Project name: Patent entrepreneurship for migrants
Funding scheme: Erasmus+ Youth Program
Type of action: KA220 YOU – Cooperation Partnerships
Partner countries: Estonia – Lithuania – Germany – Ireland – Portugal
Project duration: April 2023 – April 2025
Project budget: 250.000 €
Learning Library is part of the consortium implementing the project.
Patents are the pathway and an opportunity for sustainable economic development. However, at the moment migrants, especially young migrants have very little chance of accessing the system due to the obstacles to access the knowledge, legal hurdles and complexities that surround it. By making this path more accessible to young migrants interested in patent entrepreneurship, we will increase the accessibility of patent entrepreneurship and the inclusion and diversity of entrepreneurship across Europe.
For this reason, our project will specifically tackle patents, as the patenting system encourages inventions and innovations, which, if channelized in the right direction, can lead to achieving economic and environmental sustainability. From the economic side, the crucial feature of patents is that they deal with new knowledge, as embodied in an innovative product or process, and they confer rights to the inventor. By endowing discoverers with property rights over the fruits of their effort, patents affect the incentive to innovate and are likely to increase the flow of innovation. Once young migrants discover patenting systems in different countries and get educated about the basics of entrepreneurship, they will have many more chances to create their startups and become self sustainable.
Project objectives:
VILNIUS TECH (LT) is one of the biggest research universities in Lithuania with a focus on technologies and engineering and a strong emphasis on university-business cooperation. They bring extensive experience in the implementation of international projects within the E+ program and each year VilTech implements over 70 international projects as a partner or coordinator. For this reason, they were selected as an applicant and leading coordinator of the consortium. The results of this project will contribute to the advancement of the university curriculum as well as facilitate international research and academic activities.
Website: https://vilniustech.lt/
Active Youth (LT) as the most experienced organisation in the youth work sector, will bring experience in organising education and training for youth workers/youth educators, development of sessions, methodologies etc. For this reason, they will be responsible for the organisation of training activities inside the consortium.
Website: https://activeyouth.lt/
TecMinho (PT) aims to promote the region’s development by stimulating new technologies and by promoting the transfer of knowledge between universities, enterprises, and society. They bring large practical experience in entrepreneurial and patenting activities (138 university start-up companies supported, and 358 patent references). The center for intellectual property protection and registration is a member of the Portuguese national network of patent offices. Together with Outside, their key staff will also work on the development of a documentary movie.
Website: https://www.tecminho.uminho.pt/
Momentum (IE) brings their specialisation in problem-centered training projects and learner-centric programmes with a focus on entrepreneurship, empowerment and social inclusion. Their expertise in improving youth education will be essential in the project, as with experience spanning needs assessments and policy analysis, curricular design and materials development they will be responsible for the development of intellectual outputs.
Website: https://momentumconsulting.ie/
Outside (DE) is a specialist focusing on hard-to-reach groups, especially NEET youngsters and those of migrant and multicultural backgrounds, and diversity in its many forms. Especially relevant for this project application is that Outside is specialised in creating compelling content based on storytelling for empowerment, using sound, text, narration, video, photography, and interviews. The creativity and skills of their key staff will be used in order to develop dissemination activities, as well as assist in the development of a documentary movie.
Websites:
Learning Library OU (EE) brings an essential added value to the project, as we bring a business edu-tech point of view and approach.
We bring together experts from education, Human Resources (HR) and Information Technology (IT) with one aim – to help digitalise learning and educate workers to improve impact with beneficiaries.
With our proven expertise, they will be leaders for the development of online learning materials in this project.