Shadows - Supporting entrepreneurs in cultural and creative industry sector

SHADOWS is an ERASMUS+ project in the Key Action 'Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices', which is embedded in the action 'Strategic Partnerships' with a focus on 'Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training'. It is an internationally oriented project in the EU education program with a duration of 24 months.

The project idea and structure for SHADOWS was developed in collaboration with the project partners. The project is coordinated by Município de Lousada in Portugal, which, among other things, is characterized by its direct access to the target group of students.

Nine partner institutions from eight countries are cooperating on the project: the coordinating institution from Portugal (Municipality of Lousada, Silvares Lousada), the partner from Germany (Chair of Business Education II, University of Paderborn), the partner from the UK (Creative Exchange, London), the two partners from Ireland (Meath Partnership, K ells; Future in Perspective Ltd., Ballyjamesduff-Cavan), the partner from Romania (Universitatea din Pitesti), the partner from Poland (INNEO, Rzeszow), the technology partner from Finland (INNOVENTUM OY, Joensuu) and the partner from Cyprus (European University Cyprus, Nikosia).

Entrepreneurship drives innovation, competitiveness, job creation and growth. It enables new innovative ideas to be turned into successful ventures and can unlock the personal potential of individuals. The Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan (EAP 2020) states that “investing in entrepreneurship education is one of the highest return investments Europe can make”. The Europe 2020 strategy recognizes entrepreneurship and self-employment as key to achieving smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. To get Europe back to growth and higher employment, Europe needs more entrepreneurs. EAP 2020 sets out a series of actions to be taken to support entrepreneurship in Europe, including “developing entrepreneurial education and training” and “identifying positive role models”.

The cultural and creative industries (CCI) sector is not only an important factor for diversity, but is one of Europe's most dynamic sectors, with highly innovative companies and contributing around 2.6% to the EU's GDP. It is a sector with high growth potential and provides high-quality jobs for over 5 million people (Eur-Lex: Green Paper - Releasing the potential of CCIs, 2010). CCI companies often help to create new economic activities, generate new and sustainable jobs and increase the attractiveness of European regions and cities (DG Enterprise 2011). EU Cohesion Policy has recognized the CCI sector's multifaceted contribution to its strategic objectives of convergence, competitiveness and employment.

The SHADOWS project has a number of important objectives, but above all, it focuses on increasing the labor market relevance of vocational training by providing customized pedagogical resources that improve the level of attainment of high-level basic and transversal skills. The focus is on developing a tailored curriculum that specifically addresses potential university graduates in this important sector, as well as supporting young entrepreneurs with a robust mentoring framework. This represents a significant link between VET and micro-enterprise owners, as well as an increased responsiveness of VET to market demands.

The cultural and creative sector is particularly relevant for today's emerging graduates who have grown up in a digital world. This digital literacy supports the use of media-rich learning content and technology-based learning environments. The cultural and creative sector encompasses a wide range of business areas, from technology-based products and services to fashion design, music and video production, and computer games. Delivering a tailored entrepreneurship curriculum to this sector makes perfect sense as the costs of setting up a cultural and creative business and the requirements for capital outlay can be quite low, which makes it particularly attractive for start-ups and therefore quite relevant for young graduates.

It is an accepted fact that the quality of teaching is the critical factor in achieving educational objectives and SHADOWS recognizes the key role of VET professionals and seeks to ensure that they benefit from the provision of essential in-service training.

The project language is English.