Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Hanze UAS) is the largest university of applied sciences in the Northern Netherlands and has been educating skilled and committed professionals for over two centuries. In addition, Hanze UAS is the first to found an international business school in the Netherlands. Moreover, Hanze UAS is the only large higher education institute in the country with an art academy and a conservatoire. Almost 30.000 students study at Hanze UAS and more than 8 percent of them are international students. Hanze UAS consists of 19 schools and has over 3.000 staff members. Hanze UAS trains professionals in more than 70 degree programmes, from associate degrees to Master’s programmes, both full-time and part-time.

Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) is a leading higher education institution situated at Baltic region in Vilnius, Lithuania. Established in 1956 VGTU currently has over 10 200 students and carries out studies at 10 faculties: Environmental Engineering, Architecture, Electronics, Fundamental Sciences, Mechanics, Civil Engineering, Transport Engineering, Business Management, Creative Industries as well as Aviation Institute named after Antanas Gustaitis. Research is carried out at 14 research institutes, 3 research centres and 33 research departments. The University has a long- term experience in international research and studies projects and has a tradition of teaching in English. More than 500 courses within 15 undergraduate and 15 graduate programmes are taught entirely in English. The total number of degree and exchange students from abroad has exceeded 1000, which makes 10 percent of the whole student body. VGTU is the leader in Lithuania by the number of students, studying abroad and the teaching staff teaching abroad under the Erasmus+ Programme. VGTU has coordinated and participated in international programmes, including EU-Asia-link, ALFA III, Tempus, ERASMUS+, Framework 6-7, H2020, Eureka, etc. The university is ranked in Business & Management Studies (201-250 place), and in subjects of Economics & Econometrics (301–350 place) among top world universities.

Founded in 1911, the University of Porto (U.Porto) is one of the largest higher education and research institutions in Portugal with 31.309 students (19% international, including mobility), 2.436 academics & researchers and 1.576 administrative staff. It is one of the best-positioned PT HEI in national and international rankings: Times Higher Education 2018 (401-500); QS 2018/19 (328); Leiden 2018 (145); NTU 2018 (218).

It has 14 Faculties, 1 Business School and 49 Research Units located in 3 campuses within Porto. U.Porto is the leading producer of science in Portugal, responsible for 24.8% of the scientific production in Portugal. Ensuring high quality in training, education and research is of paramount importance to U.Porto, together with its strong commitment towards society. U.Porto opened its doors to the world, in recent years, having coordinated and being involved in several projects, namely Erasmus+ (International Credit Mobility, Joint Master Degrees, Capacity Building, Strategic Partnerships) and Erasmus Mundus projects. Together these projects represent direct management by U.Porto of roughly €58M and have greatly contributed to reinforce its internationalisation process and generated new cooperation opportunities with HEIs from more than 100 Countries.

U.Porto Innovation, the Technology Transfer Office of U.Porto, was created in 2004 with the purpose of supporting the University’s innovation value chain by fostering the transfer of knowledge and reinforcing the bond between the University and businesses. With over 17 years of experience, U.Porto Innovation focuses its activities in the fields of intellectual property, technology transfer, entrepreneurship & spin-off creation, and university-industry relations. U.Porto Innovation has been actively involved in the implementation of national and international projects in diverse fields of science, technology and innovation achieving a cumulative experience in delivering training to different audiences and creating strategic links with regional, national and international partners for R&D, innovation and internationalisation purposes.

The Institute of Sociology (IS-UP) is one of U.Porto research centers. IS-UP was founded in 1989 with the aim of promoting research in this specific area of knowledge, assembling also the heritage of other social sciences. The Institute of Sociology is open to the region and the country as a catalyst for debate and scientific innovation. Since 2002, the Institute of Sociology integrates the network of R&D units of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) of the Ministry of Education and Science (http://www.fct.pt/) and is currently rated as “Very Good”. Focused on fundamental and action research, it provides socially relevant services, seeking to create an increasingly active involvement with the community, alongside the dissemination of research outcomes, in order to attract new audiences to scientific knowledge, and in particular to the sociological approach to reality. IS-UP has an intense scientific activity, developed on a daily basis by more than thirty integrated researchers, several FCT PhD fellows and more than forty collaborator researchers. Multiple projects have been developed, involving a vast network of partnerships, particularly with public, private institutions and associations. One of the main research lines is focused on the area of sociology of work, professions, organizations and enterprises and its relationship with the education, training and public policies.

Digital Technology Skills Limited (formerly Creative Change Ireland Limited) was established in 2001 and has been a leading influence in the field of training, management development and the introduction of human performance improvement and impact measurement in Ireland.

The company specialises in management development and strategic management of large and complex business development and change management programmes in the public and private sector. These have included managing the Financial Services Training Network under the EU ACCEL initiative, the Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet under the Skillnet Ireland Training Networks Programme of the Department of Education and Skills, the PRISM SME digitisation programme of the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland and the Eurochambres Training Academy.

