There is a substantial differentiation in terms of R&I performance among the EU member states. This divide has also been reflected in differing levels of participation in the framework programmes, for which the allocation of funding is based on excellence. Low participation in turn limits the potential of under-performing countries to overcome the shortcomings in their R&I systems. In recent years, one of the main priorities of the European Commission was bringing Cohesion policy and Horizon 2020/Horizon Europe closer together with an aim of strengthening the impact of both policies by creating complementarities, especially in less developed and peripheral regions. Considering these facts, TWIN SYNERGIES project aims at supporting the EU strategic context in regard to creation of synergies at the operational and governance level, directing towards the Upstream synergies mode – Human resources development and Internationalisation. In this manner, especially Smart Specialization Strategies, essential instruments for creating combined effects with smart growth-related instruments at EU level (especially with HE) will be taken into consideration. TWIN SYNERGIES project, gathering 9 partners from 4 Widening countries and 1 EU Member State will in 24-month project duration develop and apply upstream compatible, tailor-made, but transferable activities for capacity building, internationalisation, HR development, collaboration, valorisation, and technology uptake, focusing on the current developments related to the Green and Digital transition. Besides, as essential part of upstream/downstream synergies, the project will put a strong focus improving the cooperation stage and communication corridors among the relevant actors – particularly the EU and national authorities involved in the programming and implementation of HE and ERDF support.

Roads4All orchestrates a transformative shift in traffic safety culture across Europe through a holistic, multi-level approach targeting individual, organisational, and institutional levels. Conceptualising Living Roads, we co-design, implement and evaluate a comprehensive and tailored set of real-world, theory-informed, context-specific, and culture-sensitive road safety interventions in 5 diverse settings. Our approach centres on continuous engagement with all key stakeholders, ranging from school communities and road users to enterprises and authorities, establishing continuous consultation, collaboration, and feedback. Drawing on evidence-based tools we develop, such as the Roads4All model, framework and decision support toolkit, our interventions leverage both theoretical and empirical insights. We drive change to influence attitudes and promote safe behaviours by innovating with open schooling and Cultural & Creative Arts and experimenting with advanced technologies. We educate, increase awareness building readiness for change, cultivate empathy and co-existence on road, and recommend safe organisational practices. Ultimately, we create guidelines, a roadmap for change and suggest policies towards institutionalisation of traffic safety culture. By integrating strategy and practice, we seek to develop essential values and norms that support a robust traffic safety culture. With a special emphasis on youth, we aim to address high-risk groups and promote long-term behavioural change. Our diverse consortium, consisting of 14 partners from 8 countries, and our consultation structures at national, EU and international levels, bring together a wide range of expertise across EU and beyond, ensuring the replication and sustainability of Roads4All results in various cultural and contextual settings, and paving the way for a traffic cultural transformation that is aligned with targets for climate, health, and more.

InnORBIT will support 50 start-ups and scale-ups to grow and commercialise their space solutions via 20 sustainable and effective initiatives. We focus on SEE and CEE countries with vibrant tech ecosystems and industry verticals with great potential for contributing to the commercialisation of space. We anchor our initiatives to innovation intermediaries well-embedded in their ecosystems, starting with a pivotal space technology and industry association in Romania, an intermediary managing 3 high-tech clusters in Greece and a major digital innovation hub in Croatia. Alongside them we co-develop our solutions: a business support programme to help space entrepreneurs in starting and scaling-up their commercial activities and a capacity building programme for training intermediaries to set up and run local initiatives. We then ?train their trainers? and support them to scout, screen and select the start-ups and scale-ups to participate in the initiatives, emphasising the ones with the most promising potential for application areas (e.g. Galileo, Copernicus) or spinning-in/-out. Well-trained experts will assess their needs and co-define the services required for catalysing their growth in synergy with EU actions. Our service portfolio includes trainings, mentoring, networking and support to access financing and funding opportunities. A monitoring and evaluation framework will allow us to collect ample evidence on the performance of our solutions, improve them and follow up to train and engage additional intermediaries in SEE and CEE. We will support over 20 intermediaries to generate their own local initiatives, openly demonstrating and proving the replication potential of our solutions. We will then pack our solutions along with business models and lessons learnt into a replication guide, enabling other intermediaries to replicate them, while also delivering recommendations for more enabling environments and innovative financial support frames for space innovation.

