 This strange but memorable pandemic year is coming to an end. Like any organization that has set clear goals and priorities, the Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club (KISMC) reports to its members with another successful year. At the National Valorization Conference that took place in Sofiа on 18.12.2020, KISMC was awarded a certificate of quality for the successful implementation of the project Boost Aid for Social Entrepreneurship through Training (BASET). Such awards were given to only 40 projects out of 1500 projects in total from different categories, and this project is the only one to receive the award in the field Adult Education. Since the very end of 2019 and in 2020, we've launched seven new projects under the Erasmus+ programme, remaining loyal to one of the most successful human resources development under EU programmes. Namely, these projects are:
In such a way for the last few years since its establishment, KISMC has joined as a partner or leading organization 15 projects in total under the Erasmus+ Programme, 6 of which are finalized successfully and 9 are undergoing. By joining these projects, we remain fully committed to the topics that we consider very important for the development of our country, namely knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurship and, of course, the impact of new technologies and methods in these areas. Being also an active member of the Cluster Sofia Knowledge City, our organization KISMC supports with a part of its HR capacity three quite interesting and important projects that the cluster is realizing currently as a member of international partnerships, namely:
As a result, KISMC expanded its international presence in cooperation with over 20 new organizations from Europe, enriched its knowledge and experience in the field of knowledge management and innovation in SMEs, and developed and disseminated new useful methodologies, tools and good practices in these areas for the benefit of the Bulgarian business and the non-governmental sector.  The TransIT project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, develops and provides innovative curricula, educational methods and training courses that guarantee an effective transition to Industry 4.0 standards. The project will provide a solution for company leaders, industry executives, HR professionals, SMEs and VET centers. Partners in the project are: Trebag (Hungary), NUI Galway (Ireland), Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia - Institute for Business Education, Weople (Portugal), KISMC (Bulgaria), IDEC (Greece), ARTO (Hungary), Robot-X (Hungary). Below you can find more information on the project and how it enhances innovation and motivation in the workforce towards the transition to Industry 4.0:   For additional information about the TransIT project, read here.  The first transnational meeting of the TransIT project was held on the 9th and 10th of December 2019, in Budapest and was hosted by Trebag Szellemi tulajdon- és Projektmenedzser Kft, the project coordinator.
The Project partners had the chance to meet with each other and discuss about the progress of the project: Trebag (Hungary), NUI Galway (Ireland), Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia - Institute for Business Education, Weople (Portugal), KISMC (Bulgaria), IDEC (Greece), ARTO (Hungary), Robot-X (Hungary). The TransIT project will create a training kit for the middle management of SMEs with a technical background, which aims at developing transversal competences necessary for managing the transition to Industry 4.0, in work environment. For more information about the project, click here.  The TransIT project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, develops and provides innovative curricula, educational methods and training courses that guarantee an effective transition to Industry 4.0 standards.
The project will provide a solution for company leaders, industry executives, HR professionals, SMEs and VET centers. Partners in the project are: Trebag (Hungary), NUI Galway (Ireland), Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia - Institute for Business Education, Weople (Portugal), KISMC (Bulgaria), IDEC (Greece), ARTO (Hungary), Robot-X (Hungary). The TransIT project will produce three main elements that together will form a complete training kit, whereas each element will offer strong capacity building and help to successful adjust to the forthcoming challenges of Industry 4.0 standards.
For more information on the project read here.  The third transnational meeting of the “Internet of Things security nuggets” - a strategic partnership co-funded by the Erasmus plus programme of the European Commission, took place on 11 October 2019 in Piraeus and was hosted by IDEC: Aintek symvouloi epicheiriseon ypsilis technologias ekpaidefsi anonymi etaireia. Prior to the transnational meeting all project partners also participated in the first training and first multiplier event - Cybersecurity in the IoT Ecosystem as part of the project. Photos from the events below.
