Context of why we wanted to implement this project This project was originally born from the young people in the community of Marijampole, Lithuania (LT). During a dissemination event held by Egle Meta Simkuniene at the local highschool, we held a brainstorming session with 10 youngsters, where we discussed interesting future project ideas. The young people manifested their main concerns were choosing what to do after finishing high school. They showed great interest to participate in projects on topics not always available to them in their environment and that could help them solve the unemployment affecting the region. After a long discussion about opportunities, jobs of the future and what they feel is lacking in the traditional school system we came up with the idea of continuing a series of youth exchanges (YEs) based on technology. 4 of the youngsters were part of the project team. The next step was to find partners willing to actively participate in our project and after contacting our close partners at The active people which later on was changed to Asociatia “Centrul pentru Dezvoltarea Instrumentelor Structurale”(CPDIS) with the same coordinator just different name of organisation, from Romania (RO), Cirkevne gymnazium sv. Jana Pavla II (CGJPII), from Slovakia (SK), Partner Up Estonia (PUEST) (EE), all of them from communities affected by big numbers of youth unemployment and low level of digital skills development, they showed a great level of interest in being an active part of this project. Identification of the problem The robotics industry is one of the most growing industries and according to IFR International Federation of Robotics “Executive Summary World Robotics 2022 Service Robots” report (https://bit.ly/3skN7np) the industry had the total number of professional service robots sold in 2020 rose by 12% and is forecasted to increase continuously even more. However, traditional education systems have not made the shift to prepare the youth to this new reality. We considered the latest available statistics by Eurostat in computer skills, which states that only 20% of individuals aged 16-24 in the EU-28 had ever written a computer code using specialized programming language, we assessed that there is still a low level of access to education in computer science. This level is among average in LT (22%) and EE (26%) but considerably lower in SK (14%) and RO (11%). Thus, a clear majority of the European youth is missing out on a world of opportunities of employment and self-employment, for not even being aware it exists. Young people of Marijampole, Mioveni, Poprad and the peripheral areas of Tallinn was not the exception. Besides clear definition what these numbers reflected (young people not working, studying or training), it also indicated level of passiveness, young people lacking sense of initiative, young people not seeking for alternatives to regular job, like establishing their own businesses. Therefore, as possible solution we identified the needs and issues we seek to address: -low self-confidence and sense of initiative; -low availability of digital education, namely robotics; -low level of entrepreneurial competences; -no/little success stories, role models, successful businesses in youth background; -no/little opportunities for personal/professional development in non-formal context. We believed we can change and improve current situation with answering two needs common to the young people in these 4 communities: -access to education in digital skills, namely robotics; -increase entrepreneurial activity in these communities and empower youth to take control of their future. Goal The goal of our project was to face the problem of low employability in youth and inspire young people’s active involvement in entrepreneurial activities by developing skills in robotics and raising awareness of this field as a solution for employment and self-employment. To do so we organized a YE in Elniakampis, Lithuania between 22- 31.10.2022 gathering 40 young people (16-19 years old), including 16 participants with fewer opportunities from 4 countries: LT, RO, SK and EE, 8 group leaders, 2 facilitators and 1 staff member (from Asociacija "Keliauk pirmyn" (KP) to overlook and monitor implementation of YE). Objectives By the end of the project, we achieved the following objectives: O1. Presented the 40 participants to the robotics field of digital education by constructing fully functioning RC cars from start to finish. O2. Raised the awareness of the 40 participants and their communities to the opportunities that digital competences, namely robotics, can bring to their future employment. O3. Fostered and improved the necessary competences and know-how for 40 participants to consider seeking employment, self-employment and actively engage in entrepreneurial activities in the field of robotics. The objectives of the YE directly contributed to the Erasmus+ (E+) program objectives and priorities.