OFFSET digitalizatiOn and entrepreneurship For handcraFting (Erasmus+ Ka202 VET programme)
As highlighted by the “Digital Education Action Plan” COM(2018) 22 final, digital literacy, together with literacy and numeracy, is nowadays seen as a fundamental asset whose lack is considered to be almost invalidating. Almost every day new digital technologies are developed or evolve from existing ones, changing human behavior in social, educational, working and many other fields. The pace at which innovation moves is so fast that it leaves behind some portions of the population, especially older population groups or the people that for some reason left their studies at an early age. Nevertheless, even in highly educated population groups digital knowledge is often at a very low or inexistent level. One of the fields that has undergone an exceptional amount of changes caused by this phenomenon called DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION, is labor field, in which the ever-growing use of digital technologies is creating the risk for some sectors to be left behind and to become obsolete and outdated. Another difficulty that digital skills acquisition is experiencing in some working fields is the perception of detachment that these fields have in their regards, especially because they are often seen as too complicated, time consuming and not relevant to practical working activities. In specific, crafts field, with all its sectors, is possibly the field in which digital skills and competencies are perceived as the most detached from the working processes, and this perception is more diffused among middle-aged and elderly handicraftsmen. Our Erasmus+ Ka2 project OFFSET, therefore, intents to foster the acquisition of digital and entrepreneurial skills for handcrafting entrepreneurs and handicraftsmen, affecting both the educational and digital society themes of the “Europe 2020 Strategy” COM(2010) 2020 final, and following the indications given by the “Digital Education Action Plan” COM(2018) 22 final. OFFSET’s challenges will be the identification of all the attributes that they should possess and the creation of a media capable of transmitting the much needed knowledge to the identified target groups. OFFSET general objectives will be:
- Facilitate the passage through the digital transformation for handcrafting entrepreneurs (present and potential), making
them able to use digital skills and transforming them into digital artisans, through their participation to VET trainings.
- Train the trainers: Producing a collection of best practices and educational materials to fill digital and entrepreneurial knowledge gaps for handcrafting VET trainers and business coaches
- Create/enhance handcrafting entrepreneurs’ digital and entrepreneurial skills and competencies
- Improve the awareness of present handcrafting entrepreneurs and investors

Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium and Chyprus