Building a circular economy for Europe is a key priority (EU Policy Report Jan 2017). Closing the loop-the Action Plan for the Circular Economy of the EU states: "the transition to a more circular economy, where the value of products, materials and resources is maintained in the economy for as long as possible, and the generation of waste minimized, is an essential contribution to the EU's efforts to develop a sustainable, low carbon, resource efficient and competitive economy."

Circular economy is a solution to increase EU's competitiveness by protecting businesses against scarcity of resources and unstable prices, helping to initiate new business opportunities and more sustainable ways of producing and consuming, as well as to create local jobs at all skills levels and opportunities for social integration.

As a solution for getting closer to the above mentioned, the Skill-Circle project will apply innovative methods to mainstream and enhance understanding for “circular economy thinking ”. The project last for 25 month (01/09/2017 - 30/09/2019) and is funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ Programme/ Strategic Partnerships.

The main aim of the project is to change the target groups’ (direct target group - VET learners, indirect target group - VET trainers, VET education and training providers) mindset and develop their key entrepreneurial competences for circular economy, improving therefore their employability and social inclusion.

The SKILL CIRCLE project aims therefore, at circular economy thinking skills development of VET learners - those with lower educational level and with migrant/refugee background - to become adequately skilled and active players of the future. Project outcomes will contribute to innovative entrepreneurial skills development of VET learners and to the integration of circular economy thinking skills training into European curricula by the following activities:

• Analysing the specific training needs in circular economy of VET learners

• Exploring current practices of circular economy thinking and acting in Europe

• Developing and testing a training program for driving a change of mindset and develop circular skills for the future

• Developing online training materials, tailored to low-educated learners and suitable for those with migrant/refugee background,

which will educate about circular economy thinking

• Developing high-quality OERs for VET learners, thus promoting equality and inclusion in the learning process

The outcomes of the project can be summarized as follows:

1. Research study on specific training needs of VET learners in relation to circular economy

2. Digital stories of circular thinking and acting from different sectors of industry in Europe

3. Curriculum and Training Kit development - aiming to drive a change of mindset of VET learners

4. b-Learning space - an open educational resource (OER) for developing circular thinking skills

The SKILL CIRCLE partnership consists of 6 organisations, coming from 6 European countries (HUf - Sweden, SEC-Romania, Inthecity - Netherlands, Eolas - Spain, ISQ - Portugal and ETA - UK) highly motivated in exploiting the Skill-CIRCLE outputs, with complementary expertise and highly experienced in key entrepreneurial skills development, design of web based educational films and multimedia products.