Key words: job market, european dimension, youth
Projektlaufzeit: 01.01.2015 - 31.12.2017
European Union — Horizon 2020
The project will create a European stakeholder platform with resources and networking for anyone working in the field of inclusion, young people, education and jobs with a focus on ICT (for) learning.
Specific objective 1) develop a wide, rich and active community of stakeholders – representing different target groups of young people at risk of exclusion -, aspiring to become in the long run the largest European community in the field of ICT (for) learning and inclusion devoted to ameliorate youth employability.
Specific objective 2) Link existing stakeholders’ activities in the field of ICT (for) learning and inclusion and join them in order to increase their impact both on policy-maker and end-user level.
Specific objective 3) Contribute to the improvement of existing platforms by creating a common off- and online space for open dialogue and meetings, and foster active mutual exchanges and peer-learning activities.
Specific objective 4) Define directions on how to improve tools and services for 1) the modernisation of education and training; 2) the employability of young people and 3) tackling the risk of digital and socio-economic exclusion (i.e. e-inclusion).
Specific objective 5) Contribute to the policy debate on how to support youth employment and entrepreneurship by means of e-skills development, digital inclusion and volunteering, and entrepreneurship skills.
The project’s main objective will be to establish a sustainable, overarching platform for ICT (for) learning and inclusion focused on boosting the employability of young people. Beyond the technical meaning of “platform” (in the sense of an online environment for networking, participation and learning), it primarily refers here to the proposal’s ambition of consolidating a committed and active community of stakeholders working in ICT (for) learning and inclusion to boost young people’s employability. “(for)” into parentheses attempts to capture the diversity and richness of “ICT for learning and inclusion”, which may refer (but is not limited) to: Technology-enhanced learning (including MOOCs);Digital literacy; Digital competences and e-skills training; e-Inclusion (understood as digital training and empowerment as well as the active socio-economic participation of socially-disadvantaged people enhanced by means of ICT); or ICT platforms created by public/private/third sector organisations for youth employability.
Employability, in turn, encompasses the most common modalities that can result in active participation of young people into the economy: employment contracts, internships, apprenticeships, volunteering, self-employment and entrepreneurial activities. Finally, the efforts of all stakeholders will be joined to achieve maximum relevance for the end users, and this is only possible if end users (i.e. the youngsters) are actively involved along the process – from identifying their needs to building appropriate solutions.
The Social Research Institute (sfs) of Technical University Dortmund will link this project to existing networks and activities in the field of social innovation – such as the consortia of the currently running FP7 projects “SI-DRIVE” and “SIMPACT” as well as EUWIN, the European Workplace Innovation Network.
The I-LINC project will start with a quantitative mapping of stakeholder platforms that exist in the field of learning and inclusion for ICT with respect to youth employability and entrepreneurship. Other approaches used in the project are qualitative in nature, e.g. for identifying best practice case studies. For a participatory needs analysis and solution design process, the I-LINC project will apply the Design Thinking methodology to unearth a wide range of new options in social innovation for lifelong learning and eInclusion. With an emphasis on listening, user empathy, whole-brain thinking, collaboration, and experimentation, the design thinking process offers a complementary approach to existing formal prototyping. It will open a new path to innovation and collaboration passing through different stages - Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test – which will be used to design a user friendly, high impact and high quality platform.
