Call: Initiatives for policy innovation

Erasmus+ will provide opportunities for over 4 million Europeans to study, train, gain work experience and volunteer abroad.

Erasmus+ will support transnational partnerships among Education, Training, and Youth institutions and organisations to foster cooperation and bridge the worlds of Education and work in order to tackle the skills gaps we are facing in Europe.

It will also support national efforts to modernise Education, Training, and Youth systems. In the field of Sport, there will be support for grassroots projects and cross-border challenges such as combating match-fixing, doping, violence and racism.

Erasmus+ brings together seven existing EU programmes in the fields of Education, Training, and Youth; it will for the first time provide support for Sport. As an integrated programme, Erasmus+ offers more opportunities for cooperation across the Education, Training, Youth, and Sport sectors and is easier to access than its predecessors, with simplified funding rules.

This Key Action supports initiatives for policy innovation aimed to develop new policies or prepare their implementation. They include specific calls for proposals managed by the Executive Agency on:

• Knowledge in the fields of education, training and youth, involving evidence gathering, analysis and peer learning

• forward-looking cooperation projects on policy development

• European policy experimentations, led by high-level public authorities and involving field trials in several countries based on sound evaluation methods.

• Cooperation with international organisations, such as the OECD and the Council of Europe
• Promote dialogue with stakeholders and support to programmes and policies within public authorities, providers and stakeholders in the fields of education, vocational training and youth

Within Key Action 3 - Support for Policy Reform, the Initiatives for policy innovation in the fields of Education and Training are Initiatives for policy innovation aimed to develop new policies or prepare their implementation.

Two types of actions are foreseen under the Initiatives for policy innovation:

• Forward-looking cooperation projects, which aims to stimulate innovative policy development;
• European policy experimentations, which are led by high level public authorities to experiment policy implementation through field trials in several countries based on sound evaluation methods.

• Public authorities (ministry or equivalent) responsible for education, training or youth at the highest level in the relevant national or regional context (corresponding to NUTS codes 1 or 2; for countries where NUTS codes 1 or 2 are not available, the highest NUTS code available applies ( 1 )). Responsible public authorities for sectors other than education, training and youth (e.g. employment, finance, social affairs, home affairs, justice, health, etc.) are considered eligible as long as they demonstrate that they have a specific competence in the area in which the experimentation is to be carried out. Public authorities can delegate to be represented by other public or private organisations, as well as by legally established networks or associations of public authorities, provided that the delegation is in writing and makes explicit reference to the proposal being submitted.
• Public or private organisations or institutions active in the fields of education, training or youth
• Public or private organisations or institutions carrying out activities linked to education, training and/or youth in other socioeconomic sectors (e.g. public authorities, agencies or services responsible for: education, training, youth, employment, social affairs, home affairs, justice, quality assurance, recognition and/or validation; career guidance, chambers of commerce, business and social partners, trade organisations, civil society, cultural or sport organisations, evaluation or research entities, media, etc.)