The CATALYST project “European VET Excellence Centre for Leading Sustainable Systems and Business Transformation” is designed with strong vision and motivation to contribute to realisation of the European Green Deal and the new Industrial and SME Strategies.The main goal is with the establishment of united CATALYST Centre of Vocational Excellence in 5 countries to give support, create an educational offer to tackle personal and organisational development, and to embrace transformation in SMEs, enabling and inspiring them to re-think and re-design their business models, co-creating and sharing between educational and business organisations. The project fosters innovation and applied knowledge in approaches of learning and tailor-made VET program via the “Enable component”, as well as support of SMEs to create sustainable businesses via the “Inspire component”.The main project outputs are: 1. 5 CoVEs and CATALYST Network anchored the European VET eco-system;2. 70 VET courses for up-skilling professionals and students;3. Co-create and disseminate applied knowledge inspiring business-education partnerships involving students, professionals and SMEs;4. Create CATALYST Platform which will unite all CoVEs on a European level;5. Implement VET trainings, pilot-project with SMEs and applied joint research projects in selected sectors according to the national S3;6. Raise awareness of the potential CATALYST CoVEs have and increase the demand and attractiveness of VET.Activities are focused on learning opportunities, applied joint research projects, innovative training methodologies and tools and support for SMEs on relevant topics, where more than 5000 beneficiaries (professionals, students and SMEs) can benefit. The desired impact of the project is the established CoVEs to be ‘catalyst’ on national, regional and European level, ‘enable’ change and ‘inspire’ and transformation of individuals and SMEs toward more sustainable systems and societies.

As a result of the steady economic development Europe is facing a huge number of low-skilled adults that need to be integrated into the labour market. But for a successful integration of low-skilled adults into their social environment good education is essential. DECOS combines labour market integration with social integration via environmental awareness and green skills. The environmental standards and awareness in Europe’s workplaces and societies is very high. E.g. waste separation and management is an important issue to many European people, neighbourhoods, communities and cities. Often these topics are rarely developed at low-skilled adults, either in their social environment or at the workplace. DECOS addresses these education gaps and will contribute to a more successful integration of low-skilled adults in their social environment AND the labour market.The main objectives of this project are:- developing a new and innovative curriculum (based on ECVET and EQF standards) for fostering social AND labour market integration of low-skilled adults through green skills- train DECOS trainers (min 10) in a TtT seminar- develop teaching materials for trainers - develop an DECOS guide-book for trainees (about 40 pages)- develop a three-module training course (waste management, energy management and cleaner production)- develop three easy to use e-learning modules (blended learning)- develop e-testing system- train low-skilled adults (min 100) in pilot trainings and evaluate the training and teaching materials- disseminate project results in partner countries and beyond - set up a cross-media platform as a transfer centre to ensure the sustainability of the projectWhile the waste and energy management modules of the DECOS training could be applied in any social and professional environment, the third module: cleaner production/sustainability will exclusively focus on the applicability of green skills on the workplace and thereby enhance the employability of successful DECOS trainees.Although there are VET trainings for achieving green skills and there are also initiatives and trainings for improving environmental awareness, the specific target group of low-skilled adults has not been targeted so far. They often lack green skills and environmental awareness, therefore it is important focusing on this lack for and increase environmental competences and awareness towards a more sustainable lifestyle. Because of the individual knowledge-gaps, a training designed towards the specific needs of this highly relevant and growing target group is needed. The participants of the DECOS training need to be willing to improve their competences and skills to be more employable on the market and active in the society on green issues and environmental awareness. To ensure the quality of the DECOS training and its outcomes, every participant of the training needs to fulfil some formal criteria: minimum age of 18 years and a certain language level. These minimum criteria ensure that the participants will understand the content of the training properly and that they can apply for jobs during or after the training.

Systems Innovation Approach (SIA) addresses the growing complexity, interdependencies and interconnectedness of modern societies and economies, focusing on the functions of the cross-sectoral system as a whole and on the variety of actors. The Climate Innovation Window (CIW) is the EU reference innovations marketplace for climate adaptation technologies. ARSINOE shapes the pathways to resilience by bringing together SIA and CIW, to build an ecosystem for climate change adaptation solutions. Within the ARSINOE ecosystem, pathways to solutions are co-created and co-designed by stakeholders, who can then select either existing CIW technologies, or technologies by new providers (or a combination) to form an innovation package. This package may be designed for implementation to a specific region, but its building blocks are transferable and re-usable; they can be re-adapted and updated. In this way, the user (region) gets an innovation package consisting of validated technologies (expanding the market for CIW); new technologies implemented in the specific local innovation package get the opportunity to be validated and become CIW members, while the society (citizens, stakeholders ) benefits as a whole. ARSINOE applies a three-tier, approach: (a) using SIA it integrates multi-faceted technological, digital, business, governance and environmental aspects with social innovation for the development of adaptation pathways to climate change for specific regions; (b) it links with CIW to form innovation packages by matching innovators with end-users/regions; (c) it fosters the ecosystem sustainability and growth with cross-fertilization and replication across regions and scales, at European level and beyond, using specific business models, exploitation and outreach actions. The ARSINOE approach is show-cased in 9 widely varied demonstrators, as a proof-of-concept with regards to its applicability, replicability, potential and efficacy.

ARISE is developing a EU wide distinguishable recognition scheme of digital energy efficient BIM construction skills linked with a maturity-based digital ranking system for accounting CPD based learning transactions. The open competency based qualification scheme based on maturity levels that empower micro-learning will be the basis for making learning transactions count. The project team will be gathering and linking BIM modules, tools and materials with the aim to establish a BIM resource and skills recognition pathway that all stakeholders can utilise, deliver and stimulate. This will provide BIM Energy performance alliance (BIM-EP) partners and other stakeholders with an e-learning materials repository to contribute to, whilst also developing a CPD recognition pathway for the whole supply chain to access and utilise. ARISE will revolutionise the learning process by developing a crypto-skills exchange, monetizing the skills and learning interface with a system based on skills recognition rather than accreditation. The reward of acquiring a competence at a certain level will be CERTcoin the innovative currency of skills and learning of the construction sector embracing today’s digital transformation benefits. This reward based on skills and time credits will be stored in an Individual learning Account and can be used as digital points accumulation in a skills barometer or for exchanging it into valid micro certificates. This will be an industry driven, easier accessible, less time consuming, highly competitive way to up-skill blue and white collars and increase vocational mobility. ARISE will complement and integrate with other existing projects, instruments and initiatives to deliver increased levels of sustainable energy skills across the entire supply chain of the construction sector. ARISE will collaborate with other key actors and target groups to improve synergies and drive workforce demand for diversification in skills recognition and certification.