"The European ""Innov'Age"" project is the result of a strategic partnership for training in diversity, age management and innovation, applied to the European postal sector. The project addresses the issue of Europe's ageing population and the need to attract new skills/talents among younger generations. In fact, management of intergenerational teams is becoming a criterion of competitiveness for European postal operators. The objective of the project is to improve age management in the postal sector by creating an innovative training prototype to enhance intergenerational teams. The issues related to this objective are: increase the employability of both seniors and younger people; enhance and make more efficient intergenerational teams to promote business innovation; facilitate and stimulate innovation in the postal sector.The project consortium brought together six European postal operators (France, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, Greece, Cyprus), the PostEurop postal association (52 postal operators), the University of Bordeaux, the Greek Post Vocational Training Centre and InoSalus, a Portuguese SME specialising in innovative training. Project Structure: The project was divided into three main Intellectual Outputs (IO): IO1: Research, identification and mapping of training needs in the postal sector related to age management; IO2: Co-creation and development of an innovative training toolkit for age management in order to develop a dynamic approach focusing on cooperation between generations, the motivation and involvement of professional teams including young and old people, the valorisation and transmission of experience - which will be done first and foremost in the partner companies of the project; IO3: Design and test a prototype of training in some intergenerational teams. This allows managers to discover a new management an approach to diversity, taking into account the specific needs and expectations of new entrants and seniors, acquire and appropriate methods and tools for the cohesion, motivation and performance of an intergenerational team.All the results were shared during the monthly conference calls, the transnational meetings and the dissemination events. Activities implemented: Scientific study on the following variables: diversity practices by age, climate in work organisation, learning climate, acceptable distance (depending on corporate culture) between employees and management, strengthening leadership, innovative team behaviours and related performance;Analysis of training needs and psychosocial aspects to develop the sectoral training needs matrix (questionnaire, study, research) and mapping of the current situation in postal organizations;Development of a roadmap for the volunteer team to help co-build training programs and identify case studies;Selection and development of case studies and production of a pedagogical movie; Development of the training programme based on the macro-competences identified to be developed through this prototype;Development of a test prototype and design of the toolbox;Assessment of the impact of the training prototype on the teams;Communication and dissemination of project results via partner communication media;Dissemination meetings coordinated by a communication committee.Results: The Training Program was formalized as a prototype. A part of the prototype (test modules) was implemented by the six postal partners, adapted to the reality of each operator and tested by the volunteer teams. The evaluation of these tests has improved the training programme by identifying areas for improvement or consolidation. The evaluation confirmed the importance of this training to help managers improve the management of multi-generational teams and foster inclusion and innovation. Project Outreach: Partnership with OSHA and its “Healthy Workplaces for All Ages” campaign, EYDAP SA, Athens Water Company, “Intergenerational HR Club”, and the University of Aix-Marseille has also shown its interest.Visibility of results: Meetings with external stakeholders: kick-off, closing conference, Multiplier events in Athens, Rome and Strasbourg; Use of websites, social networks...Two initiatives, one national pilot implementation initiative in Greece and the final multiplier event of the project, put in place in the framework of the Innov’Age project have been approved and registered successfully as events of the European Vocational skills week organized by DG Employment on 14-18 October 2019. The approval of both submitted events confirms their relevance in terms of training and innovation. Registering to this European-wide initiate coordinated by DG Employment is a further way to raise awareness about our work in the field of vocational education especially towards other sectors and stakeholders. The next step of Innov’Age 1 would be the certification of this training. (Innov’Age 2 – awaiting for funding)."

