On the 9th and 10th of September EMBRACE project consortium is meeting online to advance with the project development and continue working on the concept of Corporate Social Entrepreneurship (CSE). In February, the partners met in Budapest to reach a common understanding of every detail of the project. According to the project plan during these days, on 9th to 11th September 2020, the partners were going to meet for a second transnational meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, hosted by Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU). However, given the current situation due to the COVID-19 crisis, plans have been adapted and the consortium is holding online meetings. 

Despite the COVID-19 situation has altered the opportunity to meet in person during the transnational meetings, the project development is proceeding smoothly and according to the timetable. Last month the partnership finalized a report “Review of Corporate Social Entrepreneurship (CSE) programmes in HEIs” that has been developed within the framework of Work Package 2. The report reviews Corporate Social Entrepreneurship (CSE) Programmes in HEIs in Europe and also in other relevant jurisdictions. The review is based on methodological guidelines instructing EMBRACE partners to perform different research techniques, namely desk research, interviews and focus groups. In total, 34 countries are analysed through desk research and 9 countries are analysed through 63 interviews and 19 focus groups with relevant stakeholders. As stressed by the project coordinator, Prof. Bill O'Gorman: 

“This considerable undertaking suggests that conditions for CSE education are poor and, consequently, difficult to be absorbed and implemented by different organisations. The vast majority of HEIs do not offer CSE programmes and the number of experts in the field is very limited. As a result, the level of CSE awareness is low and firms and other organisations are not implementing CSE processes and solutions for employees, customers and society in general. Therefore the EMBRACE project is timely and appropriate as it that it presents new way of doing business addressing societal needs in a holistic way.” 
Yesterday morning the partnership addressed the development and progress of Work Package 3 “Benchmarking Good Practices of Corporate Social Entrepreneurship (CSE)” and today morning the consortium is meeting online again to continue the discussion and work on the forthcoming tasks and deliverables: CSE Curriculum and EMBRACEedulab. 

In the afternoon, from 14.30 to 17.30 CET, all interested parties and stakeholders are invited to join EMBRACE webinars, that will address and showcase Corporate Social Entrepreneurship projects and examples. The consortium will present four excellent talks on CSE practices to the public from five different leading organizations in the field. For more information about the webinars and registration, please visit: http://csembrace.eu/webinar-on-corporate-social-entrepreneurship-cse-practices/ 

The EMBRACE project is a project co-financed by the European Union's Erasmus+ program, that began in January 2020 and will run until December 2022. It brings together a consortium of 10 European partner organisations – Waterford Institute of Technology (Ireland), Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (Lithuania), DRAMBLYS (Spain), Budapest University of Technology and Economics - BME (Hungary), National School of Political Studies and Public Administration (Romania), Domhan Vision (Germany), Hellenic Management Association (Greece), Digital Technology Skills Limited (Ireland), University of Porto (Portugal) and Hanze University of Applied Science (The Netherlands).