In 2004 the company managed the effective delivery of the project ‘Mapping Business Networks on the Island of Ireland’ for InterTrade Ireland and has delivered a number of major programmes for Skillnets, South Dublin Chamber of Commerce, Dublin Regional Authority, Tallaght Partnership, and Chambers Ireland. In the period 2005-to date, the company has successfully managed the Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet project on behalf of Ibec – https://www.ictskillnet.ie/

Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), the Top Ranked Institute of Technology in Ireland in 2018, is a university-level institution in the South-East of Ireland with over 10,000 students and 1,000 staff. WIT offers tuition and research programmes in various areas from Higher Certificate to Degree to PhD. WIT is the major provider of higher education in the South East region of Ireland and one of the largest Institute of Technology (IoTs) in Ireland. The Institute’s range and scope reflect the changing needs of the southeast as well as the country as a whole. Centre Enterprise Development and Regional Economy (CEDRE), a research centre in WIT, provides a framework and environment for entrepreneurs, researchers, academics and policy makers/implementers to engage in a mutually complementary manner to support economic growth and development of Ireland’s South East region. CEDRE interacts closely with state agencies, entrepreneurs, industry, financial institutions, and academic networks regionally, nationally, and internationally. CEDRE has secured research funding attracting almost €12 million in research programmes, since 2005. These include a number of funding programmes, namely, FP7, European Lifelong Learning, INTERREG IVC, ERASMUS+, Enterprise Ireland, Leonardo, INTERREG 4A, FP6, INTERREG 3A and Strand 1.

The Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) was founded in 1782. More than 1300 professors, researchers and numerous invited expert specialists participate in education and research within the structure of eight faculties. BME is currently attended by more than 18,000 students in day courses and nearly 8,000 participating in other forms of education. The university has fully fledged English programs at BSc/MSc/PhD and presently having international students from more than 50 countries.

The BME’s organizational unit for knowledge transfers, the BME Technology and Knowledge Transfer Office (MTTI) facilitates the transfer of research results achieved at BME into business and industry, and disseminates innovation culture among the citizens and partners of the University. MTTI’s clear objective is serving scientists and creating an environment in which the parties mutual interest to utilise (go to market) the R&D results. The BME Innovation Lab, also known as centre of incubation and acceleration for would be start-ups from the university’ ecosystem is managed also by MTTI. The Innovation Lab is hosting Demola Budapest, which is an internationally recognized open innovation platform and environment, where multi-disciplinary student teams create new solutions to real problems. It’s a platform where students, professionals of project partners and universities can collaborate and inspire each other.

UNESCO Chair on Science and Innovation Policies (982) established in 2012 at the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration (Romania). The Chair’s long-term objective is to provide policy makers and entrepreneurs in the Region with the necessary tools to consistently and effectively create solutions for the most complex challenges and, by that, to advance the global dialogue on science and innovation policies.

Domhan Vision UG (haftungsbeschränkt) is a SME in Hude, North Germany. Domhan Vision’s (DV) objects are the planning, development and implementation of innovative projects with the main focus on entrepreneurial, sport and social projects, including education, knowledge management and learning by means of ICT tools. Besides DV develops and runs sport events within its main focus.
DV works together with universities and local authorities to provide learners and the community with innovative and effective solutions to tackle complex societal and entrepreneurial challenges.

HCIA is a non profit industrial association representing Greek companies from all sub-sectors of the clothing industry (men, women and children’s clothing, underwear, swimwear, shirts and fashion accessories). HCIA’s activities related to the project are through the management of the Textiles and Clothing Design Lab in Athens, which provides support for:

• Product design (cad facilities, design software etc.)
• Small scale product prototyping facilities (in co-operation with the Athens make-lab)
• Sourcing services
• Fashion trends, information and analysis
• Training services for SMEs and young designers (e.g. branding, export marketing, product cost analysis etc.)
• Social networking (artists, designers, SMEs, retailers, schools, consumers, exhibition organisers, export promoters, heritage foundations, research organisations, etc.)
• Processing and preparation for clustering and new labs development.

HCIA has considerable experience in managing EU funded projects and its personnel has been involved in a number of projects funded within Erasmus+, Horizon 2020, Interreg MED, Asia Invest and other programmes.

The main role of HCIA in the project is related to evaluation and monitoring of the project’s quality. HCIA will be responsible for updating the quality management and evaluation strategy and ensuring its ongoing implementation. Moreover, HCIA participates together will all partners in the development of the curriculum, the online platform, the testing and the dissemination activities of the project.

DRAMBLYS is a non-profit organisation located in Spain. DRAMBLYS combines sociological imagination and inquiry with social creativity and design to approach, explore, and innovate solutions to contribute to sustainable development. Its main programmes and areas of expertise include the following: programmes design and evaluation, data visualisation and social innovation design, development and management.

DRAMBLYS aspires to serve as an interactive platform and meeting point to exchange, design, inspire and promote social innovation projects and creative alternatives, both globally and locally. It aims to facilitate creative dialogues and co-create sustainable alternatives and so, to inspire new social entrepreneurs and community leaders and promote sustainable ways of living.