The European Union is facing a worsening youth employment crisis - youth unemployment rates are generally much higher, even double or more than double, than unemployment rates for all ages [1]. In November 2017, 3,698 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU28, of whom 2,624 million were in the euro area. The average youth unemployment rate in EU-28 is 18,7%, and in some countries this rate is even close to 50% (GR 47,3%, IT 37,8%, SK 22,2% in 2016). As is presented in the publication "Labour market in Slovakia" [3], the rate of youth (15-24 years) unemployment in Slovakia is the sixth highest among EU countries. Moreover, Slovakia is third in order of proportion of long-term youth unemployment - 57,2%. High youth unemployment rates do reflect the difficulties faced by young people in finding jobs. One of the way how to reduce the high amount of unemployed young people is to help them start own business. Youth entrepreneurship is vital for creating employment and sustainable growth and has become a priority in the EU policy agenda as a tool to combat unemployment and social exclusion as well as stimulating innovation among young people. So, it is vital to inspire and motivate young people to start own bussines, assist them gain strong entrepreneurship skills and competences and ensure that the next generation of professionals have strong knowledge and entrepreneurship spirit. The main objective of Biz4Fun is to increase the competitiveness of young, mostly unexperienced people, on the job market in partners‘ countries. Young people usually have many various ideas, but it is very difficult to realize those projects due to lack of courage, funds or capacities... Biz4Fun project asnwers for these challenges by broadening the young people economic knowledge, shaping the basics of entrepreneurship, transferring the ability to consciously plan your own career path, reducing disproportions in the knowledge of financial tools, presents example of succeful start-ups etc. Based on aim described above, following specific aims are set up: 1) To create and publish a guide on how to develop successful Biz4Fun “Course curriculum & Content”. 2) To create and publish course content and an open educational resources (OER), guiding young practitioners on the topics and skills most needed to establish and manage a business company. 3) To develop a social game – one in which progress may be shared and compared with peers – that supports and links back to the OER to reinforce learning outcomes. Through synergic effect of international cooperation, transfer of innovation and development of innovations and additional values, the 7 partners from 6 countries set up main intellectual outcomes of the project: • O1: Biz4Fun Course curriculum & Content - how to develop a successful business • O2: Biz4Fun 3D Virtual world and social game • O3: Biz4Fun online open educational resources • O4: Handbook for Biz4Fun social game or how to make entrepreneurship more understandable Biz4Fun project will have a strong impact on youth, young students and in general young individuals that have interest to improve their situation on job market. Also, teachers/trainers/tutors and youth educational centers and schools will benefit by utilizing the developed tools in their teaching. From this point of view, Biz4Fun the target groups can be defined as follow: • young people which have an interest in setting up and running their own business, • unemployed young people, who could gain useful skills to increase their employability or start businesses of their own, • already employed young people but looking for chances to increase their skills and entrepreneurship capabilities, • educational centers, career counselors and agencies, institutions and organizations involved in VET, • policy makers and umbrella organisations, which can provide help and resources for incubators, startups and spinoffs.
In Europe, youth unemployment for all ages has worsened in the last few years. It is considered as the most serious issue facing each EU member country. Slovakia, as the member of the Europe union has the sixth highest unemployment among other EU countries. High youth unemployment rates do reflect the difficulties faced by young people in finding jobs. This results in their economic and social exclusion, because young people cannot be fully included in the society. One of the ways how to reduce the high amount of unemployed young people is to help them start own business. It is vital to inspire and motivate young people to start own business, assist them gain strong entrepreneurship skills and competences and ensure that the next generation of professionals have strong knowledge and entrepreneurship spirit. One way how to find solution from above mentioned situation represent start-ups companies. Technology incubators and start-ups provide an environment to help young entrepreneurs jump-start early-stage technology companies by providing entrepreneurship training combined with low cost, low risk access to shared-use commercial and/or industry-specific technical resources. Their goal is to help grow the local economy by creating a community of support for technology entrepreneurs and cultivating an environment where start-ups can learn, test, create, scale and thrive. Based on the facts described above, project Biz4Fun followed specific aims: - To create and publish course content and open educational resources (OER), guiding young practitioners on the topics and skills most needed to establish and manage a business company. - To develop a 3D Virtual World and social game – one in which progress may be shared and compared with peers – that supports and links back to the OER to reinforce learning outcomes. The Biz4Fun project followed the scheme „read-it, talk-it, learn-it, do-it” and tried to open the opportunity for young people to try out various career paths, business opportunities and obtain real feedback from professors/academics but specialist who are aware of conditions in various industries. A key aspect of the Biz4Fun project was to demonstrate its ability to combine the knowledge triangle capture and share unique knowledge, skills and experiences of partners. From this point of view, Biz4Fun the target groups can be defined as follow: - young people who have an interest in setting up and running their own business, - unemployed young people, who could gain useful skills to increase their employability or start businesses of their own, - already employed young people but looking for chances to increase their skills and entrepreneurship capabilities, - educational centers, career counsellors and agencies, institutions and organizations involved in VET, - policy makers and umbrella organisations, which can provide help and resources for incubators, startups and spinoffs. Outputs developed under the Biz4Fun project: - IO1 - Course Curriculum and Content – how to develop a successful business, based on the study and analysis of best practices in the development of technology incubators and successful entrepreneurial activities. - IO2 - 3D Virtual World and Social Game, the educational tool is available for free to and it can be used and it for youngsters’ self-learning purposes. The concept of the game is based on the real start-up company. The learner/avatar will be able to establish a start-up company and manage it from the beginning. - IO3 - Online Open Educational Resources are part of the Biz4Fun 3D Virtual World aimed to support young practitioners through the learning topics and skills most needed to establish and manage a business company. - IO4 - Handbook for Biz4Fun Social game or how to make entrepreneurship more understandable, which contains information about the Biz4Fun 3D Virtual World and its functionalities and intends to support teachers, trainers and decision/policymakers to use an innovative learning approach derived from the use of serious games. We expect that Biz4Fun is sustainable project, and its outcomes will have a positive impact on youth, young students and in general young individuals that have interest to improve their situation on job market. This assumption is supported by the fact that the results of the (still ongoing) project have been transferred to several countries through other activities and are used by many organizations across Europe.