EYES Project - Empowering Youth Through Entrepreneurial Skills
Project Summary
Issue
In NWE, 14% of young people aged 15-34 years are not in employment, education or training (NEET). Since NEETs are rather irresponsive to classic top-down approaches and hardly connect to existing support schemes they bear the risk of long term labour market exclusion. The situation is particularly alarming in deprived NWE metropolitan areas where multiple risks of becoming or remaining NEETs are far above national average.
Change
While entrepreneurial education has become an EU priority to fight labour market exclusion, a consistent approach to systematically integrate NEETs is missing. In fact, the low number of local projects linking NEETs to entrepreneurial education reveals the fragmentation of knowledge across NWE. To make a real difference, a transfer of knowledge is needed to generate a new, transnational model. The co-designed EYES approach combines entrepreneurial education with personal coaching and a digital platform to help NEETs access regular support schemes they otherwise would refuse. Of the 100 000 NEETS in five NWE metropolitan areas, EYES will reach 1 000 during the project lifetime. 400 of them will use regular support schemes while 25 will even become early-stage entrepreneurs.
Outputs
The EYES product package includes digital tools and coaching materials. 4 bilingual training sites prepare 25 coaches to run the pilots in the Ruhr area, Greater London, Flemish triangle, European Metropolis of Lille, and Tilburg, supported by a common helpdesk.
Long-term effects
Ownership of the EYES approach will be handed over to the EYES innovation network that develops the approach further and transfers it to other cities in NWE, and the EU later on. The training sites will become permanent to provide training sessions for new coaches. The EYES digital platform will be integrated into other digital platforms such as Smart Cities.
For Project News and Partner Details please visit the EYES Website
School of Design News - EYES Project
EYES is an innovative digital project, the University of Greenwich School of Design Research team are tasked with producing an original method for coaching NEETs (young people between ages 15-34 who are not in employment, education or training). The research team behind the project was formed by Professor Stephen Kennedy - with Dr Anastasios Maragiannis, Dr Catherine Maffioletti, and Kam Rehal in charge of design.
Involving different community professionals, and young people from North West European cities, this collaborative project sought to develop engaging ways to reduce youth unemployment, increase skills and confidence.
The university is one of the 11 EU Interreg project partners located in five North West EU countries including: Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
Professor Stephen Kennedy led the successful application bid for the University of Greenwich. The project is funded to a total of € 4.28m.