"<< Background >>Digital era is advancing through every facet of social, economic, and even biological life, driving major personal and professional changes and the way people interact, work, learn, and create knowledge. The concept of digital competence has emerged concurrently with the technological development and as society has recognised the need for new competences. The digital competence is now acknowledged as one of the eight key Lifelong Learning competences sought in Europe and one of the essential resources for the recovery of economy and society after the pandemic.Alongside, digital transformation is steadily moving about and reshaping one industry and sector after another. Education is not an exception. Digital technologies are expected to have fundamental impact on all segments of business and society. For educational institutions, it is an opportunity to process curricular, methodological, technological, and organisational changes by absorbing new digital culture and approach to the strategic redesign of all aspects and structures of the sector. There is a recognised need for HEIs to integrate and effectively use digital technologies in order to achieve their core mission: to educate students to be successful in a complex and interconnected world that faces rapid technological, cultural, economic, informational, and demographic change.In Europe, recent work on capacity building for the digital transformation of education has focussed on the development of digital competence frameworks for educational organisations (DigCompOrg) and for educators (DigCompEdu). DigCompOrg pinpoints the main factors enhancing digital readiness that are structured in seven thematic elements and are common to all education sectors. DigCompEdu is a scientifically sound background framework which can be directly adapted to implementing tools and training programmes.The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the digital transformation of education that raised the major need to enhance the digital readiness of institutions and imposed some immediate responses to be given. On one hand, the crisis emphasised the potential of online teaching and learning, but it also revealed huge gaps in the delivery capacities of educational institutions as well as gaps in the capacity of individuals to actively participate and take up what is being offered.Notwithstanding exceptions, many institutions were not prepared for this radical switch. They found out that infrastructure was lacking, the digital skills of lecturers were not up to the challenge, and that even the familiarity of students with digital tools and platforms was lower than expected. There was no time for instructional design and conceiving a new format of lectures and assignments. As a result, the quality of the educational delivery and the learning experience of students suffered. A tremendous effort was and will be still required to ensure that education needs are met in a satisfactory manner using virtual means as a main mode of delivery.In fact, the digital gap, and the lack of preparation for online teaching have actually increased educational disparities and created social distress, especially among vulnerable students. Goal 4 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals states, “Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning”. In order to achieve this goal, there is the need to embrace modern digital learning methods that provide effective ways to increase access to quality educational opportunities.The COVID-19 crisis revealed major needs and indicated what can aid the transition to online education. The needs analysis conducted during the proposal writing revealed the main difficulties for this transition in terms of digital strategy, digital pedagogy, and digital competence. The DigiTransformEdu project will rely on DigCompOrg and DigCompEdu in order to foster the digital transformation of educational institutions and promote effective digital-age learning.<< Objectives >>The DigiTransformEdu project aims to foster the digital transformation of HE and tertiary VET institutions. This objective will be reached through a six-step approach (operational objectives):1. Mapping the digital readiness and resilience of educational and training institutions in response to the COVID-19 crisis (project results 1 & 2)2. Promoting the development of a digital culture by supporting institutional leadership to pursue digital strategy at institutional level (project result 3)3. Encouraging the digitalisation of educational processes and promoting effective digital-age learning by integrating the DigCompOrg framework (project results 3 & 4)4. Based on the DigCompEdu framework and the concept for the different roles of educators in an online environment, defining the knowledge and skills needed by the digital educator (project result 5) 5. Raising the digital competence of educators by organising training activities and preparing training materials (project results 5 & 6) 6. Enhancing international networking and cooperation and contributing to the EU Digital Education Action Plan (project result 6 & four multiplier events).The primary groups that the DigiTransformEdu project will target involve:• Institutional leaders responsible for the digital agenda• Programme managers responsible for the digitalisation of pedagogy• Digital educators who belong to A2 and B1 levels of DigCompEduThe secondary target groups are:• HEIs• Tertiary VET providers• Associations of educational and training institutions• Businesses and their learning departments• Professional associationsStudents, participants, and learners in general are the main beneficiary of the project. They will profit from the enhanced digitalisation at institutional level and at individual level from the improved digital competence of their educators.By achieving its objectives DigiTransformEdu will impact the target groups and the relevant stakeholders. Thanks to the project, institutional leaders of both HE and tertiary VET institutions will have better capability and vision on how to lead their organisations through digital transformation, programme managers will be equipped with guidelines and operational tools to be able to make the transition from a traditional class-based pedagogy to a blended or pure digital one while educators will see their digital competence improved.The expected achievements of the DigiTransformEdu project can be summed up as follows:1. Increased knowledge about the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the transition to digital education2. Better comprehension on how to deal with the digital transformation at strategical level3. Increased familiarity with approaches and operational tools on how to design, deliver, and assess digital education4. Better understanding of the new roles of the digital educator and the knowledge and skills needed for their implementation5. Increased capacity to design training starting from profile descriptions6. Increased digital competence of educators.In the long run, the desired achievements can be summarised as: 1. The overall quality of education is increased because by becoming more digital it becomes more relevant and able to better develop students’ capabilities and practical skills, as required in a digital world.2. The development of virtual culture is enhanced by supporting institutional leadership to pursue digital strategy at institutional level.3. The digitalisation of educational processes is accelerated by assisting educators and administrators in the design, delivery, and assessment of digital education.4. The framework for the digital competence of educators is enriched by complementing it with analysing the different roles of the digital educator and looking for similarities with the T-shape model for e-leadership.