The project "Young European Cooperatives" (YEC) aims at innovating economic learning and teaching methods by setting up student cooperative enterprises for students who attend upper secondary education. They will get to know concepts of sustainable and solidary forms of running a business and about economics in general. With the support of Economics teachers the students establish cooperatives working mainly in the service sector. Running a cooperative makes students experience and develop self-reliance, solidarity, economic knowledge, job/career orientation, professional and transversal skills as well as becoming aware of the advantages of social entrepreneurship. The services offered by the students cooperatives are related to the European toursim industry, focussing on the participating regions and the age group involved. The students develop and define their concept of a cooperative and create a business and marketing plan. The key aspect of the businesses is to develop, promote and sell travel / tourism / sports / cultural offers to the Erasmus+ partner schools. The students will use and enhance their ICT skills and their foreign language competences as each cooperative requires an ICT based project outline, a business plan, a marketing concept, corporate identity and a website in English and at least one other foreign European language. The final products will be multilingual documentations in printed and digital form in which the different cooperatives present diverse European tourist attractions and European job opportunities for teenagers. To support and prepare these tasks the schools will incorporate CLIL activities in English in the field of Economics and ICT subjects. The project responses to one of the main challenges of todays' world: employment and economic stability. The students' needs in all European countries are met by simulating own employment and experiencing being self-employed in a common European market. Teachers and students become aware of the their own and foreign regional touristic potential and job opportunities and share this experience with other regions in Europe. The teachers of the participating schools discuss their experiences about this innovative form of teaching. Examples of good practice of teaching and learning Economics will be exchanged. Teachers and students evaluate the concept of students cooperatives. On the basis of the evaluation results this innovative form of teaching will finally be implemented into the curricula of all partner institutions. The cooperatives can continue their work by - for example - offering the organisation and booking of school trips in Europe (e.g. as a school travel agency) and also starting a Young European Cooperatives Network. Thus, the project leads to a sustainable innovation in learning and teaching Economics in secondary education and will foster entrepreneurship. It allows intercultural encounters and cooperation, makes education more attractive for students and helps them to get orientation for their individual plans in a future labour market.