Digital solutions to support mentoring in social innovation for senior entrepreneurs through Adult Education Erasmus Project

Project Title

Digital solutions to support mentoring in social innovation for senior entrepreneurs through Adult Education

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; Social entrepreneurship / social innovation

Project Summary

European countries are struggling to find ways to tackle the demographic consequences of the aging workforce. Political strategies (Europe 2020 strategy, European Year for Active Aging) promote longer working careers and the increase of participation of older individuals in gainful employment. In this context, Senior Entrepreneurship seems to represent an unrevealed potential for economic prosperity for older age.

Adult Education (AE) can play a key role to make it real. Nevertheless, older adults aged 55-64 are three times less likely to participate in learning than younger adults aged 25-34 (Education and Training Monitor 2019, EC). Effectively confronting the barriers to participation in AE requires engaging senior learners in getting access to the appropriate reskilling opportunities. Empowering them with the appropriate tools, resources and motivation, is a complex and urgent challenge that requires strong and proactive multistakeholder partnerships (Renewed European Agenda for Adult Learning, EC)

To this purpose SILVER UP gathers 6 entities experts in AE and senior entrepreneurship, including social enterprises, Public Administrations, Universities and companies from France, Spain, Ireland, Portugal and Turkey. They have worked together in collaboration with national and European stakeholders, identifying KEY AREAS OF INTERVENTION for intermediaries supporting seniors’ participation in the entrepreneurial field

The main conclusions of this analysis indicate that:
– Project MENTORING is one of the most powerful interventions to support senior entrepreneurs and a critical approach to support entrepreneurs to establish sustainable businesses. Nevertheless, there is a lack of understanding of the value of mentoring and there is no concise definition of senior mentoring. There is a need for training and competence framework, to make senior mentoring more visible and attractive.
– Senior entrepreneurs seem to have more socially oriented goals in the performance of their enterprises, which they fulfil in the form of social entrepreneurship. Senior entrepreneurship could provide an innovative approach including older individuals as senior innovators, as part of the emerging stream in creating SOCIAL INNOVATION to several unmet needs in so-called “aging societies”.
– There is a limited use of new ICT based communication channels, compared to the younger generations. Seniors and intermediary business support organisations should improve their ICT SKILLS, applied for training and mentoring or for business purposes.

The AIM of SILVER UP is to address these identified areas of intervention by co-creating digital solutions and innovative products to train senior mentors to support social innovation for senior entrepreneurs through AE. Seniors will be supported in developing valuable mentoring skills to support new senior entrepreneurs or freelancers to develop more sustainable businesses through social innovation. The seniors who receive mentoring will gain clarity regarding their own personal expertise and potential for developing sustainable businesses.

To achieve these goals, the project will carry out the following intellectual OUTPUTS:
– Competence Framework in Mentoring skills to support social innovation for senior entrepreneurs (IO1)
– Online Open Learning Platform (IO2) with high-quality digital tools to upskill senior mentors in the Competence Framework
– Methodological Framework for the implementation of Mentoring programmes to support Social Innovation for Senior Entrepreneurs (IO3)

SILVER UP will involve 74 senior mentors, target users of the project (24 from partners’ staff /30 experts involved / 20 participants in pilots). The project will also directly involve and benefit 100 senior entrepreneurs, project beneficiaries that will participate in the pilots. 455 stakeholders will be directly involved at local, regional, national and European level and the project will reach a minimum audience of 1000 recipients through the dissemination activities.

The project will have a positive impact in: (i) partners and other adult education organizations in Europe, developing innovative solutions to train senior mentors to support social innovation for senior entrepreneurs; (ii) senior mentors, developing valuable ‘mentoring skills’ to support new senior entrepreneurs to develop more sustainable businesses through social innovation, (iii) senior entrepreneurs, gaining clarity regarding their own personal expertise and potential for developing sustainable businesses; (iv) stakeholders, accessing to innovative solutions to support silver entrepreneurs through AE

The project will apply EU frameworks and instruments (ECVET, EQAVET, Europass and EPALE) to promote and boost transparency, recognition, transnational mobility and transferability to other Adult Educators and intermediary bodies in Europe, with the active support and cooperation of a network of key associated partners and relevant stakeholders.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 298425 Eur

Project Coordinator

Coopérative d’Activité et d’Emploi dans les Services A la Personne et la Silver Economie & Country: FR

Project Partners

• INNOQUALITY SYSTEMS LIMITED
• UNIVERSIDAD DE SALAMANCA
• Mindshift Talent Advisory lda
• ISTANBUL VALILIGI
• INSTITUTO PARA EL FOMENTO DEL DESARROLLO Y LA FORMACION SL