<< Implementation >>The activities leading to R1 and R2 correspond to the achievement of the first objective that is to map the digital readiness and resilience of educational and training institutions in response to the COVID-19 crisis. In R1 first HE and tertiary VET institutions will be shortlisted. Then potential respondents will be identified and invited to participate. The survey participants will be from institutional management and enabling services in R1 and educators, students, and ICT staff in R2. The survey methodology will be defined, and the surveys will be administrated. The data will be first analysed and collected in national reports, then compiled and further analysed to produce a synthetic report.The second objective to promote the development of a virtual culture by supporting institutional leadership to pursue digital strategy will be achieved through R3. Starting with currently available concepts on digital transformation in education, the analysis will be taken further to study the institutional reactions to the pandemic from the strategic perspective. The study results will be presented in reports and examples of best practice will be selected. Using the exploratory and analytical work, a blueprint to guide HE/VET institutions in the development of a long-term digital strategy will be developed.The third objective to encourage digitalisation of educational processes and to promote effective digital-age learning by integrating DigCompOrg will be pursued through the accomplishment of both R3 and R4. Once digitalisation is taken at strategical level (R3), the activities in R4 will look at the digitalisation of pedagogy. Building upon the exploration done so far, successful practices, approaches and tools, used for the design, delivery, and assessment of digital education will be analysed. The insights will be used to define a set of guidelines and operational tools to support educators in making the transition from a traditional class-based pedagogy to a blended or pure digital one.The fourth objective defines the knowledge and skills needed by the digital educator and will be achieved through R5. Starting from a range of sources, including DigCompEdu, and relying on identified learning needs, R5 will further explore to reach a better understanding. For each role of the digital educator, the components of skills related to methodology, technology and tools will be studied and defined. This analysis will lead to a model that can be used to design training. In this respect, a role will be selected to design a training programme to be put into practice in R6. A learning and collaboration platform will be also designed and maintained to serve training and collaboration.The fifth objective is intended to raise the digital competence of educators by organising training activities and preparing training materials. R6 is meant to achieve it by first organising a three-day joint staff training event. 16 master trainers will participate and get familiar with the training programme, its facilitation and the use of the online learning and collaboration platform. Then 60 educators will work together in collaboration sessions to improve their digital competence and develop self-training materials for the digital educator.The sixth objective is intended to enhance international networking and cooperation and contribute to the realisation of the EU Digital Education Action Plan. The sessions organised in R6 will expose the participants to new international contacts. Networking and cooperation opportunities will be encouraged through the organisation of four multiplier events and by promoting involvement and active participation in the existing eLeadCommunity, a collaborative knowledge building community of practice devoted to digital education and e-leadership.The achievement of the six operational objectives will foster the digital transformation of HE and tertiary VET institutions that is the main objective of DigiTransformEdu.<< Results >>DigiTransformEdu will result in a comprehensive and complementary set of outcomes that cover the seven thematic elements of DigCompOrg (i.e., Leadership & Governance Practices: R1 & R3; Teaching & Learning Practices: R2, R4, R5 & R6; Professional Development: R5 & R6; Assessment Practices: R4; Content & Curricula: R4; Collaboration & Networking: R3, R6 & 4 ME; Infrastructure: R2, R3 & R4)The project follows a logical sequence and starts by mapping the digital readiness and resilience of about 30 HE and tertiary VET institutions in response to the COVID-19 crisis that will help identifying best practices and learning from failures. These institutions will form the core, on which the exploratory work will be based. In Result 1, the survey will target people able to evaluate institutions’ response at the level of governance and enabling services. The findings will be collected in national reports that will be further analysed to produce a synthetic report compiled with the findings from Result 2.Result 2 will study the perceptions of educators and students. At teaching level, the use of digital pedagogy and assessment as well as digital competence will be explored. Students will be targeted to dip into their perception in terms of effectiveness, adaptation to online provision, digital inclusion, engagement, quality of communication and collaboration. The picture will be complemented with mapping digital infrastructure. This mapping will trigger tangible changes in digital strategy (Result 3), digital pedagogy (Result 4) and digital competence (Results 5 & 6) thanks to the provision of guidance, tools, and resources.Result 3 will focus on the strategical aspect of digitalisation. Starting with qualitative research, the team will also analyse the survey results. Based on that, examples of best practice will be selected and included in a collection of case studies. Using the exploratory and analytical work, a blueprint to guide HE and VET institutions in the development of a digital strategy will be developed.Result 4 will address educators and managers and guide them in the successful operationalisation of effective digital instruction. The project team will map successful practices, approaches and tools used for the design, delivery and assessment of digital education. The data and insights will be used to define a set of guidelines and operational tools in the form of a blueprint to assist in making the transition from a traditional class-based pedagogy to a blended or pure digital one.Starting from a range of sources that reflect on the different roles of the digital educator and relying on the conducted analyses and identified learning needs, Result 5 will explore further to collect inputs about the knowledge and skills needed for each role and ways to assess them. The analysis of the different roles leads to a model that can be used to design training. Within this result a role will be selected as a basis to design a training programme. A learning and collaboration platform will be devised and maintained to serve the training.Finally, result 6 will implement the training programme and inspired by it will develop self-training materials to assist educators in implementing the different roles. Sixteen educators will be selected to participate in a three-day joint staff training event to get familiar with the training programme and its facilitation. They will later lead 60 educators through the training programme by using the platform designed in Result 5. In addition to improving their digital competence, they will work together to replicate the training designed for one role and turn it into a comprehensive range of solutions applicable to the individual training objectives of each role.Four multiplier events ""Foster DigiTransformEdu"" gathering about 140 participants will be organised in Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, and Italy with the aim to promote the project results and foster their up-taking."

