ENTEG envisages organizing consulting and mentoring offices and virtual entrepreneurship lab with ICT tools, materials, repository, forum of ideas, collaboration space for all, etc., a series of lectures that will be available after the testing (2 pilot cycles of training) and for all, while it will support new entrepreneurs at their beginning. The project partners have long presence and action in the area of intervention with very good knowledge and understanding of the particular needs, problems and barriers and are the optimal choice to deal with the addressed problem.
The project is addressing the problem of the unemployment of graduates of higher education in the intervention area. Although the programme eligible area has a significant number of knowledge carriers and precious local assets for exploitation and sustainable growth, it lags behind in absorbing satisfactorily the young scientists of all fields.
The project capitalizes in some successful projects that were completed previously, in developing the concept of Entrepreneurial Training for graduates, which according to the Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan of EU, is a key component for local development as it provides competences, self-confidence, knowledge of important tasks in enterprises, encourages for self-employment and other entrepreneurship forms and also increases the employability (proven for the graduates who receive Entrepreneurship Education). Entrepreneurship Education could increase the number of new innovative start-ups and that by itself bring more employment and contribute to local development by exploiting the comparable advantages of the intervention area. The project prepares important studies related to the state of play and trends of the needs of existing enterprises and markets and the current and future trends, in order to back the matchings of needs and labour offer.
Background
Objectives
The overall objective of the project is to promote, in a responsible and integrated manner, the Entrepreneurship Training of graduates of higher education, in order to:
• Improve the entrepreneurship mindset of young scientists to enable them to be self-confident and more creative in whatever they undertake, and to improve their attractiveness for employers;
• Encourage innovative business start-ups;
• Improve of their role in society and the economy,
and manage to get involved directly (final beneficiaries) at least 60 participants and at least 12 highly educated young people in employment, while at the same time to set structures that support graduates (consulting and mentoring) and have Virtual entrepreneurship lab for participants to collaborate in new ideas, in accordance with the European Green Paper on Entrepreneurship in Europe (2003), the Small Business Act for Europe (2008), the Communication on Rethinking Education(2012), the Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan (2013) and the New Skills Agenda for Europe (2016).
The project approach is the Triple Helix (academia, state and business) which with the enhancement of entrepreneurial skills of graduates, can contribute to S.O.1.1 of the programme “Create employment opportunities for educated graduates by exploiting comparative advantages of the cross-border area, preferably with the use of innovative tools and practices”.
A specific objective of the project is to approach graduated people and in particular: graduates of higher education in the area of the Region of Central Macedonia in Greece up to the age of 30 and the digital entrepreneurship they can develop; engineering graduates members of the Technical Chamber of Greece/ Sector of Central Macedonia; graduated Roma people in the Republic of North Macedonia, as this is a vulnerable group with more barriers to enter into the labour market as employees or create new business; young people from the region of Pelagonia in North Macedonia. Following, another specific objective is to achieve the creation of a Virtual Entrepreneurship Lab (with ICT tools, material, repository, forum of ideas, collaborative space, etc.) to enhance the involvement of young scientists in experimenting a with new ideas and collaborate with others.
Outputs
The project provides tangible and visible outputs to final beneficiaries & indirectly to other graduates for labour inclusion as young entrepreneurs (self-employed or other) or be employed in existing enterprises.
The main outputs are:
• 1 Research on key development market needs of enterprises and matching with the labour offer (state of play and future needs)
• 1 Catalogue with support structures for entrepreneurship;
• 1 Funding Tool for entrepreneurs;
• 1 Research on the state of play of Roma graduates (rates, employment, unemployment, professions, historic data, demographic data, etc.), in the Republic of North Macedonia;
• 1 Policy recommendation for the increase of Roma in the Republic of North Macedonia, entering and completing University;
• 1 Analysis of the brain drain phenomenon in the intervention area;
• 1 Curricula/E-learning package;
• 1 E-learning set of ICT-Tools including learning digital marketing;
• 1 Virtual Entrepreneurship Lab (open and available for free not only to final beneficiaries, but all);
• 4 Office Equipment and computer systems;
• 20 Video captured lectures;
• 2 Training sessions and experiential training for 60 participants (from Greece and from the Republic of North Macedonia);
• 1 promo video;
• 2 Evaluations of the training sessions;
• 4 Sets of Consultation and Mentoring to new entrepreneurs;
• 1 Quantitative and 1 Qualitative assessment of the project achievements;
• 1 Handbook on improvement of local and regional policies for the employment and entrepreneurship of young scientists;
• 1 Booklet with project results
• 1 Capitalisation and 1 Sustainability plan;
• 10 Networking meetings with stakeholders (Triple Helix);
• 4 Career Days.
Expected Results
The main result of the project will be the entrance in the labour market of young scientists (either as entrepreneurs or as labour in existing companies).
The activities of the project are planned in order to provide to the final beneficiaries Entrepreneurial Education and be prepared for the labour market and the markets (Entrepreneurial skills are significant also for those who will be employees, with positive effect on them, according to DG for Enterprise and Industry, EC, 2012 “”Effects and impact of entrepreneurship programmes in higher education””).
Other results are:
- the Entrepreneurship, Labour Markets and Networking of the partners, that will continue after the end of the project;
- the Virtual Entrepreneurship Lab (and the ICT tools, and all the material in its repository) that will be available for all, after the end of the project;