R1-R4 (Innovative Results). Four results have been developed during the project implementation and are targeting HE students, professors and mentors. All the partners were involved in their development according to their expertise and coordination has been distributed in a balanced manner among the partners.
R1 constituted a critical assessment of teaching and learning practices within Green Biotech Education, spearheaded by UVP and supported by RAU, culminating in the delivery of the M6 initiative.
Serving as the foundational groundwork for R2 development and training materials, R1 aimed to advance education for sustainable development through rigorous policy analysis and qualitative research on practitioners' perspectives.
Two comprehensive studies were undertaken within this framework. Firstly, a quantitative evaluation examined professors' practices regarding responsible research and innovation inputs in Biotech Green Entrepreneurial education. Secondly, another quantitative analysis focused on Life Sciences/Biotech students' ecological behavior and green entrepreneurial intentions. Utilizing descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling techniques, the study dissected the influencing factors behind green entrepreneurial intent and ecological behavior. The inclusion of Eastern-European countries in the research sample enriched the study by offering a comparative perspective against Western European findings.
The study outcomes materialized into two detailed reports, with Study 1 (Learning Practices) spanning 40 pages and Study 2 (Teaching Practices) comprising 39 pages, formatted in B5 size as per a minimum target of 30 pages per study. Primarily structured around the design and deployment of tailored questionnaires for students and professors respectively, the reports shed light on the pivotal factors driving ecological behavior and green entrepreneurial intentions. Furthermore, they delineated strategies for integrating the findings into student courses, mentorship programs, and existing business ventures. Drawing conclusions from these insights, the reports provided recommendations for higher education institution (HEI) partners' top management to incorporate into their strategies and green action plans.
R2 is a course syllabus in “Biotech Green Entrepreneurship " to be taught by blended-learning tools to Master and PhD students in Life Sciences/Biotech & Business.
Here's a brief description of each chapter:
1. "Green BioEconomy – concepts and principles": Introduces the concept of the green bioeconomy, exploring its foundational principles and key concepts.
2. "Specific elements of entrepreneurship in the biotechnologies sector": Discusses the unique aspects of entrepreneurship within the biotechnologies sector, likely focusing on challenges and opportunities specific to this industry.
3. "Mapping of local Green Biotech business": Examines the landscape of local green biotech businesses, possibly providing insights into their distribution, characteristics, and trends.
4. "Entrepreneurial economic performances in Green Biotech": Analyzes the economic performance of green biotech entrepreneurship, likely evaluating factors such as profitability, growth, and market dynamics.
5. "Promotion and business management in green biotech": Explores strategies for promoting and managing green biotech businesses effectively, including marketing techniques and operational management.
6. "Risks and benefits in Green Biotech Business": Evaluates the risks and benefits associated with green biotech entrepreneurship, addressing factors such as regulatory challenges, technological uncertainties, and environmental impacts.
7. "Financial aspects of green biotech": Covers financial considerations relevant to green biotech businesses, including funding sources, investment strategies, and financial management practices.
8. "IT&C technologies and tools for green biotech entrepreneurship": Discusses the role of information technology and communication tools in supporting green biotech entrepreneurship, likely exploring areas such as data analytics, digital marketing, and automation.
9. "Programs and platforms that support the green biotech entrepreneurship": Highlights various programs and platforms designed to support green biotech entrepreneurs, such as incubators, accelerators, and funding initiatives.
Overall, the course book offers a comprehensive exploration of entrepreneurship in the green biotechnology sector, covering a range of topics from conceptual frameworks to practical strategies and tools for success.
The text was developed in English, followed by the translation into all the partners' languages. Based on this result teaching material was developed in PowerPoint format (7 materials with 20-30 slides/topic) and delivered during the Summer School (C3). All teaching materials were uploaded in the training section of R4 (Green Biotech Portal).
R3 is a guide for the mentors involved in the biotech green entrepreneurial mentorship programs delivered for Life Sciences/Biotech &Business students.
The guide examines the overall process, roles and skills involved in green biotech mentoring and aims to provide the green biotech mentor with a good understanding of the mentoring journey under the green concepts and principles. By reading and using the guide, the mentor, as well as the mentee (the student) will: developed an understanding of the breadth and complexity of the Green biotech mentoring roles; developed an awareness of mentoring techniques and processes; examined the key stages of a mentoring relationship and what happens within them; understood the skills and competences of a mentor and his/her relation with the mentee; and gained an insight into green mentoring.
The final content of the guide is as follows: (1) Green mentoring in biotech entrepreneurship context. (2) Biotech Green mentor profile. (3) Developing biotech green mentorship program and plans. (4) Biotech green mentor code of practices. (5) Students’ mentees profiling and mentoring relationships built. (6) In-person versus virtual mentoring. (7) Good practices
- case studies of biotech green mentorship.
When developing the guide, an important issue was to provide the reader an appreciation of traditional mentoring and green mentoring in the field of Biotechnology.
The guide was delivered as a PDF document, to include 87 pages (B5) of text and images, written in English and translated in all partnership languages: EN, RO, ES, CAT, IT, GR.
R4 is a Portal of Biotech Green Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and it was developed by RAU, with support from IT experts from CBM, and populated by the other partners. R4 is a key result for the biotech green networking and entrepreneurial ecosystem development. The beta version was delivered in M18 and tested immediately in the Summer School. The output was developed as an innovative tool for biotech green entrepreneurial networking and training/teaching activities of Biotech & Business students, teachers and relevant stakeholders from the Biotech Green Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. The platform is providing an interactive framework for all project partners.
The online platform (https://edu.greenbe.usamv.ro/) has two modules, a Networking and a Learning/Teaching/Training module.
# The Networking module supported the addition of a social networking feature in the main area of the Platform. Sections that display users’ photos, videos and friends are also available and can be placed on any zone position inside the platform structure design. The primary goal when developing this social networking module for the Platform was to provide those who wanted to create a community as an alternative to the existing solutions, with a modern look and feel, lots of great features and scalability. As an objective apart from other social networking solutions is its structured design. A special section was allocated for the biotech green mentors to get involved in virtual or in-person mentorship programs with Biotech students.
#Through the second main module, that is The Learning and Teaching module, a course curriculum was uploaded (based on R1, and R2, developed before) with lessons & quizzes which were managed with an easy-to-use interface for users. With the learning module, we can share it, manage it, and watch statistics about the number of students, trends. Connecting the learning module with the networking module is offering a complete solution of an online learning system that might help in offline and online training. The module can manage students, courses, sections, lessons, and quizzes. In addition, a special section is allocated to virtual mentorship planning. The platform also includes a Module for managing roles through which registered users can assign different roles in the platform such as students, teachers, and administrators.
# The platform offers a centralized knowledge management in innovation and digitalization containing reference documents that can be used in specific activities related to courses giving also access to resources located according to the national character and specific legislation for each of the partners. #The innovative character of the platform is emphasized through the central management of system resources knowledge management providing a fully rating system for individual activity in the activities and tasks of an online learning system and networking system with possibility of interaction between target group users and providing selective access to documents depending by activity and country in which it operates. The elements of innovation consist in the creation of a Biotech green entrepreneurial environment to e connect and inter-connect students, teachers, tutors, coaches and mentors, in a blended learning-approach.
The modules were tested in parallel, during their development and the beta- version was the support for the ongoing activities during the Summer School (21 students and 7 teachers were actively involved during the training). The output was also used during the multiplication events. The portal will be a tool to be used by all partners in sustainability.