The rules of modern European society are changing. People want to have an active role in defining the way they live, the way they learn, the way they work, the way they interact. They are shaping the world and helping it to grow and develop through the creation of new ideas, partnerships and businesses. With the development of social technologies, the opportunities for budding entrepreneurs also grow. As was reported in the E-Skills Manifesto, 2014, “ICT induces social phenomena such as mass collaboration, social media and crowdsourcing [which] is reshaping social interaction and work processes.” Crowd-funding in particular is emerging as a dynamic system in which prospective entrepreneurs can find non-traditional funding sources to bring their dreams into reality. However, there are a number of persistent barriers to entrepreneurialism and in particular the use of crowd-funding. First of all, not all Europeans have the skills needed, even where the technologies exist. Developing skills that foster innovation and entrepreneurial initiative are becoming more and more critical. In-demand skills of the future include “innovation, questioning, challenging, dreaming, imagining, experimenting, learning and enterprising” (E-Skills Manifesto, 2014) as well as “idea generation, problem solving, critical thinking, and cross-cultural communication” (H2020 EAG SC6). As a result, new approaches and training systems are required to help Europeans acquire the 21st century skills that are needed for innovation and entrepreneurship. This project will focus on the following area: How women, by acquiring the skills needed for the 21st Century, can use crowd-funding successfully in order to take an active role in entrepreneurialism and innovation. By providing training and opportunities for virtual and trans-national collaboration between participants, this proposal aims to foster the participation of women in successful entrepreneurial growth. The main objective of WaW project is to facilitate more effective provision of collective business and innovation support services to ensure women understand and take advantage of the opportunities offered by new ICT tools. Specific objectives of the proposed project are: • Improve access to knowledge, increase levels of co-operation and competence regarding ICT tools process and methods • Networking of society-support facilities to set up mechanisms for developing, sharing and disseminating effective approaches in supporting innovative entrepreneurship, as well as openness to new technologies • Develop a training tool that will acquire competences and skills by adults • Pooling expertise in networks to help adults to solve legal, organizational and human capital issues associated with innovation processes • Improve the qualification of female adults through the promotion of a series of transversal skills like creativity, initiative, problem solving, risk assessment and decision taking • Improve public awareness on good practice examples regarding crowd-funding • Promote continuous learning training in workplace • Increase awareness of innovation and technology approaches to combat difficulties and setback during the innovation generation process The above actions will be achieved through: • A structured survey, which will attempt to identify how the skills of the 21st century can be acquired • A structured survey that will attempt answer the elements and issues that need to be included in a crowd–funding campaign so that it will be a successful one • Handbook on how the different target groups can acquire these skills • e-learning courses for acquiring the skills • Handbook on how a crowd-funding campaign be a successful one • e-learning courses for mastering the art of successful crowd-funding • A platform to facilitate trans-national networking and collaboration • A piloting activity of crowd–funding campaigns of the women who have acquired the above set of skills in order to make their dreams reality • An evaluation procedure on crowd-funding process and the end results This project will foster participation of women from among many different backgrounds, ethnicities, ages, nationalities and levels of education, specifically targeting unemployed, immigrant and older women. By doing so, this project aims to make a long-lasting impact by providing the tools to empower women who have the potential to make social and economic imprint, but may otherwise lack the opportunity to bring their dreams into a reality. Moreover, this project takes place transnationally in order to address the diverse set of skills across the EU, while also addressing common complex problems that can inhibit growth and innovation. This will enable the project to take into consideration cultural and social differences and respond to the needs of as many EU regions as possible.