In late September 2025, the Youngcubator team travelled from Sweden to Leuven, Belgium for the final meeting of the Empowering Minds project — a milestone moment marking the conclusion of months of transnational collaboration with our Belgian partner Edushakers.
Hosted at Campus Corso, a vibrant learning centre and community hub on Diestsestraat in the heart of Leuven, the three-day programme brought together ten participants from both organisations along with local external actors to evaluate, celebrate and plan the future of the Empowering Minds course.
Day 1 — Thursday 25 September
We kicked off with a tour of Campus Corso, getting first-hand insight into the inspiring physical space that Edushakers has built for its community. The afternoon was dedicated to a working session we called "EmpMinds: looking back & forward," where we sat down together, reviewed the full project timeline, discussed each of the 12 course modules and reflected on what we had learned along the way. The day wrapped up with a networking event at Campus Corso, where we had the chance to connect with local stakeholders and community members over good conversations and Belgian hospitality.
Day 2 — Friday 26 September
Friday was all about meeting inspiring people and organisations in Leuven. In the morning, we visited Job Demeyere at UC Leuven-Limburg (UCLL) to explore how the Empowering Minds course could complement their educational programmes and reach new learner groups. We then headed to the offices of iVox, where Hans Verhoeven gave us a tour and shared fascinating insights into how data-driven communication and audience analysis work in practice — topics that connect directly to what we teach in our modules on financial literacy and digital skills.
In the afternoon, we visited Leuven Makerspace and met Lisa Vanhaeren, who showed us how maker culture, hands-on learning and entrepreneurship education come together under one roof. It was genuinely inspiring to see the kind of experiential learning environment that we encourage our own learners to seek out. The day ended with a memorable dinner at Restaurant De Valck — great food, great company, and the kind of informal conversation that always sparks the best ideas.
Day 3 — Saturday 27 September
The final day was kept open for free activities and quiet reflection before we headed home. Sometimes the most valuable part of a project meeting is the unstructured time — the walk through a new city, the coffee-table conversation, the moment to process everything you have seen and heard.
What we achieved
The final meeting was not just a symbolic ending — it produced concrete results. Together with Edushakers, we confirmed that all 12 course modules meet our shared quality standards and are ready for the world. We agreed on a dissemination plan for 2026, outlining how both organisations will continue to promote and deliver the course to adult learners across Europe. And through our meetings with UCLL, iVox and Leuven Makerspace, we identified three potential new partners for future collaboration — because Empowering Minds does not stop here.
The course is live
The Empowering Minds course is now publicly available at www.empoweringminds.se. Whether you are looking to master your mindset, build financial literacy or develop your leadership skills, the course is free, trilingual (Swedish, Dutch and English) and designed to meet you where you are.
Thank you to everyone who made this project possible — our partners at Edushakers, the team at Campus Corso, and all the incredible people we met in Leuven. This project was co-funded by the European Commission through the Erasmus+ programme (Project: 2024-1-SE01-KA210-ADU-000245972), and we are proud of what we have built together.
This is not the end. It is the beginning of something bigger.
