History

Businessculture.org project history

The project is a Leonardo da Vinci Transfer the Innovation LLP EU funded project, which evolved from the results of the previous successful Passport to Trade Project (P2T). The Leonardo da Vinci program is run by the European Commission and provides funds for teaching and training development.

The Passport to Trade project was established during 2005-2007. Upon the completion of the project, a website was developed introducing business culture and etiquette for 25 European countries. The primary objective was to provide on-line business support for SMEs interested in developing links with EU business companies.

The focus of the original Passport to Trade Project was to improve existing professional training materials in business culture and to incorporate materials from across the whole European Union. This facilitates, widens and increases access to professional training materials that aid SMEs through market expansion. The project creates e-learning facilities, supporting and offering additional training materials for SMEs to improve the skills base required to trade across 25 EU countries.

The Passport to Trade 2.0 Project builds on the research and innovation of the previous successful Passport to Trade Project (P2T) by analysing the usage of the original project website to develop a real needs analysis based upon the actual data captured in the website since it was launched in October 2007. As with the original Passport to Trade project, the Passport to Trade 2.0 also focuses on SMEs and students.

The project utilises materials already developed in the original Passport to Trade project as well as developing a new materials framework based on web analysis in order to provide SMEs and students with the skills and confidence to undertake mobility, either for the purpose of trading, studying or placement. Cultural training materials have been developed in various languages.