The general objective of CONTINUITY was to create an appropriate VET, horizontal to all sectors and independent from the geographical and political context, intrinsically transnational, able to train the BC Manager as a professional figure with an in-depth knowledge of BC issues and related governance frameworks, best-practices, and protocols. The specific objectives were: • Promotion of cooperation between EU organizations and training providers within the BC environment, creating a network for the development of mobility, education, or innovation projects in this field. • Learning about local or international education, and developing BC management programs focused on the acquisition of new professional skills and competencies through the combination of informal and non-formal methods and the use of ICT • Improvement of the quality and relevance of training provision by developing new innovative approaches and disseminating these competencies best practices. • Promotion of provision and assessment of key competences for those responsible for BC, including basic and transversal skills such as project management and European funding programs.
COVID-19 had a significant impact on businesses and the economy. Nationwide lockdowns resulted in the halting of economic activities, and the urgent need for resilience in both business and society turned out to be crucial. Companies faced the challenge of ensuring the uninterrupted supply of products or services within the constraints of lockdowns, highlighting the inadequacy of outdated risk management programs. Business Continuity (BC) addressed this necessity by defining it as "the ability of an organization to continue to deliver products or services at predefined acceptable levels following an incident" (ISO 22300:2012). Even after this critical situation, BC remained relatively unknown in the professional field, necessitating education and awareness as key competencies to uphold industry standards and innovations. Inter-sectorial brainstorming meetings between partners and before the proposal drafting started, identified the need for appropriate tools to enhance competencies in education and lifelong learning within the BC sector, reflecting a proactive approach towards addressing gaps in the industry: hence, CONTINUITY was born.