​Virtual Reality (VR; 2D/3D computer-generated immersive environments) is expected to have a major impact in education, training, business and industry. This will also have a strong direct impact not only on SMEs but also on HE business management and related studies. HE managers and teachers themselves need in-depth education and training concerning what VR is about, what kind of VR skills and competence industry requires from graduates and how their own pedagogical approaches and classes can be boosted by using VR applications.

INCREA works towards the migrants’ acquisition of entrepreneurial and digital skills, combined with activities on the creative sector in order to foster social inclusion and growth through the creation of business.

The digital competitiveness of a country reflects both the Small Businesses possibilities to enter the digital economy as well as the access to digitally skilled staff and customers. If you don´t have the infrastructure and skills - being a part of the digital economy is more difficult. Small Businesses - and not at least startups - are dependent on the surrounding "digital environment" to be able to innovate, develop and to compete with new Business Models and Ideas on an international digital market.

In theDESI 2018 - The Digital Economy and Society Index annual report we can monitor and compare the progress in Europe and Europe vs the rest of the World.The Nordic countriesSweden, Denmark andFinland are together with Netherlands and Luxembourg in top positions but countries like Spain, Cyprus and Ireland  have found that extra gear and are catching up quickly.

In Let’s Guide adults, freelancers, and the unemployed can meet with an innovative education methodology, which helps them to improve their entrepreneurial competences. Partners of the Let’s Guide project designed the on-line platform with training course and interactive learning scenarios in order to develop entrepreneurial competences.

The main aim of the platform is to offer a free on-line training course for people, who think about starting the entrepreneurial adventure (future entrepreneurs, free-lancers, unemployed). The content focuses on competences that are crucial for becoming a successful entrepreneur. The Let’s Guide on-line platform is already running! Read the press release about the launch here.

• Communication
• Leadership
• Creative Innovativeness
• Resilience
• Motivation
  

“ETC.4SE – eTraining Centre for Social Entrepreneurs” is a two-year (2017 - 2019) European project which aims to develop an online training centre in which adults can find support in setting up their own social enterprise.
In order to define the e-Training Centre’s contents and understand the relevant training needs, the project consortium investigated the skills and competences of adults in the partner countries.
The document intends to be a compilation of the information collected by all partners in the national reports in order to have an overview of the state of art of social entrepreneurship in the participating countries. Based on this information the consortium will now define the training curriculum, the contents and the digital tools to be developed for the online training course.

Based on the management model implemented in the social economy sector, the project focuses on the work for the improvement of certain generic skills, such as active entrepreneurship, critical thinking and digital competences, using the theoretical bases of social economy to work the collaborative spirit, and inclusive entrepreneurial thinking.
In this sense and aiming to provide an effective and practical business tool for both trainers and learners the consortium will start now working in the development of the online training course that will consisting of didactic units and a simulation tool of business practices using the adapted Bridge Model technique.
The business simulator is intended to provide learners with practical knowledge in order to have a first approach to the business realities. The ETC.4SE business simulator has the added value provided by the adaptation of the Bridge Model technique, by which it is possible to guide learners through the process of creating a social enterprise through an interactive tool composed of different phases: the users will be entering data on the business he/she wants to develop and will receive feedback with ideas and information on successful practices implemented by other social entrepreneurs.

The National Need Analysis Report of Turkey has been developed in order to outline; the current situation about migrants’ employability and entrepreneurship, needs of highly skilled migrants (HSM) in order to become entrepreneurs in Turkey, from the perspective of HSMs and organizations working with migrants as well as other bibliographic resources.
It also aims to enlighten the gaps in training offered to migrants found through the research activities, as well as propose solutions for the improvement of training available for HSMs in these areas. The report contents relies on the results gathered through a comprehensive desk research and field research activities. The primary dimensions of the report comprise of the results from focus groups meetings and in-depth interviews with highly skilled migrants and stakeholders.

Thanks all members of the SME Academy Network that helped us in our efforts to make our network inspiring and beneficial for all by responding to our Survey. During the first week of March 2018 we got 64 responses from our 600 members - 11% - that is fantastic and we are very happy that you took your valuable time to make us a bit better.

We understand that Brussels is an interesting location for many reasons as most of our members are involved in some EU-funded projects or members of different associations based in Brussels. It is of course also a lovely city to visit and flights are easy to get at reasonable costs, traveling within Europe.. However we also got some very interesting suggestions besides the alternatives we listed.
Copenhagen was suggested by several respondents as well as Italy and Rome. We also had suggestions for the Swedish cities Malmö and Gothenburg. Badajoz and Madrid in Spain were two other suggestions and Belfast, Ireland, was also mentioned. Dubai was also suggested as an interesting alternative since we have several members also in Asia and Africa.
We also got two "sales pitches": "Vienna-the most beautiful city in Europe" and "the Land of the Midnight Sun". To be able to actually see the midnight sun (24 hours a day) we need to be in the northern parts of Sweden between end of May and end of July. 

