In Europe, over 98 % of companies are entities from SME sector. These companies produce more than 70 % of EU GDP and employs nearly 70% of employed citizens. What is crucial, SMEs are a major source of innovations and creativity. It is similar in China, Chinese SMSs increasingly influence the country's economic development. These numbers confirm the need to promote and motivate the SME sector in Europe and China to mutual business cooperation. These specific needs addresses Chinese for Business project (C4B). C4B project is a result of the transfer of good practices, experiences and outcomes generated in the process of project Chinese for Europeans (C4EU) implementation in 2010-2013. The project was implemented under the Lifelong Learning Programme (action : KA2 Languages by partners from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Lithuania and Poland. The project supports key European Union objectives of lifelong learning. First of all, supports the creation and use of Open Educational Resources and supports the professional development of employees using the methodology of ICT. C4B project also supports and encourages SMEs to build business relationships with Chinese entrepreneurs. The project C4B will develop four key outcomes: language course, guide - oriented on cultural and business diversity in China, business platform for B2B and SaaS system. These results are complementary to one another. The first is a collection of multimedia educational materials to enable SMEs representatives self-education in the field of Chinese business language. The second is a repository of materials presenting in a simple and intuitive way, how to effectively conduct business in China. The third one, is a platform for practical application of the knowledge focused on language and business issues. Finally, the fourth outcome is a system processing the above-mentioned products in "cloud". Language course will be prepared in line with the three methodologies: CLIL - for simultaneous learning of Chinese language and business issues; micro learning - to affect the way of selection (or " batching"), teaching materials; mobile learning to prepare the material, to make it possible for presentation on mobile devices. The project challenges are ambitious. Strategic Partnership intends to reach 24,000 unique users across Europe, of which 14,000 are to be returning users, benefiting with educational materials systematically. Moreover, within the project, workshops attended by 300 participants are to be organized. The project will be implemented by six companies and educational institutions from Belgium, Spain, Poland, Portugal and Italy. All organizations have extensive experience in creating language materials using modern ICT tools, as well as building business relationships between Europe and China.
Chinese for Business (C4B) project was carried out in the period 2014 -2016 as a continuation of the Chinese for Europeans (C4EU) project, implemented between 2010 – 2013 in the framework of the Lifelong Learning Programme (action: KA 2 Languages). A key aim of the project C4B is to promote the development of professional competences of the employees, of the European Union SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) sector, in the field of Chinese language and Chinese business culture. In addition, the project supports establishment of business relations with Chinese companies, professional development of employees skills using ICT, as well as Open Educational Resources creation and usage. The project is dedicated for two target groups. The first and the most important project target group are entrepreneurs and the EU institutions supporting businesses (including the SMEs sector employees, stakeholders related to EU – China relations, students, trainees and interns who are starting their own business or professional career). The second group are individuals and organizations interested in learning Chinese and the culture of China. It includes all the teachers and the schools involved in the Chinese language learning and teaching process, as well as adults who are looking for profiled business materials for learning Chinese. The project was performed by five institutions from four European Union countries: Belgium, Italy, Poland and Portugal. All of those institutions are experienced in establishing business relations between Europe and China, each of them in the different perspective: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (University) is engaged in teaching a Chinese language, Fondazione Italia Cina (a nonprofit organization) supports the cooperation between EU and China, Sociedade Portuguesade Inovação, C. E. F. I., S. A. (consulting company) is focused on the promotion of links between science and business, including EU – China relations, EduActive (technology company) is specializing in distance learning systems creation, including those intended for teaching Chinese language, Mescomp Technologies SA (production and trading company) is cooperating with Chinese companies in the field of production and trade exchange for over 20 years. Project activities were focused on a three main areas: (1) preparing training and information materials, as well as ICT solutions, (2) implementation of didactical materials and ICT solutions with continuous evaluation, (3) dissemination and exploitation of project results. All of the above actions have been implemented, monitored and evaluated in accordance with the quality policy prepared by the project partnership. As a result of these actions the four main products (results) were created: (1) Chinese Language Course – this course is designed for EU entrepreneurs interested in establishing cooperation with Chinese companies, (2) Cultural and Business Guide – a collection of the practical hints on China, which support the language course in both cultural and business context, (3) B2B platform – the tool that allows the use of the practical language knowledge for the purposes of business cooperation and presentation of one own company, (4) SAS system – dedicated ICT tool which integrates the educational, informational and business results of the project. In a framework of all the actions aimed at dissemination of the project results many meetings with representatives of the target groups were held. These meetings were conducted using three types of activities: (1) linguistic workshops (2) cultural-business workshops, (3) stakeholders seminars. These meetings were held in all project partner countries. Moreover additional disseminating activities on: local, regional, European and international levels were performed. All additional disseminating activities were divided into two types: direct and indirect. The first of these included informal meetings with individuals and selected groups, second were focused on the on-line action specifically on Social Media and on SEM. As a result of dissemination and exploitation we reached approx. 40 000 users coming from all over the world. Approximately 13 000 users are using the project results actually. The results were highly rated by both the evaluators and the users. Average grade obtained in the evaluation of the results was 5.4 / 6.0. As the partnership, we see a great potential of the C4B project results. We are confident that in future years the project will effectively implement the strategic goals of the European Union in the field of development of business contacts between EU and China. We are more than sure that the project will contribute to improving the quality of Chinese language teaching as well as broadly understood entrepreneurship and business itself. The results of the project Chinese for Business (C4B) are available for free at: www.chinese4.biz