Turning Creative Skills into Sustainable Businesses Erasmus Project

Project Title

Turning Creative Skills into Sustainable Businesses

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 vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; Enterprise, industry and SMEs (incl. entrepreneurship)

Project Summary

Investing in entrepreneurship education is one of the highest return investments Europe can make as entrepreneurship and self-employment are keys for achieving smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.
The critical role played by start-ups in driving economic development and job creation is increasingly understood. Factory floors are progressively being replaced by creative communities whose raw material is their ability to imagine, create and innovate. In this new digital economy, immaterial value increasingly determines material value, as consumers look for new and enriching ‘experiences’.

The creative industry sector is one of Europe’s most dynamic sectors comprising highly innovative companies and contributing approximately 2.6% to EU GDP. It is a sector with high growth potential and provides quality jobs to over 5 million people.

KRE8R aimed to plug the gap between training providers and (nascent) creative entrepreneurs.
It has developed a curriculum that meets the needs of (nascent) entrepreneurs in the Creative and Cultural industries. With over 100 hours of training and resources, it goes further than generic courses by addressing specific topics that relate to CCI and speaks to them in language the creative brain can comprehend.

Additionally, KRE8R increased the labour market relevance of Vocational Education and Training (VET) by providing tailored pedagogic resources to improve the attainment levels of high-level basic and transversal competences.

The KRE8R consortium comprises 7 partners drawn from 7 Member States (CZ, FR, IE, MT, PT, RO, UK) and brings together a range of education providers, businesses and local development organisations to develop 5 main Intellectual Outputs:

1. Creative Business Development Curriculum for Nascent Creative Entrepreneurs – programme KRE8R: a bespoke curriculum specifically targeting emerging entrepreneurs and artists in the cultural and creative sector. This curriculum was delivered in a blended learning environment. It includes 8 separate training modules, further readings, a wheel of skills & attitudes to acquire to become an entrepreneur ;
2. In-service Training for VET Professionals: a bespoke induction training programme to support VET tutors to deliver the new curriculum and to ensure that the required learning outcomes are achieved. Induction training also addressed issues relating to the delivery of training in blended learning environments;
3. E-learning Portal: an e-learning portal as a one-stop-shop providing instant access to the full suite of learning resources developed.
4. Policy Paper: recommendation for a course of action based on the experiences and lessons learned in the course of the project.
5. Creative Business Case Studies: a series of case studies profiling creative entrepreneurs and their businesses in each partner country in order to help inspire nascent creative entrepreneurs.
The KRE8R project involved local working groups established in each partner country, to bring the world of education and business closer together leading to the development of the unique business immersion programme. This caused a considerable positive impact for both the VET and micro-enterprise representatives involved.

86 artists / (nascent) creative entrepreneurs took an active part in the piloting phase.
KRE8R had a very strong impact on the two target groups of the project. In fact, after having participated in the online and face-to-face training modules, around 74% of artists / (nascent) creative entrepreneurs declare having progressed in knowledge, know-how and general skills. Among VET professionals, it was more than 74%.
Therefore, most partners decided to sustain the project either by integrating the material in their training offer and/or sharing it with key VET providers in their area.
It is worth mentioning that, within the all project duration, more than 43000 people were addressed or received the information about the KRE8R project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 284915 Eur

Project Coordinator

Coopérative pour le Développement de la Créativité et de l’Innovation & Country: FR

Project Partners

• ACROSSLIMITS LTD
• The Rural Hub CLG
• Rightchallenge – Associação
• Fundatia Centrul Educational Spektrum
• Ballybeen Women’s Centre Ltd
• Centrum pro komunitni praci Severní Morava