Crafts encompasses a wide range of disciplines including ceramics, glass, textiles, jewelry, metalworking and woodworking that reflect the depth, breadth and diversity of European cultural identity. In economic terms the crafts industry is important as a source of jobs and wealth creation. It is characterized by small entrepreneurial businesses that provide viable, sustainable employment in cities, towns, villages and remote rural regions across the EU and are a catalyst for local economic development, enhancing the architectural and urban heritage, integration with sustainable tourism as well as social inclusion of disadvantaged groups.
The project's subobjective is to develop, with the contribution of all involved stakeholders, a framework stimulating policy learning and capacity building activities about the ways entrepreneurship is supported, with a focus on:
- Actions aimed to develop and improve the entrepreneurship skills.
- Actions supporting business creation and selfemployment, including business generational change and actions providing advice, coaching and mentoring helping to motivate young people to become entrepreneurs.
- Cooperation between the worlds of education & training and work to address skills mismatches in the field of entrepreneurship education, according to the needs expressed by the productive system.
- Actions aimed to regenerate crafts sector, creating innovative skills in collaboration with design and innovation sectors.
Partner organizations from seven countries (Italy, Bulgaria, Spain, Ireland, Hungary, Finland and Belgium) will combine their existing diverse experience and knowledge in order to achieve the project objectives. The municipality of Florence is the lead partner in the CRAFTS CODE project.