PEAK – New Heights for Youth Entrepreneurship Erasmus Project

Project Title

PEAK – New Heights for Youth Entrepreneurship

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 youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Rural development and urbanisation; Enterprise, industry and SMEs (incl. entrepreneurship); New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

PEAK – New Heights for Youth Entrepreneurship is a dedicated climate smart mountain entrepreneurship programme for youth which empowers participative and decisive action towards the rejuvenation of mountain economies and sustainable mountain development now and in the future. Europe’s mountain regions have contributed to shaping not only Europe’s history, society and economy, but also its climate and environment. Now under threat from issues concerning low population density, difficulty of access, economic and ecological vulnerability, there is distinctive NEED for a new approach to the environmental preservation, economic regeneration and sustainable development of mountain regions. PEAK is a new approach which places young people at the heart of the process. For centuries, young people have out-migrated from Europe’s remote, high-altitude regions, a process that resulted in brain drain and the consequent social and economic destabilization of mountain communities. Mountains occupy 41.3% of European territory and are home to 25.4% of Europe’s people.

PEAK is motivated to achieve the following objectives
• Unlock the economic potential of youth entrepreneurship and new economic niches (such as offering tours or selling added value regional products)
• Combat and reverse depopulation by attracting young people to stay, move to – or move back to – mountain areas and become entrepreneurs.
• Empower youth through entrepreneurship to be equal partners and torchbearers in creating and implementing goals toward environmental sustainability, which according to the World Programme of Action on Youth is crucial to youth participation in environmental preservation.

The main results of PEAK will be achieved via 4 IO’s which will result in attitudinal change, knowledge acquisition and skills development at individual youth , organisational, local and regional level through
IO1: PEAK Climate Smart Mountain Entrepreneurship for Youth Resource Pack A resource pack for youth educators and stakeholders it will explore the regeneration potential of youth entrepreneurship and new economic niches. (745 users/downloads)
IO2: PEAK Youth Entrepreneurs Video Showcase – A compendium of 30 inspiring and accessible video case studies collected from of young PEAK Entrepreneurs across Europe, this IO will consolidate multiple sources of inspiring information, accessible to our target groups. Video is the communication medium of choice by young people (Tik Tok/Snapchat/YouTube) (100 users/1000 views)
IO3: PEAK Youth Entrepreneurs Framework and OERS , an innovative framework for in non-formal youth education and make it available as OERs for youth and enterprise organizations to use in their groups (730 users/downloads)
IO4: PEAK Entrepreneurs Reach and Teach Study and VLE – is a substantive multilingual, online interactive platform which will enable remote and distance learning and foster peer connections and collaboration among PEAK Entrepreneurs across Europe. The inclusion of a virtual learning environment (VLE) is crucial given the remoteness of mountain areas. (850 beneficiaries)

PARTICIPANTS: PEAK key target groups are:
TG1: Young people, especially NEETs, whose entrepreneurial, civic, personal, interpersonal, and digital capacity will be greatly increased by PEAK.
TG2: Youth Educators will be provided with innovative training resources for climate-smart mountain youth entrepreneurship, these resources will provide new career opportunities for young people in the mountains and will play a key role in the repopulation of mountain regions and more sustainable mountain economies
TG3. Mountain Communities Towns and Villages – an important beneficiary of the project, they will reap environmental preservation, economic regeneration and sustainable development rewards from the PEAK project roll out in their mountain regions.
TG4: Policy Stakeholders will benefit from new knowledge and resources which they can share and implement locally

The impact of the PEAK project will first and foremost arise in Europe’s mountain regions who are threatened to a future existence. EU Mountain regions are the priority users of the PEAK resources, however, the medium-term impact is in no way limited to the regions of the project partners. Through the development and dissemination of digital resources in several languages (English, Italian, Icelandic, Greek) and a content-related focus on the teaching of methodological skills, a Europe-wide use of the project results is a declared goal. In the context of persistently high youth un/underemployment and increasing societal tensions, PEAK will make a significant contribution to the 2020 Agenda of smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth at local, regional, national, and European level.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 262715 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITY OF THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS & Country: UK

Project Partners

• Framhaldsskólinn í Austur-Skaftafellssýslu
• CANICE CONSULTING LIMITED
• MOMENTUM MARKETING SERVICES LIMITED
• NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS – NTUA
• MERIDAUNIA