Youth in industrial regions — Strengthening institutional capacity in the field of youth migration from industrial cities

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YOUIND deals with the issue of youth outmigration from peripheral industrial towns and regions from an industrial-cultural perspective.   The SI-AT programme area is characterized by a relatively large number of industrial enterprises, which are often located in small and medium-sized towns. These places are facing new challenges, as new trends (e.g. Industry 4.0), increasingly demand for new, highly skilled workers. These employees are difficult to find, as especially younger people do not see these regions as attractive and leave, rarely to return. These developments do not only threaten industry, but also the socio-economic development of entire regions within the programme area.   To address this largely neglected issue, the YOUIND partnership combines academic and regional knowledge to raise institutional capacities. Both partner regions - Idrija and the Steirische Eisenstrasse - are rich in their industrial past and present, with both of them being on the UNESCO's heritage list and are today sites of global companies such as Kolektor and Voestalpine. The project seeks to use this specific industrial culture of place as a potential for strengthening the institutional capacity on youth outmigration in order to link young people closer to their region.   YOUIND will raise awareness on the topic via: - Fostering crossborder knowledge exchange between stakeholders and developing long-term network structures in the regions, involving youth, business and institutional actors - Developing jointly highly visible pilot activities on youth and industrial culture - Long-term reg. action-plans and transnat. strategic advice   The aim is to promote social innovation and improve institutional capacities through pilot actions and long-term action planning. The partnership will also translate project findings to transnational policy recommendations, distributing knowledge on emerging topic within the programme area.

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