Partners in the project are:
IoT security nuggets: 2018-1-BG01-KA202-047919 is an Erasmus + project. For more information about the project, read here.  The second transnational meeting of the “Internet of Things security nuggets” - a strategic partnership co-funded by the Erasmus plus programme of the European Commission, took place on 1-2 April 2019 in Bilabao & San Sebastian and was hosted by University of Deusto & GAIA: Asociacion de industrias de conocimiento y technologia. Partners in the project are:
During the second project meeting all partners discussed definitions of competencies, next steps in the project implementation, including the 5 intellectual outputs as well as the next transnational meeting, training and multiplier event in Greece. The project aims at developing a new methodology and framework with a model of digital competence for the Security of the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem including security and privacy to face the challenges that cybersecurity put in place. It is targeting VET providers and trainers in the ICT field, software engineers and programmers who want and need to update their competences, skills, and knowledge in cyber security of the ecosystem of IoT. And, ICT entrepreneurs who have, want, and/or would like to start a business in the IoT field. IoT security nuggets: 2018-1-BG01-KA202-047919 is an Erasmus + project. For more information about the project, read here.  Following the publications on our blog in the BASET project’s site - www.baset.info, let me share as a mentor and management consultant, what questions I would ask social entrepreneurs at my first meeting with them. The proposed questions neither exhaust all possibilities, nor claim universality. Any one of us - mentors and consultants - could ask more or less the questions below, depending on their own experience and concrete case. Nevertheless, I believe that at the very beginning of starting my work with my client – the social entrepreneur, I have to sketch a general picture of the business idea and to understand the profile of the owner of it. Questions to ask social entrepreneursSo, let me describe these questions with more details: 1. The first question concerns the motivation of the person. I would be very keen to have an idea what his/her motivation is and why he/she would like to start his/her own business in the areas of tackling social challenges and problems. I will ask the entrepreneur whether he/she knows what the expected impact is and whether he/she will rely on sustainable decisions. What the vision and mission are and how they are described? What does lead the entrepreneur to the realization of this idea? 2. Secondly, it is commonly accepted that the inherited mentality of people is an important factor of their decisions to become entrepreneurs and to help other people. I would ask them to share with me whether in their family they have entrepreneurs or people who have led other people and managed projects, and if they have received tips and good examples from them? Or maybe they have been instructed or influenced by other leaders or concrete examples in a national or global context? 3. Next question concerns important competences. Does the entrepreneur know the social issues he or she will have to deal with as an entrepreneur and could he/she share with me what knowledge and competences still lack about this area, as well as for the economy and management of the company or the organization, which the entrepreneur plans to start-up or scale-up? Does the entrepreneur know well what difficulties and challenges await him on the way?  4. The 4th question concerns what skills the entrepreneur would be able to rely on, so the social venture is successful? Does he or she know what skills they lack for being successful social entrepreneurs?? 5. Next, I would like to know whether the entrepreneur has personal experience in working with social projects and/ or with doing classic business? I will ask the entrepreneur about his or her experience in a social enterprise or in a network that supports social causes? Any information I will receive about the previous experience of the social entrepreneurs can be very supportive for me as a mentor and consultant? 6. My 6th question will be about empathy. I will be very interested to know what is the reason that the entrepreneur would like to be involved in solving social challenges. Whether this is philanthropy, social responsibility, the belief that everything is in our hands and this is their philosophy of life, or the understanding that every business is social when it is innovative, and that the social business model is more efficient in comparison with the classic ones, or this is a better approach of searching for justice, or for solving global problems, or all these things? Also, I would be very interested to understand if the entrepreneur is ready to achieve the goal, despite the anticipated difficulties and losses and he/she is ready to work hard towards reducing the risks of failure to a minimum? 7. The 7th question concerns the leadership and is one of the most important for me. I would be very curious to understand what the entrepreneur thinks about him/herself as a leader who can engage other people in solving the tasks and achieving social impact? What qualities are needed and are useful to become a business leader as well? Does the difference between the two types of leadership is known? 8. Next question concerns the integrity. Whether the entrepreneur knows the moral and ethical norms of doing business in regard to users, investors, customers, beneficiaries, competitors, suppliers, consultants, etc.? Is the entrepreneur ready to give up of the ideas and goals for achieving financial and social impact, if this overrides the norms? 9. The 9th question is about what is the social intelligence of the entrepreneur I would be engaged to work for. Can the entrepreneur find stakeholders, supporters, partners and/ or a network of contacts that support their mission and intend to achieve specific social effects? How does he/she plan to include them in their initiative / project / enterprise to increase their chances of success? 10. And finally, the 10th and may be the most important question concerns the business model. Does my trainee or mentee have an initial idea of how he/she will create and sell something useful to the users, and how the target group will benefit? I would like to receive simple answers to the questions: who, why, what, how, to whom, and where? Can my mentee develop a more detailed operational business plan and do they know where they would seek some help?
