term collaborations on NGI technologies, services, and standards. Fellows will participate in hybrid bootcamps, receive on-demand business, technical and collaboration support services and mentorship in order to increase the impact of their collaborations, and participate in a pitch and award ceremony. A pilot action with Canada will also be set up to provide additional or reciprocal fellowships to expand or reinforce initiated NGI collaborations. NGI Enrichers therefore offers a unique and 360° approach offering optimal preparations, ideal onsite conditions and long-term effects with sustainable collaboration partnerships, and will specifically allow to (1) enhance EU-US and EU-Canada cooperation in the development of NGI technologies, services and standards, (2) reinforce and expand NGI transatlantic ecosystem of top researchers, high-tech startups / SMEs and Internet-related communities collaborating on the evolution of the Internet according to a human-centric approach (3) help sharing the EU vision and values with US and Canadian counterparts and thus (4) contribute to the EU internet policy objectives.

Digital technologies and social media provide new opportunities for youth work activities, as they enable youth workers to explore new models of youth work, promote services to young people and internally manage their organization or projects. Furthermore, online social networking facilitates social interaction and helps youth workers establish a platform for discussion and exchange information with youth groups with shared interests (e.g. online work with socially excluded young people, young people from rural areas, etc.).ICT4YOUTHWORK project stands for “ICT for fostering quality improvements in youth work” and aimed at helping youth organisations and youth workers to reach young people and deliver activities that ensure responsiveness to the trends in society, such as new technologies and digital media. The Strategic Partnership was cross-sectoral involving a higher education institution (SU), an international non-profit association specialized on e-Participation and communications (GOV2U), a business consulting firm (SPI) and a youth organization (ZURY).The General objective of the project was to increase the quality of youth sector in Europe by sharing know-how across sectors, generating and disseminating knowledge on methods and practices of digital tools and social media use in youth work.The ICT4YOUTHWORK had the following specific objectives:1: To map, analyze and report on good practices in online youth work that can be transferred and adopted across youth work from Sweden, Greece, Portugal and Romania and throughout Europe;2: To enhance the uptake of ICT, digital and social media in the practices of the organizations engaging in youth work; 3: To improve access to existing knowledge, experience and know-how on best practices, tools and methodologies for youth work in the digital age. The core target group of ICT4YOUTHWORK consisted of organizations and individuals engaging in youth work from Sweden, Greece, Portugal and Romania, as well as other Erasmus+ countries. The project also targeted stakeholders who are active within youth policy, youth education or training and youth integration, such as trainers, educators and experts in the public and non-public actors.Myrsini Glinos, from eGovlab Stockholm University was the Project Manager of ICT4YOUTHWORK and Work Package Leader of WP4 “Knowledge Repository Design and Development”. Maria Petritsopoulou was the Interaction Designer and Stefan Nenzén was the Developer from SU. Andreea Sida, from ZURY led WP2, named “Sharing of Experiences and Mapping of Good Practice Case Studies. Tiago Marques from SPI, led WP3 “Co-creation of a Guideline”. Dora Spyropoulou from Gov2You, led WP5 “Project Promotion, Dissemination and Exploitation”.The project was implemented from 2017-2019. It developed three intellectual outputs and organised four Multiplier Events in Romania, Sweden and Portugal. In total 139 people attended the events from youth organisations, youth agencies, schools, etc. The intellectual outputs produced in English, Swedish, Greek, Portuguese and Romanian are:• O1 Report on good practice case studies of online youth work practices - It presents 30 case studies of good practice examples in Sweden, Greece, UK, Portugal and Romania, as well as the project's research findings on what tools youth and youth workers use for different purposes.• O2 Guideline on the web-based tools and practice examples of their use in the daily life of an organization and in digital youth work - It contains a Privacy Impact Assessment examining privacy issues associated with collecting, handling and sharing information about young people, a glossary of terms related to different applications and social media and provides practical examples such as: Disseminating Information on a Website; Building virtual communities/discussion group lists; Using project management applications, Real-time storytelling; Tips how to use social media for different purposes etc. • O3 The Knowledge Repository on best practices, tools and methodologies for youth work in the digital age - A centralized digital repository of good practice case studies of online youth work practices, web applications and services that can be used by organizations involved in youth work, thematic publications related to the youth work in the digital age.The longer term benefit resulting from the project is a more strategic and integrated use of ICTs by organizations engaged in youth work and therefore increased quality of youth work. Moreover, ICT4YOUTHWORK project hopes to achieve a positive impact on youth work practitioners and youth led organizations who are ready to integrate good practices and new ICT methods into the daily activities of their organizations, better exploit the ICT potential in their work and develop innovative approaches to addressing their target groups.

