EMBRACE project officially kicked off on the 17th of February 2020.

Budapest, Hungary

by Annabelle van der Scheer

17th & 18th of February

While the EMBRACE project had been in the works for many months before, the project officially kicked off on the 17th of May 2020 in Budapest.

The kick-off was hosted by the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, which was represented by László and Fanni. We spent the two days at the DEMOLA building, at a stone’s throw from the beautiful Danube river and at a one-minute walk from the hotel where the whole EMBRACE team was staying. The DEMOLA location was chosen by László not only for its location but because it is a hub of entrepreneurship in Budapest. Several times people stopped in to check out the presentations and have a quick chat about the project; it was the appropriate place for EMBRACE to get started.

The meeting had the central goal of reaching a common understanding of every detail of the project. In order to do this, we need to achieve two main things: get to know each other and get to know every detail. Lina from Dramblys in Spain – and a lego-training expert in the making – led us through two team building exercises centered around using the familiar toy building blocks. The first exercise was aimed at understanding the value of communication. During the second exercise we ‘built’ the EMBRACE project with legos, in two teams, and presented our results and rationales. The exercises were a lovely way to break the ice and warm up for a long day at work.

We then proceeded to go through each work package bit by bit. It became clear that with a project of this magnitude and complexity, there were many details to define and fine-tune. All the partners had a similar vision for the ultimate of the project, but the path to getting there was not crystal clear yet.

It was very interesting to get to hear about the way that every partner, due to their cultural background, saw different opportunities and potential difficulties for the project. In some countries entrepreneurship, a stepping stone to CSE, is a long accepted and everyday thing, while in other countries it is quite new and not too popular. The same goes for corporate social responsibility (CSR), another related topic to CSE which also increases the complexity and importance of having a CSE curriculum EU-wide.

On the second day we got to do a brainstorm session where we created some drafts and concepts for ways to promote the EMBRACE projects to different stakeholders. Such as, general press releases, social media options to target students, statements and promotional ideas to target organizations and educational institutions. When talking about the marketing and communication surrounding the project, the specific word choice showed itself to be very important. Some words invoke a very different picture than others and with a concept as new and unknown as CSE, spreading a clear message is very important.

Next to the specific content related work of our visit to Budapest, we also got to look around the city a bit and get to know each other better over dinner. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday night most of the partners got together for dinner which was a great way to exchange ideas for the project and get to know more about everyone’s background.

Next to the specific content related work of our visit to Budapest, we also got to look around the city a bit and get to know each other better over dinner. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday night most of the partners got together for dinner which was a great way to exchange ideas for the project and get to know more about everyone’s background.

The two days of presenting, discussing, writing, listening and reading – and getting a quick look at Budapest! – were a very much needed jump-start to the project. Many questions were answered, many more were raised, and we became a team ready to tackle the task of the EMBRACE project.