The European postal industry is a key contributor to the European economy with an increased importance during the COVID19 pandemic. The once traditional sector is currently moving fast to a new digital era while also undertaking concrete actions on environmental issues. The DigiGreeNPost project intents to bring resilience to the postal industry through the provision of upskilling for postal employees in green and digital competence areas, acting as an enabler towards the implementation of digital and green policy agendas, building the understanding of the importance of digital and green-related jobs throughout the sector. The project will achieve this goal through the following activities: (a) a Transnational Ecosystem for DigiGreen Skilled Postal Employees, (b) Two New Skills Curricula, (c) Pilot delivery of Trainings, (d) a Dual Recognition Scheme in the Postal Sector, and (d) Dissemination and Exploitation Activities. Τhe target groups benefited concretely from the project are: end users (>600); Current and future potential postal employees, Postal Managers, L&D Managers, Trainers, and relevant stakeholders (>500); Postal Operators & Business representatives, VET/Educational Providers, HEIs & Research Institutions, Umbrella Organizations, Policy Makers. Expected results are: the resilience and harmonization of the EU postal industry under common initiatives, the reinforcement of digitalization in the postal sector, the adaptation of green practices, the creation of “digigreen” skilled workforce and the enhancement of their employability, the creation of synergies between the Education Providers and the sector representatives. Outputs to be produced are: Upgrade of Sectoral Profiles with new skills, a Competence Framework, a DigiGreen Post Model, two Competence-based Curricula, a new Joint Training Scheme including WBL, an e-learning platform, Individual Learning Accounts (with Micro-credentials awarding) and a new “Cross-Border” Certification Scheme.

The EU postal sector accounts for €91 billion or 0.72% of EU GDP (letter post alone accounts for €44 billion or 0.34 percent of the GDP, and the number of letters was 82 billion). Postal services play a key role in an effective and dynamic EU Single Market and they are of crucial importance to businesses and EU citizens alike. The European Commission works on improving the quality of delivery and access to postal services, and aims to complete a well-functioning Single Market for postal services.In this context the project ‘Cultural mediators in the Postal Sector” (CULMED) has achieved in piloting activities that have benefit and merit for both post organizations and third country nationals interacting with post organizations. CULMED aimed principally in matching the rising demands of post sector organizations to adapt to the rapid socio-economic and technological changes, together with the societal needs of accommodating and facilitating social inclusion of a large number of immigrants and refugees through better informed and designed public services. In this framework, all project Intellectual Outputs and outcomes have conduced in the establishment of a coherent body of knowledge and skills for post employees, immigrants and key stakeholders from both public and private sector that may support both the active social inclusion of third country nationals and increase the capacity of post organizations for informed interventions on the application of their services.The adaptation of skills and competences can be considered as an essential answer to manage the organizational changes and challenges coming from the external environment for the postal sector and in this field an essential effort has been made in the midst of the pandemic to deliver quality training to participant post employees in all program countries. Cultural Mediators as professionals has been trained so as to facilitate relations between local and foreign citizens and to promote reciprocal knowledge and comprehension, favoring a positive relationship between persons of different cultural backgrounds. The project training programs has included soft skills and language skills and targeted both post professionals and indirectly immigrants that will be able to get informed about the post services within a new culture and environment within post organizations and from better informed services.Among the main achieved project objectives are:1) The promotion of social inclusion by facilitating active participation of third country nationals in host societies, through improved access to post services and interaction with post organizations; 2) The provision of specialised training to post employees, so at to be able to deliver quality services in a multicultural social environment;3) Improvement of the quality of services provided to immigrants;4) Enhancement of the transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications related to the postal sector;5) The identification of new skills and the development of key competences for post employees, when providing services to third country nationals.

The main goal of COG-LO is to create the framework and tools that will add cognition and collaboration features to future logistics processes by: 1) Introducing the Cognitive Logistics Object (CLO) by adding cognitive behavior to all involved Logistics actors and processes; 2) Developing the environment that will allow CLOs to exchange information through ad-hoc social secure networks. The main objectives of COG-LO are: (a) Definition of a Future Cognitive Logistics Objects reference implementation model that supports cognitive logistics behaviour; (b) Design and develop the necessary analytics and cognitive tools that enable complex event detection, context awareness and multi-criteria decision support. (c) To design and develop the collaboration platform based on hybrid ad-hoc social networks of CLOs. (d) To design and develop the COG-LO tools (Cognitive Advisor, which realizes the cognitive behavior of CLO based on the reference implementation model, and Tweeting CLOs, allowing CLOs to exchange information in ad-hoc Social IoT networks); (e) To evaluate the COG-LO results via intermodal, cross-country and urban logistics pilot operations. (f) To introduce new business models for ad-hoc collaborations affecting all logistics stakeholders and create a community of Logistics, ICT and urban environment stakeholders. The consortium is led by CNIT and consists of 14 partners from 8 countries.