MICRO ERASMUS+ Project Partners meet in Malaga

MICRO Project partners meeting Group in 2017 (Michael Kenny [Maynooth University] with Ireland [Irish Rural link – project Leaders] Spain, Italy, Belgium, Greece, and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)
Thursday, January 25, 2018 - 09:00 to Friday, January 26, 2018 - 17:00
Malaga, Spain

Micro-enterprises (less than 10 employees) represent the vast majority of businesses (More than 95%) and employ around one third of the total EU workforce. Particularly in rural areas micro-enterprises are the main source of employment yet are the most exposed to the economic management and competitiveness challenges. Micro-enterprises tend to remain “local” seldom operating outside their national boundaries. But technological advances are offering new opportunities.
The idea behind MICRO is to develop and deploy Open Educational Resources (open and widely available training content and modules) targeted at micro and craft-type enterprises in rural areas to foster their chances of growth and access to EU single market opportunities. Ultimately this will enhance enhance micro and craft-type enterprise competitiveness by leveraging underutilised EU opportunities and promoting participation in the EU Single Market.
Studies (SMEs Going Digital EU Working Document (2013) and ICT usage in enterprises Eurostat (2013)) show that micro-enterprises’ competitiveness is limited by their slow adoption of ICT tools: The European Commission DG Enterprise In Identification of Future Skills Needs in Micro And Craft-Type Enterprises Up To 2020” (2011) urgently calls for the “development of tools and skills trainings structures with a special focus on micro and craft-type enterprises ”… to empower them to fully participate in the EU Single Market”.
This is the focus of the MICRO project: The development of accessible EU wide training materials combining the skills and knowledge of project partners.