The kick off meeting of the project called “EPIC – Enhancing and Promoting International business Communication” financed by the LLP Leonardo Da Vinci TOI (Transfer of Innovation) programme took place in Rzeszow (Poland) on the 5th and 6th of November 2013. The project involves six partners from six different countries among which the Centre for Creative Development Danilo Dolci. The other partners are: Danmar Computers (leader) from Poland, Semantica Ltd (UK), Euro-Friend Change Management Consultancy Ltd. (HU), Kauno Prekybos, Pramonės Ir Amatų Rūmai (Kaunas Chamber of Commerce) (LT), Elhuyar Zubize (ES). The partners were chosen in order to cover various sectors and geographical areas. All partners have experience in EU projects and training. Partners met in Poland to introduce the project and divided the tasks and responsibilities according to their expertise. The aims and objectives of the EPIC project are based on the key targets of the Lisbon Agenda and refer to Priority 1 as the project aims to improve identification of skills and competences needed in SMEs by applying VET based skills through an auditing process. It supports the Agenda for new skills jobs by introducing a new workforce category taking into account the needs of the labour market and suggesting competence-based communication changes within the SME sector. The project also supports the key competencies of communication in foreign languages and digital competence through the creation of a multilingual resource platform for European auditors and companies alike. Based on a feasibility study EPIC focuses on training auditors with the skills to enhance individual companies’ trade performance in identifying linguistic and intercultural barriers and finding solutions to overcome these. They will review the feasibility of audit schemes in Poland, Lithuania, Spain (Basque Region) and Italy (Sicily), adapt, produce and enhance the training materials in five partner languages (PO, LT, ES, Basque, IT), to implement and trial these materials by training auditors and carrying out pilot Communication Audits of SMEs in the target countries (thus encouraging the business services support system to adapt accordingly). The project EPIC lasts two years and it is coordinated in the Centre for Creative Development by Dario Ferrante For info contact Dario Ferrante – Centre for Creative Development Danilo Dolci dario.ferrante@danilodolci.org
