“Opening up Education is about opening minds to new learning methods so that our people are more employable, creative, innovative and entrepreneurial.” These words of Commissioner Vassiliou became the motto of the ABC-MELES2.0. Therefore, priority for the European Higher Education which is supporting innovation and creativity, through partnerships and inter- and transdisciplinary approaches, and strengthening the role of higher education regionally, has become the main priority of the project. The first project’s objective is to create a new type of educator, i.e. Academic Business Coach (ABC), who supports the business development of projects on the academia. Next objective is to improve the transversal competencies of students and academic staff of European universities in terms of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. It will be achieved through the development, testing and implementation of innovative methodologies of a/m competences under the name “ABC Methodology” (published as electronic HANDBOOK). It will be used by the ABC in the process of developing R&D projects initiated at universities, the results of which have a high potential for commercialization. The key element of “ABC Methodology” and at the same time, the main project’s objective is to prepare a comprehensive and coherent educational product (Entrepreneurship 2 course) which enables to bring already developed, by students and researchers, ideas into higher TRL levels or verify them as no business. The course consists of group coaching classes, where teams receive support in DEVELOPMENT OF their BUSINESS PROJECTS and individual coaching classes, where each team works separately under the supervision of the ABC. Achieving so described project’s objectives will open universities for the new methodology of education of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship and can be widely applied on a global scale with the use of free-to-use educational materials. Entrepreneurship in European HEI’s is widely taught in economics departments, but only a few schools have implemented curricula to shape entrepreneurial attitudes in technical and scientific departments. On the other hand, the most innovative companies are technological companies. Therefore, following the example of US universities, there is an urgent need to improve the entrepreneurial skills of students in the fields of science and engineering at European universities. The project is an answer to an educational problem which is the lack of effective tools that could be used to increase the social and professional activity of young generation entering the labour market, in order to make full use of their potential for the society and the economy. The project consortium consists of 5 experienced partners: Maritime University of Szczecin (Akademia Morska w Szczecinie, PL) Bialystok University of Technology (Politechnika Białostocka, PL) University of Leipzig (Universität Leipzig, DE), University of the Aegean (Panepistimio Aigaiou, GR), University of Aveiro (Universidade de Aveiro, PT). Developed in the framework of cooperation, including the exchange of experiences with the academic staff, coaching course will be the first such comprehensive program for trainers working with academic teams. The program will be developed during the first year of the project, tested and corrected during workshops, summer school to become a standard for trainers, who cooperate with academic teams. This standard will be implemented during the project in five universities, who already implemented Entrepreneurship 1 course into the curricula. The Consortium is committed to raising awareness of academics and students in the potential of commercialization, which exists in the results of R&D projects conducted at universities, by introducing a new type of university educator – ABC. The support given by ABC to academic teams will facilitate their entry into the world of business and significantly increase the chances of success. Projects will be verified at the initial stage and decision to continue, change direction or close the project, will be taken. Spin-off companies formed in the process of projects’ development increase the competitiveness of the European economy, because the implementation of the results of R&D projects gives the biggest boost to the development of the knowledge-based economy. In these businesses, students and graduates will be employed. The long-term effect of the project is strengthening the relationships of graduates and employees with the university and providing the university with long-term license income or one-off income from the sale of intellectual property developed at the university. As a result of the project: 8 ABC will be trained, at least 22 academic teams will receive professional support from both experienced and local trainers, over 300 people will be supported during the project. Availability of materials on disseminating platform, the project website and partner sites will significantly increase the number of beneficiaries.
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