The HERA project was presented by Natália Machado, Project Director at SHINE 2Europe, during Creative Skills Week 2025 (CSW2025) in Prague, at the session “Transformational Entrepreneurial Skills.” In this session, moderated by Ruba Sale, the discussion focused on the importance of empowering women 45+ through lifelong learning, re-skilling, and up-skilling, ensuring that they are not left behind in Europe’s green and digital transitions. HERA was showcased as a concrete example of how targeted and inclusive approaches can create sustainable learning ecosystems, strengthen entrepreneurial competences, and build resilience in communities.
The debate turned around three central themes. First, how entrepreneurial training can be developed based on market needs and the needs of professionals and how this mapping can be translated into practice: with HERA Labs presented as participatory spaces where women co-create their skills pathways together with local stakeholders. Secondly, the session addressed why the chosen training format is particularly relevant for women 45+ and how its recognition and validation are ensured, highlighting the mutual aid methodology, the focus on the Learning to Learn (L2L) competence, and the innovative role of the AI-powered HERA Community Portal in extending opportunities online. Finally, participants explored which transformational entrepreneurial skills are most relevant for this target group, with resilience, adaptability, digital and data literacy, collaboration, leadership, and life skills emerging as essential competences for women to thrive in the twin transition.
HERA was presented as more than a training project: it is a systematic methodology that combines innovation hubs, living labs, and mutual aid groups to create ecosystems tailored to local needs. Through the Community Portal, it will make these tools widely accessible, aligning with the European Skills Agenda and the New European Agenda for Adult Education 2021-2030.
Building on the energy from Prague, HERA will continue engaging local ecosystems to demonstrate how lifelong learning and entrepreneurial empowerment can drive competitiveness, inclusion, and social value.
As HERA moves forward, it carries a clear message: transformational skills empower transformational lives
