Social Media Leadership Incubator for Danube Region (SMILE Incubator)

Brain Drain? Lack of Digital Skills? Young people as the future of our public systems? Democracies as of today are shaped by discourse on online platforms. Participation on this level makes digital skills and fostering these among citizens necessary. The Danube Region, with its specific demographic and urban/rural development characteristics, is in need especially of a new generation of citizens that have the digital skills and understand the requirements of leadership in social networks.

The main objective of the project is to develop a transnational Social Media Leadership Incubator for rural youth that will serve as a mechanism to strengthen leadership skills and empowerment, thus contributing to the development of sustainable democracies in the DR. Building leadership capacity and social media skills will encourage youth participation in active citizenship and ultimately the future leadership of rural communities in the Danube Region.

To do so, the project partnership will assess the current status of youth participation and leadership in the Danube Region, develop policy guidelines and roadmaps, then go on building a cooperation network between different stakeholders in the field of youth participation, and finally focus on capacity-building tools for social media leadership, using and assessing them for application beyond the project end date.

Steinbeis Europa Zentrum supports as a project partner:

• Participation in assessment of current situation and challenges in the field
• Exploitation: Design of the future role of the SMILE Incubator after the project termination
• Communication and Dissemination of project activities and results, capitalization, workshops and events

Further information:

• Project name: Social Media Leadership Incubator for Danube Region – SMILE Incubator
• Funding: European Commission, ERDF by the Interreg Danube Region Program
• ERDF Funding for the whole project/all partners: 1.568.000 EUR
• Participating countries: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine
• Project duration: 04/2025 – 09/2027
• Target groups: Young people in the Danube Region, social media and democratic participation stakeholders, public institutions, broader public