In line with the Strategic Framework for European Cooperation in Education and Training and the Education and Training 2020 Forum on the implementation of this framework within the new European priorities in education and training, higher education systems should boost the knowledge economy and respond to labor market needs and contribute to the demands of a changing labor market by raising skills and applying innovative approaches to improve the relevance of curricula by enhancing the transition to the employment of university students, as well as promoting gender equality. The EU estimates that there are 900,000 unfilled technology jobs by 2020. In this context, improving the development of high-quality education in technical careers is the basis for the full achievement of the Innovation Union and the European Research Area. In the field of technical careers, a series of shortcomings have been detected in young professionals, since the existing gap between European labor market needs and the competencies that are being developed through academic programs. The labor market demands skills in more multi and interdisciplinary profiles and the curricula are lagging behind these expectations by not fulfilling these necessities. At the same time, in the field of design careers, while design methods and tools have increasingly become a channel to achieve transformation and integration of cross-sector achievements, a debate on the ability of the design curricula to provide itself with the capacity to fully respond to the ever-evolving demands of the changing society and labor market has begun. It is necessary to adequately "adapt" and equip students in these technical careers with a wide range of capacities and skills by applying an inter and transdisciplinary (and innovative) approach that promotes going beyond the multidisciplinary (and traditional) one and therefore, seeking interpenetration between disciplines thus generating new knowledge and methods. On this basis, the approach of INNO-TEC-LAB is twofold: firstly, to advance technical careers by enhancing the relevance of curricula in adapting to current labor and societal needs, secondly, to set-up a joint undertaking in educational and methodological innovation cross-careers. The main objective is thus to create and validate a model based in interdisciplinarity to support innovation in the field of design in technical careers through a network of innovation laboratories that will be connected to each other and will serve to improve learning tools, knowledge exchange, training of learners and researchers. A community of laboratories will be created through which the necessary tools will be developed and an approach and learner-centered model in the field of design to technical careers will be adopted. This framework will have an interdisciplinary perspective that will enhance the capacity of students in these careers and help develop high-quality competencies focused on learning outcomes, and other transversal skills. As a result, it will encourage the development of a change in curricula to equip students for the European labor market and its growing digital needs. In addition, the project will also have as objectives: -To initiate the creation of a transdisciplinary framework through careers -To develop a digital platform that connects innovation laboratories and facilitates the generation and exchange of knowledge The target groups of the project will be students of technical careers, teachers of the HEIs, staff related to them, related companies and Public authorities, policymakers, and the business sector. The project involves 7 entities from different fields (universities, non-profit associations specializing in education, training entities) from 6 different countries in Europe (Italy, Poland, France, Lithuania, Netherlands, and Finland) Four intellectual outputs will be developed in the project: - INNO-TEC-Lab learning module - Online "train the trainers" - INNO-TEC-LAB courses - Creation of a platform of innovation laboratories 2 multiplier events will be developed at the European level that will help the dissemination and extension of the project activities and the sustainability of the project after its completion. A digital platform will be developed to help connect the innovation labs and facilitate interaction between teams for knowledge generation and exchange. The innovation laboratories will host pilot activities to test and validate the new academic approaches and feed results back into the transnational research platform for the enhancement of the curricula, methods, and tools. The international network of innovation laboratories will summarize the findings, paying particular attention to the gaps that curricula cannot complete without taking a step further in the methodology. These elements will be the basis for the conceptualization of a new transdisciplinary framework for higher education.
The INNO-TEC-LAB Project by focusing on the “two sides of the classroom” trainers and students, and the broader context of learning (HEIs) and employability (work), wanted to introduce interdisciplinary approaches and methods, develop tools, materials, phygital environments, and identify recommendations for the transversal innovation of educational paths. In addition, strengthen collaboration between HE and other stakeholders cross-cutting disciplinary boundaries to set the baseline to move towards transdisciplinarity. We went about doing so by creating a modular framework (the Learning Module and connected Train-The-Trainers, Student Course, and digital platform) to cater to people and market needs by fostering innovation opportunities for skills development and boosting job potential.
The IED and Project Partners applied for this Project so as to tackle some of the most pressing needs of current and future education and labour needs, in coherence with society and the planet. Good progress has been made towards the common headline goal of Europe 2020, nonetheless the employability of graduates remains stagnant throughout the European Union (Eurostat). A key asset in addressing this situation is building on the value of an integrated framework encompassing permeability between learning experiences and real-life issues. The reason being that employability and innovation must go hand-in-hand with the needs brought on by the changes of our globalised society. In turn, educators and learners alike must be able to gain the knowledge, skill set and methods to tackle challenges and problems as they evolve. Calling for strengthening of technical skills and, more increasingly so, of advanced cognitive and socio-behavioural skills (ESPAS, 2015; OECD, 2018). The INNO-TEC-LAB addressed such needs by building a strategic framework for inter-transdisciplinary methods and tools for research, training, and learning. The needs were addressed to educators, learners, HEIs (and stakeholders), strengthening the innovation capacity.