Developing Information and Research Skills for Business, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

We applied for this project with the aim of reinforcing and enhancing knowledge transfer between academia and business in European Union (EU) countries and to enable HEI's to provide increased and specialist information support to Research, Business and Innovation in the EU and in the regions that they serve. This was achieved by improving and increasing the level of competencies & skills of Information Specialist staff in the EU partner institutions in the project. INRS enhanced and built on the skills of staff in these universities, so as to strengthen their abilities to provide quality, relevant supports to business, researchers and local enterprise in the Regions. The project has addressed the need to improve the relevance of higher-level skills provision to Society and to the economy in the Regions. INRS has addressed the most critical training needs of 21st century Information Specialist staff in the Information Age to enhance their library skills in the area of business, research and innovation. This has been achieved through the creation of the INRS Modular Curriculum featuring a complete range of modern Information Specialist, Information Literacy and other key transferable skills need for enterprise.

The main objectives of the INRS project were to reinforce and enhance knowledge transfer between academia and business in European Union (EU) countries and to enable HEIs to provide increased and specialist information support to Research, Business and Innovation in the EU and in the regions that they serve. The project aimed to develop an Information Specialist (IS) staff development strategy focused on improving the standards, range and quality of library performance in providing support to business, entrepreneurship, innovation and research in the EU with particular focus on improving key transferable, lifelong learning skills. The project aimed to improve the relevance of higher-level skills provision to Society and to the economy in the Regions and expand Information Specialist engagement with employers and business for the development of key transferable skills in the Regions that are critical for business, research and innovation. The project aimed for an enhancement in quality of teaching and learning in the EU, hence it was vital that the project was carried out transnationally. INRS increased participation in education, training and the labour market to significantly expand skills supply to our stakeholders.

The following activities were implemented: - Developed and implemented the Blended INRS Curriculum including associated training events for staff - Developed the Guide for Best Practices and Case Studies - Held various Transnational Project Meetings including the Kick off, Interim and Final Meetings - Created a Handbook for Information Specialists - Develop with Partners the INRS Trainers Toolkit - Held three INRS Short-term joint staff training events and three Multiplier events during the project lifetime - Effectively developed and maintained the INRS Online Platform. - Disseminated effectively about the project results on the institutional, national and international levels.

The project has produced the INRS Training curriculum (PR1) for Librarians, developed jointly by the project partners based on international recommendations, covering 6 modules. INRS has also produced the Handbook for Information Specialists (PR2) containing recommendations and examples of good training practice for librarians and information specialists in providing enhanced support and services to research, business, innovation and entrepreneurship. The project also delivered the INRS Trainers Toolkit (PR3), consisting of support materials such as lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, and example assignments for use by the staff involved in the teaching and mentoring process of the new INRS Training curriculum to library users to provide them with a set of materials to support them in rolling out the INRS curriculum. The project has delivered the INRS Online Platform (PR4) providing up-to-date information on Knowledge Transfer and Entrepreneurial education as well as functioning as an online repository dedicated to Information Specialists, offered in open access, as an E Learning Platform addressed to the project target group, that includes the online version of modules developed within O1. Finally, another key concrete result of the project is the Guide for Best Practices and Case Studies (PR5), this a resource that Librarians have available to them when teaching the INRS Curriculum to library users. It helps them be more proficient in implementing the new INRS training curriculum and fostering the professional development of all stakeholders.