Living Lab organized by Cre,Thi.Dev. and Guruservices.biz, Greece

The two organizations worked together to organize the Living Lab. They had a delay at the local level in recruiting interested parties (municipalities/VET/NGOs etc.), although the idea was very positively received, some of the representatives of the relevant institutions/organizations were difficult to identify and engage especially remotely.

The practical workshops in Greece took place on 09 August 2022 with the mayors of Ancient Olympia and Pyrgos.

The Greek Ecosystem Panel was established in the Peloponnese region with the participation of the prefecture and the directorates of agricultural development. On 23.11.2022 DigiRUR representatives from CRETHIDEV and Guruservices were invited and participated in the online meeting of the Agricultural Growth Directors of the 3 NUTS level 3 regional units in the Peloponnese region and discussed details of the implementation of the ecosystem panel activities for the development of youth entrepreneurship, including the selection of participants from the region for pilot training, as well as future implementation of the educational resources for entrepreneurship in Greek language developed under the DigiRUR project for larger groups of young people from the region.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Vice-Governor of the Peloponnese Region, the Administrator of the Peloponnesian Union of Social Enterprises and the CEO of Diastasis VET Center based in Peloponnese.

The main conclusions after the discussions in all partner countries were:

• Young people should see role models – successful entrepreneurs who came from the same environment as them. In addition, the family environment is very important. Young people whose parents/relatives are entrepreneurs have an additional incentive to start a business. If they live among entrepreneurs, they will probably end up being entrepreneurs too.
• Encouraging many trips abroad so that young people can get to know other experiences, good practices and ideas.
• Teaching young entrepreneurs to focus on soft skills, – negotiation, critical thinking, resilience, this is everything behind knowing how to create your own business.
• Digitization enables young people to learn online. But the problem is that the villages do not have optical connections to ensure that young people can get a digital education.
• Creation of municipal councils for the promotion of (youth) entrepreneurship in the municipalities, in which representatives of relevant municipal directorates, municipal councilors, representatives of educational institutions (schools, universities), of local business organizations, student councils, as well as recognizable and socially engaged young entrepreneurs;
• Competitions for young entrepreneurs by municipalities, as they most fully reflect local characteristics and opportunities for starting a business
• Initiation of local mentoring programs with people from practice for students and high school students in order to stimulate entrepreneurial intentions and entrepreneurial activity;

On this basis, the following project results will be developed. In the month of July, the International event will be held, where the participants in the Rural entrepreneur ecosystem will be determined and a Memorandum of Understanding and future cooperation will be signed.