Since the early 2000s, the European Union has returned several times to deal with the problem of the relationships between universities and businesses that not always ensure an effective transfer of innovation and proficiency from the graduate to the company, and even less to encourage the integration of the young graduates into the labour market In the many further considerations that have occurred, the importance of dialogue between universities and the many players in the world of work has been repeatedly emphasized. The problem is long-standing and well recognized. This proposal wants to reverse the training process by setting as starting point the knowledges of the business world adding the universities knowledge and their capacity of training management, in order to turn the businesses know-how of the entrepreneurs into specialized courses. Therefore, "House of Brains" will be an on-line educational platform that will offer masters and high training of excellence for graduates where teaching will be provided not only by academics, but also by leading figures of the European business reality. The rift of the project from the traditional training system will be mainly given by the fact that the training catalogue will be the product of a careful evaluation process of suitable arguments, resultant of the consultation between the participating universities and the business organizations. This process will help preventing the gap between what the university provides - in terms of knowledge and skills - and what the labour market demands. The basic idea of this project proposal has been formulated on assessments that are the result of several years of cooperation and mutual understanding of most of the organizations member of this partnership. In all participant countries there is a local binomial partnership: a research institution and a business representative Unit or a technological park. The lead partner, Unioncamere Veneto has a strong experience in managing large EU-funded. The University of Verona is one of the most advance in Italy regarding the cooperation with businesses. Two newcomers organization, but with a highly skilled staff, will complete the Italian partnership: the Consorzio 609 and the CONSEF; both are members of AGCI - General Association of Italian Cooperatives. The German participants, the University of Fulda and Inter.Research have a wide experience of the Dual Training System and run high training paths where companies have already high influence. The Spanish partners have a relevant experience in boosting research activities and transferring the results to the business sector. The Slovenian partners, the University of Primorska and the Technology Park Ljubljana are leading entity and key national stakeholder in the development of innovative and knowledge-based entrepreneurship. The tasks and responsibilities have been divided among the partners by mutual consent with reference to the specific competences of each partner. For the implementation of the project 3 integrated transnational Working Groups will be established that will run the following activities: Activity1: contest analisys and good practices detection. In each country a country report will be done and joint report will be produced by the WG. Activity 2: definition of the training offer. Each participant university will develop at least one specific training path following the indication of the Scientific Committee. Activity 3: definition of Training methodologies and harmonization of the communication style of the trainers that will be partly from the universities and partly from the entrepreneurial world. Activity 4: definition of the technical feature and ICT support tools. Activity 5: realization of the HoB Platform, recognition and validation of the qualifications with a EQF approach, creation of the environment for the start-up of an new enterprise to ensure the running, the maintenance and the promotion of the HoB system. Activity 6 : communication and dissemination. The main result will be the setting up of Virtual Learning Environment that will offer masters or high specialized training path for graduates developed on the basis of real needs of the enterprises, with a relevant component of entrepreneurial dimension, managed with a blended teaching system; teacher will be academics and leading figures of the European business reality. The project will impact on the relationship between universities and industry strengthening their cooperation and its long term benefits will be: - the spreading of best practices of co-operative (dual) training systems - the flowing of new ideas in productive systems - the creation of new job and business opportunities - the development of innovative start-ups - the orientation of young people into the labour market - the cultural exchange between European Union countries by promoting international mobility.
The House of Brains project is the outcome of several years of cooperation among the project partners and, of course, the result of their expertise. The basic aim of the project is the creation of a training program that unify businesses and academic world, to enhance the knowledge of the entrepreneurial world, by promoting a real and peer to peer collaboration between the two worlds and by covering the gap between what the universities provides in terms of knowledge and skills what the labor market demands. As very often, learners don't really meet enterprises’ needs at the end of their studies, the project has been formulated around the basic idea that a new training path was necessary to be jointly managed by universities and enterprises, accounting for the needs of both, making the training process easily accessible and user- friendly, offering the students the opportunity to practically experiment what they are learning, and introducing into the university programs new elements in terms of experience of entrepreneurs, and technical “know how” that allows youth to be find employment upon completion of the training. For this reason, scope of the HoB project was developing not only a new model of training path, but also an online learning environment (http://www.hobplatform.org) where the HoB pilot online course has been implemented. The HoB partnership was composed by 10 organizations, which have a wide experience and are key actors in the frame of the objective to which the project is focused on. The LP, Unioncamere Veneto has strong and long experience in managing EU-funded projects in many different sectors. Verona University is one of the most advanced in Italy regarding the implementation of applied researches and the development of specific training paths for entrepreneurship. Consorzio IES and CE.Sv.I. both provide financial services to the enterprises and specific training courses aimed to entrepreneurs. The German participants, the Hochschule Fulda and Inter.Research have a wide experience of the Dual Training System and run high training paths where companies have already high influence. Spanish partners, Camara de Comercio de Cantabria (CCIN) and Fundacion Leonardo Torres Quevedo (FLTQ), have a relevant experience in boosting research activities and transferring the results to the business sector. The Slovenian partners, the University of Primorska and the Technology Park Ljubljana are leading entity and key national stakeholder in the development of innovative and knowledge-based entrepreneurship. Concerning the implementation of the House of Brains project, following activities have been undertaken: •Activity1 (O1): Context analysis and good practices detection. In each involved country, a national report has produced with a briefly description of the national university training system, the national policy legislation and, the description of the forms of collaboration/initiatives between industry and academic. •Activity 2 (O2): Definition of the Training offer. Each project partner interviewed local stakeholders to gain understanding of the competences which employers expect from young graduates. •Activity 3 (O2): Definition of Training methodologies. Each project partner has contributed in developing the HoB training path following the indications of Hochschule Fulda that led the process of definition of the training offer. •Activity 4 (O2): Definition of the technical feature and ICT support tools. Consorzio IES with the support of ICT experts has realized and coordinated the development of the virtual environment. •Activity 5 (O2+O3): Realization of the HoB Platform, recognition and validation of the qualifications with an EQF approach under the supervision of University of Verona. •Activity 6: Follow – up. Communication and dissemination of the outcome of the HoB project and open discussion about possibilities of sustainability for the HoB virtual environment. In terms of results, the House of Brains project not only achieved to set up the online platform where three pilot online courses let participants interactively and in a multicultural and virtual environment stimulate their own creativity and soft skills; but gave the opportunity to develop and spread the entrepreneurial competencies and soft skills among youth and graduates. Concerning the longer – term benefits, the House of Brains project is mainly focused on the development and assessment of transversal skills linked to entrepreneurial competencies. Thanks to the experience of the online pilot trials, HoB project has laid the groundwork to start the discussion on the entrepreneurial mindset of competencies that could be potentially used in any educational setting as well as in a workplace. Not only, beside the discussion about the possibilities of sustainability for the HoB virtual environment, partners are interested in the capitalization of the project outcomes for future research/project opportunities