The aim of the MSCAdvocacy project is to provide direct support to better align MSCA cooperation mechanisms of 20 key partner countries and 6 regions with the European Commission’s Global Approach to Research and Innovation. The project will become the strategic link between 1) the European Union’s external policy objectives, 2) bilateral and bi-regional S&T agreements with key partner countries and regions, 3) the corresponding R&I cooperation roadmaps and action plans, and 4) MSCA promotion in the field. With MSCA being the central international component of Horizon Europe (HE), its researcher mobility programmes directly contribute to the objective of the EC’s Global Approach such as strengthening commitment to international openness and fundamental values, rebalancing towards a level playing field and reciprocity, ensuring a free exchange of ideas and fostering research in key areas such as a green transition, the digital transition, global health, and innovation. However, in several key partner countries and regions MSCA do not seem to reach their full strategic potential in line with the objectives mentioned above. Hence, the project will do its part in supporting the strategic alignment of participation and cooperation mechanisms for MSCA to the priorities set on policy level. This will be achieved by 1) reviewing broader policy orientations and monitoring existing cooperation mechanisms with the target countries and regions relevant for MSCA; 2) conducting a Coordination and Support Mission to the targeted countries and regions in order to promote MSCA cooperation opportunities; 3) adressing analyses, reviews, and policy briefs to bilateral and bi-regional R&I policy dialogues; 4) and providing recommendations for long-term strategic promotion in MSCA consistent with EU R&I bilateral and bi-regional cooperation roadmaps and action plans.

Chinese for Business (C4B) project was carried out in the period 2014 -2016 as a continuation of the Chinese for Europeans (C4EU) project, implemented between 2010 – 2013 in the framework of the Lifelong Learning Programme (action: KA 2 Languages).A key aim of the project C4B is to promote the development of professional competences of the employees, of the European Union SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) sector, in the field of Chinese language and Chinese business culture. In addition, the project supports establishment of business relations with Chinese companies, professional development of employees skills using ICT, as well as Open Educational Resources creation and usage.The project is dedicated for two target groups. The first and the most important project target group are entrepreneurs and the EU institutions supporting businesses (including the SMEs sector employees, stakeholders related to EU – China relations, students, trainees and interns who are starting their own business or professional career). The second group are individuals and organizations interested in learning Chinese and the culture of China. It includes all the teachers and the schools involved in the Chinese language learning and teaching process, as well as adults who are looking for profiled business materials for learning Chinese.The project was performed by five institutions from four European Union countries: Belgium, Italy, Poland and Portugal. All of those institutions are experienced in establishing business relations between Europe and China, each of them in the different perspective: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (University) is engaged in teaching a Chinese language, Fondazione Italia Cina (a nonprofit organization) supports the cooperation between EU and China, Sociedade Portuguesade Inovação, C. E. F. I., S. A. (consulting company) is focused on the promotion of links between science and business, including EU – China relations, EduActive (technology company) is specializing in distance learning systems creation, including those intended for teaching Chinese language, Mescomp Technologies SA (production and trading company) is cooperating with Chinese companies in the field of production and trade exchange for over 20 years.Project activities were focused on a three main areas: (1) preparing training and information materials, as well as ICT solutions, (2) implementation of didactical materials and ICT solutions with continuous evaluation, (3) dissemination and exploitation of project results. All of the above actions have been implemented, monitored and evaluated in accordance with the quality policy prepared by the project partnership. As a result of these actions the four main products (results) were created: (1) Chinese Language Course – this course is designed for EU entrepreneurs interested in establishing cooperation with Chinese companies, (2) Cultural and Business Guide – a collection of the practical hints on China, which support the language course in both cultural and business context, (3) B2B platform – the tool that allows the use of the practical language knowledge for the purposes of business cooperation and presentation of one own company, (4) SAS system – dedicated ICT tool which integrates the educational, informational and business results of the project.In a framework of all the actions aimed at dissemination of the project results many meetings with representatives of the target groups were held. These meetings were conducted using three types of activities: (1) linguistic workshops (2) cultural-business workshops, (3) stakeholders seminars. These meetings were held in all project partner countries.Moreover additional disseminating activities on: local, regional, European and international levels were performed. All additional disseminating activities were divided into two types: direct and indirect. The first of these included informal meetings with individuals and selected groups, second were focused on the on-line action specifically on Social Media and on SEM. As a result of dissemination and exploitation we reached approx. 40 000 users coming from all over the world. Approximately 13 000 users are using the project results actually. The results were highly rated by both the evaluators and the users. Average grade obtained in the evaluation of the results was 5.4 / 6.0. As the partnership, we see a great potential of the C4B project results. We are confident that in future years the project will effectively implement the strategic goals of the European Union in the field of development of business contacts between EU and China. We are more than sure that the project will contribute to improving the quality of Chinese language teaching as well as broadly understood entrepreneurship and business itself. The results of the project Chinese for Business (C4B) are available for free at: www.chinese4.biz