The tutorials focus on supporting beginners and professionals to learn, acquire and improve their IT skills in order to succeed in effective and sustainable projects, specifically targeted to the Erasmus+ program.
The tutorials represent the “how-to” materials, an unofficial method often used by open source communities, which proved to be very effective for learning about ICT tools. Special attention is given to security while using ICT technologies for project management. They include a specific explanations on how to use project management tools, providing a direct support in doing all the necessary steps to meet the challenge of a successfull project.
They are available in English with subtitles in all partner languages, please make sure to turn on subtitles and choose the language of your choice.

Independent of you are a beginner or experienced in creating, submitting and running projects - these 6 lessons could be of great help to you. Specially if you are aiming at EU-funded projects. Feantsa, a member of the SME Academy Network, are one of the partners that have been engaged in the  Generativity project. You can use the modules one by one or as a complete training package.

The European Commission has published a Special Eurobarometer survey presenting European citizens' opinions on the impact of digitisation and automation on daily life.
The attitude is in general very positive and as a conclusion we can expect a high rate of acceptance and use by individuals, families and organizations.
How can Entrepreneurs and SMEs benefit from this situation and how do they need to pan for their future products and services?

In the Special Eurobarometer, with 28.000 respondents, 70& fully agree or agree on the statement that they have the necessary skills to meet the demands in their daily life. Younger individuals and people with higher education have a stronger self-confidence in this matter and there is also a difference between countries.
At the same time - in a research recently made in an Erasmus project, ROTENA and presented in a report - there is a clear opinion that we need to develop education and training to meet the required skills. There is of course a great difference in being an end user, an advanced user and a professional. There is no doubt about the need for upgrading and developing our skills in all roles we can have in the field of robotics and digitisation.

"All but 0.2 % of enterprises which operated in the EU-28 non-financial business sector in 2016 were SMEs. These SMEs employed 93 million people, accounting for 67 % of total employment in the EU-28 non-financial business sector, and generating 57 % of value added in the EU-28 non-financial business sector. Almost all (93 %) of the SMEs were micro SMEs employing less than 10 persons.

In 2016, 30.6 million individuals were self-employed in the EU-28, accounting for 14 % of total EU-28 employment."

European Robotics/3D Printing Training Survey 
The aim of this Project Output was to study and determine the conditions under which robotics and 3D printing training flourishes within Europe and make recommendations as to what strategies training organizations need to adopt to encourage such training.
In respect of both robotics and 3D printing, all respondents would clearly welcome educational institutions providing more knowledge and training opportunities on the topics. A majority of respondents are also willing to take such courses if available for free.

First of all - a great thanks to all of you responding to the survey!

We are happy that more than 10% of the members of the SME Academy took their time and responded to the survey "What can we do for you as a SME Academy Network member?". The results will be a part of our planning for our future activities and our improvements of the SME Academy Network for you as a member.

Some quick results:

• Activities should preferable be online, short (<60 min) and with a fixed agenda.
• "European SME-programs" and "Small Business Challenges" are ranked with the highest interest
• Most valuable section of SME Academy web is "Reports & Results" and "Articles"
• Network members want to contribute with "Reports and Results", "Presentations" and "Events". 

This is a summary of the top rankings - but in general it was a very even result between alternatives and we an see a need for a wide range of information, activities etc..

In a Press release from 20th June 2017 the European Commission presents the annual ranking of Innovation in Europe - again Sweden is the over all leader of innovation in Europe and Ireland shows the highest rate of involvement of SMEs and Employees.
As the comments indicates Europe needs to increase the innovation pace and also make it more even around the union as the average in EU 28 shows there is room for improvement. 

In the Erasmus+ project REAL you can reach a platform with 48 animated introduction videos and 48 video lessons in 8 languages. You can take the lessons one by one - as stand alone pieces or you can take all as a course and asses your new knowledge in the end of the session. 
Visit thee-learning platform created by the Cypriotic partner CyNovus 

Circular €conomy Digital Training Toolbox to Foster Innovative Green Entrepreneurship- ENG@GE.

The aim of the Eng@ge partnership is to improve green entrepreneurial culture in Europe by providing VET stakeholders with knowledge about the circular economy.  The project will develop an open digital training toolbox through which educators can prepare individuals to exploit the concept of the Circular Economy as a basis for green entrepreneurship. This innovative toolbox will consist of a number of different training tools and case studies that learners will be able to use, according to their specific needs and aspirations. Through this, the Eng@ge partnership aspires to help trainers in transferring skills and case studies related to the Circular Economy so as to foster European green entrepreneurship.

"This handbook represents the culmination of the work of the Erasmus+ project Teacher 2020.
It offers a series of examples of projects of entrepreneurial education and an explanation of what made them successful. Also, includes reflections derived from the practical initiatives. Using the tool to assess entrepreneurial initiatives and the global framework will help you understand the projects and support you in creating your own."

To educate and train our future entrepreneurs is a topic many organizations and institutions around the world are struggling with.
Not only need we train and motivate students - but also provide teachers and trainers with tools and skills required for the task
Not to mention the motivation they need to keep up the good work and develop it.
In this report a team of partners in an Erasmus+ project have
produced a guide that is worth to spend some minutes to read.

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