From mid-December 2022 to mid-February 2023, EntrePubl partners organized in each partner country physical and/or online meetings, called Local Labs, as follows:

Greece – 14,15,20.12.2023

In Greece, our project partners Academy of Entrepreneurship and GovHack conducted 3 online local labs to present, discuss and co-validate the EntrePubl methodology and curriculum.

Italy – 16.12.2022

In Italy, our project parter, COgruppo led its local lab in Bologna, which involved ten participants coming both from the VET world and the public sector.

Cyprus – 19.12.2022

In Cyprus, our project partner T-hap organised the Local Lab at the premises of HUB Nicosia, inviting various relevant stakeholders. The organisers said ‘It was great to hear how enthusiastic the group was about EntrePubl’s methodology and curriculum, and to suggest ways to improve it further!’

Romania – 21.12.2022

In Romania, our project partner Primaria Municipiului Galati organized the Local Lab at the Galati City Hall. They involved 5 vocational trainers and 5 civil servants from Galati.

Belgium – 20.01.2023

In Belgium our project partner SPW involved 5 VETs and 8 public officers in a physical meeting. Together they discussed about ENTREPUBL methodology and curriculum.

Slovakia – 13.02.2023

In Slovakia our project partner ICEP organized a physical meeting at the Faculty of Security Engineering at the University of Žilina involving 11 participants.

Local Labs Outputs

The EntrePubl Local Labs represent a co-creation space where partner organizations and invited relevant local stakeholders can discuss, co-shape and co-validate the ENTREPUBL METHODOLOGY CONCEPT.

The methodological concept aims at supporting, designing, developing, and piloting a new blended curriculum to increase the entrepreneurial skills of public sector’s operators, according to a digital approach under the framework of the ENTREPUBL PROJECT

According to the ENTREPUBL project, 8 key modules of the curriculum were identified:

M1: Creativity: develop & experiment ideas

M2: Ethical and sustainable thinking: assess consequences/impact of ideas for society

M3: Self-awareness and self-efficacy: build on your strengths to create value

M4: Taking the initiative: initiate value creation

M5: Working with others: develop empathy, team up and collaborate

M6: Mobilising resources: manage resources creatively and responsibly

M7: Financial Literacy

M8: Information and data literacy

From the feedback given by each partner, the main subjects of discussion were put together, to have a better understanding of the general point of view regarding the training course, as follows:

1. Feedback regarding the public employees, meaning the trainees of the curriculum:
   1. Define how the selection of the trainees will work
   2. Research audience through profiling with an online survey

2. Curriculum: suggestions regarding the project in general:
   1. Define basic level of knowledge
   2. Develop better logical connection/ sequence between modules
   3. Adapt terminology to fit the project profile
   4. Underline the relevance of the training, compared to other similar content courses.

3. Context: Some of the most common suggestions concerned:
   1. Consider online training in a hybrid solution to avoid geographical obstacles.
   2. Simplify the vocabulary to make the content more accessible
   3. Given the lack of time available to public employees, it’s essential to know the dates and times of the trainings in advance, to organize the schedule
   4. Conduct training sessions during working days and hours

4. Tools and topics to be included in the modules:
   1. Teamwork: peer-to-peer learning, collective dynamics, heterogeneous teams/ clusters.
   2. Workshops: learn by doing, stimulate right to error.
   3. Audio-visual material: videos, interviews, quizzes (for example, Kahoot).
   4. Case studies, such as practical examples of EntreComp and DigComp.
   5. Personal skills, self-evaluation of strengths and weaknesses, psychology of workplace behaviour.
   6. Burnout and Bore-out prevention, how to manage stress and pressure.
   7. Allow access to sources of information, for further investigation.

Among the suggestions, there also emerged some topics of criticism to the curriculum, such as:

• Lack of time: there’s a lot of workloads, time is not managed independently, public employees might be uninterested if the course is not mandatory, it’s not perceived as a priority.
• Rigidity of hierarchical procedures could obstruct the implementation of the curriculum.
• Mentality of public employees: lack of interest, resistance to digital tools, close-minded towards innovation.

Overall results of the Local Labs indicate that the EntrePubl methodology and curriculum is developed at a satisfactory level although several structural improvements are recommended. EntrePubl partners are working towards the improvement and final formulation of the EntrePubl curriculum.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Irina Isac – Communication Responsible, Galati Municipality for EntrePubl