The goal of SINAPSI- Simulazioni INterattive per l’APprendimento di Skill Individuali - is to deploy and test an innovative online tool and methodology for the teaching of “soft skills” such as negotiation, entrepreneurship, creativity, motivation, teamworking, etc. To achieve this goal, the project will bring together a 3D simulation platform, developed in an earlier Leonardo project (SISINE) and a classroom-based methodology for the teaching of soft skills, already field tested by one of the partners (an Italian training company). The tools and methodology provided will be suitable for use in small and large organizations in both the public and the private sector. The project is motivated by increasing European interest in soft skills, which many European organizations perceive as a way of improving overall effectiveness and efficiency as well as the performance of individual worker. Today, however, effective training in soft skills is still relatively rare. There are many reasons. Some of the most important are the limitations and high cost of traditional teaching methods, which mainly target small groups of managers. Another factor is the inability of small companies to make the required investment. Cultural and economic factors also play a role: even today, managers in some European countries are less aware than others of the advantages to be gained from effective training in soft skills. SINAPSI will circumvent these difficulties by exploiting the specific advantages of the platform developed in SISINE and the general advantages of e-learning. These include a strong ability to motivate learners, ease of use, the elimination of geographical barriers to access, and the lowering of training costs. At the same time, however, the project teaching methodology will maintain the advantage of traditional face to face teaching, assigning a strong role to specialist tutors and maintaining a focus on the differing needs of individual participants. The project will be coordinated by the Istituto di Scienze della Cognizione – Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche (ISTC-CNR), the same organization that led the SIISINE project and developed the SISINE platform. ISTC-CNR will be joined by Entropy KN, an Italian training company that will provide and adapt the teaching methodology and by three additional partners from Italy, France and Slovakia who will plan and manage trials of the platform and methodology. In Italy the trial will be conducted by the Dipartimento di scienze relazionali of the Università Federico II, Naples – a department which has always had a strong interest in novel teaching methodologies. The French trial will be managed by MF & Partners Consulting, a training and business consultancy which already uses online technology in its training activities. The Slovak trial will be managed by PDCS, the partner responsible for the successful Slovak trial in SISINE. The trials will test the project in three distinct settings: high schools (in Italy), SMEs (in France) and the Public Administration (in Slovakia). The goal is to show how simulation-based e-learning can effectively satisfy learning needs that usually require face to face teaching. The project will facilitate the spread of training in soft skills, making it accessible to target populations who do not benefit from current offerings, contributing in the longer term to a broader shift in European training, with a new emphasis on innovative curricula and training methods.