With the development of the ExCurS project, the consortium aimed to strengthen the capacity of SMEs, managers, employees and learners (education and training) to address LEAN management, environmental sustainability and digital transformation in an integrated and practical way. The project sought to reduce the gap between organisational strategic needs and individual skills development through an excellence-based approach. One of the main objectives was to design and validate an innovative curriculum focused on LEAN and GREEN competences, tailored to the realities of SMEs and aligned with European priorities on sustainability, climate action and employability. The training content was designed to be practical, modular and directly applicable to real business challenges. In addition, ExCurS developed a self-assessment methodology aligned with the EFQM 4.0 model, enabling the identification of skills gaps and improvement priorities, facilitating its use by non-expert SMEs and directly linking assessment results to relevant training pathways. The project also promoted a work-based blended learning environment and strengthened cooperation between VET providers, higher education institutions and the industrial sector.
ExCurS was developed to improve support for SMEs in an integrated LEAN, sustainable and digital transformation. In the participating regions, many SMEs needed to increase efficiency, reduce environmental impact and advance in digitalisation, but lacked management competences, tailored training and simple self-assessment tools. Industrial partners and clusters identified gaps in sustainability, process optimisation and strategic management. Universities, VET providers and consultancy organisations observed that existing training offers were fragmented, weakly connected to market needs and lacked practical tools linking organisational diagnosis with skills development pathways. ExCurS addressed these needs through a modular SME-oriented curriculum, based on excellence and focused on LEAN and GREEN competences, an EFQM 4.0-aligned self-assessment, and a blended learning platform. This enabled the identification of skills gaps, the allocation of appropriate training and the strengthening of SME competitiveness, sustainability and resilience.