“Kids in Clouds” is an interdisciplinary project that aims to introduce children with cloud-based services as early as the first grade of the primary school. Its main objective is to deliver well-rounded, useful and transferable educational programme in cloud-computing through development of educational modules for teachers and pupils, adaptation of contents and methods according to envisaged needs of the target groups, creation of didactic tools and production and recommendations on innovative education approaches. This is a project designed to meet challenges of the modern education system and challenging market needs, by providing an awareness-raising, holistic and flexible education in cloud-computing.The cloud based services are growing rapidly in the global and European economy. With the rise of 5G technology not only storage but also all data processing and applicative services will move in the cloud environment. This change is anticipated to come in the next 10 years. The move towards cloud-based environment will tremendously impact our work environments, as well as in general the way we use ICT solutions on a daily basis.We have established that switching from working in on-premise to cloud-based environment creates significant obstacles for users, as it requires them to relate to high-tech solutions in a different way. The aim of this project is to introduce cloud-based environment to children at the beginning of their primary school learning path. At that point, children do not differentiate on-premise from cloud-based content and services – for them, these are simply the tools to get things done. Sooner they encounter cloud-based services, easier it is for them to learn how to interact with them. Partners will carry out a wide range of activities in order to implement a high-quality, well-rounded project with the objective to develop educational content in cloud-computing for schools, to be implemented and used by partner organisations and other EU schools. More concretely, this project aims to develop online repository of materials for cloud-computing for non-ICT teachers to be used in non-ICT classes. It will thus contribute to popularization of cloud-computing outside of the ICT field, something that is strongly needed if we are to achieve a stronger use of cloud-computing. Its benefits must be understood but wider sections of society, not only by ICT experts. Why are so many businesses moving to the cloud? It is cost-efficient, secure, fast. Clouds enable us to work from anywhere. If we have learned anything during the current COVID-19 pandemic, it is that sectors of society which are better connected to internet can live through the lockdown much more successfully. Countries, where educational systems had a stronger and more robust cloud-infrastructure and cloud-services, they were able to keep the school year going in a much better way. Moving to cloud is also environmentally friendly. When you use the cloud, you only use the energy you need: if you use only one small application, you do not waste energy for powering an entire computer; therefore, you do not leave oversized carbon footprints.The project results are the direct answer to the envisaged target grups’ needs, and they comprise a complete set of resources for popularization and teaching of cloud-computing in schools across EU. Specifically, they are:- Gap analysis: report on to what extent are cloud-based services in use in schools at the moment. Built on that report, we will project further possibilities and mark the trajectory route on how grow on the existing situation.- Online repository of educational materials for teachers. This material will include general knowledge on what cloud-computing is, why and how we use and need it from the perspective of primary education, but more importantly, it will include didactic tools on how to teach children on this subject.- Online repository of educational materials for children. This will be a series of small-scale school projects for different school age groups, which can be used in different classes (language and literature, music, arts, mathematics, science, etc.). It is imperative that this materials is highly usable to a wide section of teachers and children. We will demonstrate through this material, how teachers can achieve the required learning outcomes in their programmes by using cloud-computing. - Piloting of the newly developed educational materials for teachers and for children. We will develop materials in one and pilot it in another country, so as to ensure that everything we produce is transnationally applicable and can satisfy the needs of very different national education systems.- Guidelines and recommendations on how to implement cloud-based computing content as a horizontal element in curricula, including tailoring recommendations so as to fit the demands of the three different national education systems that are partnering in this project.