Europe faces a range of environmental challenges that will impact on its future prosperity. Europe leads in innovative environmental technologies which can provide solutions while also increasing EU competitiveness. Breaking into the market with innovations can be a significant problem, because innovations by definition cannot show a successful track-record. Without credible information about innovative technologies, potential buyers are unsure whether or not to trust the claims made about their performance. In 2011, European Commission with 7 Member States [1] intends to launch a solution to address that problem: Environmental Technology Verification (ETV). [2] It is an initiative that provides for third-party verification of the performance claims made by technology manufacturers in business-to-business relations. By issuing a Statement of Verification, which is the product of a successful ETV process, ETV provides credible information on the new technology. Market access for innovative environmental technologies is significantly enhanced and the technological risk for technology purchasers (whether private or public) is reduced. The ETV4INNOVATION project will create an Eco-Innovative partnership in five European countries (Ireland, Spain, France, Bulgaria and Poland) formed by 6 partners: a cluster, with a strong relation with the technological sectors and the administrative bodies; a university specialized in teaching courses; a Verification Body of ETV; a Research Centre specialized in e-learning platform and green R&D project and finally, a SME specialized in green-technologies consulting and SMEs with products verified by ETV. The partnership will be set up with the goal of designing and developing an e-learning training course for filling gaps in relation with ETV for current and future managers and workers in technological sectors. For this end, the ETV4INNOVATION partnership has defined the following specific objectives (SO): SO1. Identify the lack of knowledge in the organisations to be able to manage and bet on ETV. SO2. Design and develop a Joint Curriculum (JCV) SO3. Deliver the JCV on e-learning OER Platform and protect it under open licenses. SO4.Break borderlines among SMEs and large companies and experts in ETV, creating common procedures and skills. SO5.Equip enterprises with the right skills and knowledge for the ETV verification of today and tomorrow and fostering a sustainable technology process. SO6. Raise awareness of current environmental problems, the need to carry out a sustainable development, and bring more respectful practices with the environment. To achieve these objectives the partnership will carry out the following activities: - Comparative analysis and evidence-gathering, studies of examples of good practices, and real life cases of successful ETV verification already performed, etc. in order to identified skills needs and competences in the technological sectors required to successfully applied for ETV process. - Development of a Joint Curriculum with the integration of different learning modes and innovative approaches. - The creation of learning and training materials together with methods, pedagogical approaches and tools. - The implementation of a training and collaborative e-learning platform to ensure that all the materials developed is certainly deployed by creating an open online course. Thus, the partnership will collaborate and work in ETV4INNOVATION with the aim to foster modernization and knowledge expansion aligned to the needs and opportunities offered by the increasing number of new eco-technologies by technology developers in relation with the technological field as water treatment, energy technologies, materials, wastes, etc. In addition, ETV4INNOVATION expect to extend ETV process to more European Countries, with the involvement of the different stakeholders and target groups identified. The project will carry out its own assessment, and a wide Dissemination Plan to spread its results among as many interested parties as possible. ETV4INNOVATION will also address transversal skills, such as entrepreneurship, green skills, and digital competences. In terms of longer term benefits of ETV4INNOVATION: - ETV4INNOVATION will increase the labor market relevance of VET provision and will reduce skills mismatches and shortages among the identified target groups (proposer or technology manufactures, national accreditation bodies, verification bodies, testing bodies, analytical laboratories, research centers, etc.) - Results will strengthen the education and training path of workers, equipping them with all necessary competences and skills to develop a high quality job in the target sectors (technological fields). [1] As of October 2010, participating Member States are: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Poland and the United Kingdom. [2] http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecoap/etv_en
Europe faces a range of environmental challenges that will impact on its future prosperity. Europe leads in innovative environmental technologies (ET) which can provide solutions while also increasing EU competitiveness. Breaking into the market with innovations can be a significant problem because innovations, by definition, cannot show a successful track-record. Without credible information about innovative technologies, potential buyers are unsure whether to trust the claims made about their performance. In 2011, the European Commission with seven Member States [1] intended to launch a solution to address this problem: Environmental Technology Verification (ETV). [2] ETV provides for third-party verification of the performance claims made by technology manufacturers in business- to-business relations. By issuing a Statement of Verification, which is the product of a successful ETV process, ETV provides credible information on new technologies. Market access for innovative ET is thus significantly enhanced while the technological risk for technology purchasers (whether private or public) is greatly reduced. The ETV4INNOVATION Eco-Innovative partnership comprising six partners from five European countries (Ireland, Spain, France, Bulgaria, Denmark, and Poland) The objective of the partnership was to design and develop an e-learning training course filling ETV-related knowledge gaps for current and future managers and workers in technological sectors. To this end, the ETV4INNOVATION partnership defined and reached the following specific objectives (SO): SO1. Identify the knowledge gaps inherent in organizations SO2. Design and develop a Joint Curriculum (JCV) SO3. Deliver the JCV via an e-learning Open Educational Resource (OER) Platform that is protected under open licensing. SO4. Bridge the divides across SMEs, large companies, and experts in ETV, creating common procedures and skills. SO5. Equip enterprises with appropriate skills and knowledge for current and future ETV verification by fostering a sustainable technology process. SO6. Raise awareness of current environmental issues and the need to carry out sustainable development and establish more environmentally-friendly and respectful practices. To achieve these objectives the partnership carried out the following activities: - Comparative analysis and evidence-gathering of examples of good practice, and case-studies of previously performed successful ETV. enabling the identification of the required skills and competences in the tech sectors and thus facilitate successful applications for the ETV process. - Development of a Joint Curriculum with the integration of different learning modes and innovative approaches. - The creation of learning and training materials together with methods, pedagogical approaches, tools, and methodologies. - The implementation of a training and collaborative e-learning platform that ensures the delivery of all the developed materials. The partnership worked fostering modernization and knowledge expansion aligned to the needs and opportunities offered by the increasing number of new eco-technologies developers in the fields of water treatment, energy technologies, materials, and waste. In addition, ETV4INNOVATION extended the ETV process to additional European Countries, with the involvement of the different stakeholders and target groups identified. The project carried out its own assessment and a wide dissemination strategy to communicate its results to as many interested parties as possible. ETV4INNOVATION also addressed transversal skills, such as entrepreneurship, green skills, and digital competences. Regarding the longer-term benefits of ETV4INNOVATION: - ETV4INNOVATION will increase the labor market relevance of Vocational and Educational Training (VET) provision and will reduce skills mismatches and shortages among the identified target groups (proposer or technology manufacturers, national accreditation bodies, verification bodies, testing bodies, analytical laboratories, and research centers, etc.) - The results will consolidate the education and training paths of workers by equipping them with the necessary skills and competences to develop a robust career in the target sectors (technological fields). [1] As of October 2010, the participating Member States are: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Poland and the United Kingdom. [2] http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecoap/etv_en