This package of questions may look quite large but form my experience any professional mentor, coach, consultant, or trainer can succeed of collecting all those answers within 30 minutes. The professionals can also use ready questionnaires that are included in our SEDM model and are posted in the site as self-evaluation questionnaires https://www.baset.info/for-social-entrepreneurs.html . After making this preliminary picture of the business idea and the profile of the social entrepreneur, we can proceed with creating an individual plan for working with him or her. Author Dimitar Hristov Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club (KISMC) www.innovation-mc.com  Small and medium-sized companies are the backbone of the European economy and empower the growth and employment. Moreover, SMEs contribute to the training of the future work force through their involvement in apprenticeships and indeed, apprenticeship schemes offer great value not only to the SMEs and the apprentices themselves, but also to the entire society. By documenting and sharing good practices, SMEs can learn from their own experiences and from others. They can turn this knowledge into action and develop their capacities and respond more quickly and effectively to different changes that may arise. If good practices are not documented, it is highly possible that mistakes will be repeated, successful examples will be forgotten and opportunities for improved practices will be lost. That is why, as part of the Erasmus+ project ROI - Return on Investment of WBL and Apprenticeships, KISMC opens a call to collect good practices from collaborating companies. The collection of good practices will present different ways to facilitate the involvement of SMEs in apprenticeship schemes and will serve as a standard to promote knowledge sharing, collaboration, increase efficiency and enhance work-based learning (WBL) and apprenticeship supply. The call aims at gathering a collection of good practices and successful examples from SMEs throughout the pilot experimentation of the ROI project. All partners: Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club (KISMC) - Bulgaria, the Technical University of Kosice (TUKE) - Slovakia, 3 training organisations active in VET: IDEC - Greece, CECOA - Portugal, PIT - Spain and Social Value UK , DLEARN - Italy and Cosmic Innovations - Cyprus, will work together for case studies of SMEs offering apprenticeships. All the practices will be published in a Good Practices Guide, which will include a set of instructions, suggestions and successful examples from the project partners' countries. This will lead to contributing to the work-based learning (WBL) and apprenticeships' supply from SMEs.  Many SMEs realize the need of investing in young talent and have started to recognize the benefits. However, attracting new talent has its challenges and realizing what support is out there to assist this process and make it more appealing for SMEs to implement these practices requires better awareness of the existing materials, know-how and support. Moreover, this type of investment starts early, with partnerships and activities at school and universities. Apart from the direct benefits for companies, there is also a broader spectrum of advantages for the society, such as increased employability and employment of young people, work experience opportunities, development of a pool of skilled workers at regional level, social inclusion of vulnerable groups, economic returns such as reduction of public expenditure etc. Furthermore, SMEs providing WBL and apprenticeship programmes experience variety of advantages, ranging from financial to soft benefits both short and long term, such as higher productivity, reduction of external recruitment, highly motivated and talented personnel, enhanced corporate image, staff retention, opportunity to fill skill gaps etc.  There are various factors and elements of the education system across the EU but a unified approach and frameworks have been developed to enhance the role of work-based learning in its different forms and apprenticeships in particular. Moreover, to make them an effective tool for SMEs to solve the issue with lack of skills and talent, on the one hand. On the other hand, they are growth and success factors for businesses as well as key drivers for success for SMEs. Implementing a holistic approach and system for apprenticeships allows SMEs to become more competitive and attract the right set of skills, knowledge and competences for growth and innovation as key competitive advantages in today’s economy and competitive markets. According to the research and surveys as well as the conducted focus groups of the project “Return on Investment of Work Based learning and apprenticeships”, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, SMEs' decision to engage in the supply of WBL and apprenticeship training is determined by the cost-benefit ratio of such an investment. Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club (KISMC) is a partner in the "Return on Investment of Work Based learning and apprenticeships" project (ROI), along with a diverse and complementary mix of organisations - from Slovakia the Technical University of Kosice (TUKE), 3 training organisations active in VET: IDEC - Greece, CECOA - Portugal, PIT - Spain and also from the UK - Social Value UK - a network focusing on social value and social impact, from Italy a network focusing on the promotion of digital learning and use of ICT - DLEARN and an ICT company focusing in ICT-enabled E&T - Cosmic Innovations - Cyprus.  Costs & BenefitsThe following costs and benefits have been identified through the project partners' research based on focus groups and surveys among SMEs:
Calculation of RoIThe ROI project has been focusing on developing:
- A model for the calculation of RoI of WBL and apprenticeships by SMEs - A digital tool that will demonstrate the RoI model in a visual way to calculate and visualize how investment on WBL and apprenticeships can manifest to multiple benefits. To access the ROI calculation model and digital tool, please click here.  The first transnational meeting of the “Internet of Things security nuggets” - a strategic partnership co-funded by the Erasmus plus programme of the European Commission, took place on 9-10 October 2018 in Sofia and was hosted by University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (ULSIT), the project coordinator. Partners in the project are:
The project aims at developing a new methodology and framework with a model of digital competence for the Security of the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem including security and privacy to face the challenges that cybersecurity put in place. It is targeting VET providers and trainers in the ICT field, software engineers and programmers who want and need to update their competences, skills, and knowledge in cyber security of the ecosystem of IoT. And, ICT entrepreneurs who have, want, and/or would like to start a business in the IoT field. IoT security nuggets: 2018-1-BG01-KA202-047919 is an Erasmus + project. For more information about the project, read here. |
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