In 2010 European Commission proposed a 10 – year strategy which was triggered by the economic and social crisis that Europe fell into those years. The Europe 2020 Strategy has been the EU's agenda for growth and jobs over the decade. It emphasises smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in order to improve Europe's competitiveness and productivity and support a sustainable social market economy. In 2011, the term Industry 4.0 was coined as part of the growth through digital transformation strategy of EU, conducting roadmaps to promote the digitalization of manufacturing. Industry 4.0 is a comprehensive concept as well as a new trend in manufacturing (and relevant sectors) based on the integration of a set of technologies that enable ecosystems of intelligent, autonomous as well as decentralized factories and integrated product-services (C. Santos, 2017).The Industry 4.0 trend is altering the production capabilities of all industries, including the agricultural sector. It is built on an array of digital technologies: Internet of Things, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and of digital practices: cooperation, mobility, open innovation. It concerns a transformation of the production infrastructures such as “connected” farms, new production equipment and “connected” equipment. The result is to enable both an increased productivity and quality and environmental protection. But they also generate modifications in the value chain and business models with more emphasis on knowledge gathering, analysis and exchange. Precision Agriculture is the core methodology engaged with the definition of digitalization of agriculture. The most essential challenge in the adoption of Precision Agriculture Methodology is the ability of farmers to invest and upgrade their practices of production. The workforce in agriculture is ageing, with over 56%over 55 in Europe (Euractiv, 2016). The digital skills of the workforce are thus limited and require additional investment in training to adopt technologies. Taking all the above mentioned into consideration, the consortium members decided that the current project will contribute to the development of an E-learning Platform as a digital tool to meet agricultural stakeholder’s needs on their education and training, with regard to the incorporation of precision agriculture applications in their farms. The purpose of the project is a transnational cooperation among these 5 partners with the same needs; to help farmers and other agricultural stakeholders to reassess their agricultural needs using Precision Agriculture as a tool of development aligned with the international trends of the sector. The current project addresses mainly to target groups as follows:1.Farmers2.Technical staff in rural production3.Agricultural consultants / Agriculturalists4.VET Trainers specialized in rural developmentThe project’s objectives focuses on:1.The stimulation of farmers and technical staff working in rural production to cope with the most up-to-date techniques and methodologies concerning the digital farming and more particularly the precision agriculture. 2.The development of the curriculum (knowledge and skills) of the trainers and the consultants of the agricultural sector on precision agriculture applications3.The introduction of innovative methodologies and applications to farmers according to the modern technological progress and the reform of institutional guidelines in European policies and international suggestions4.The implementation of a digital E-learning Platform on Precision Agriculture which will be a useful tool for the VET trainers on educating and teaching, incorporating the project outcomes in their sessions. The e-Learning platform and the accompanied handbook will be elaborated to work as means of exploiting by the VET trainers providing them a new teaching methodology during their training process. During the project implementation, the VET trainers of every partner will be trained on how they will teach farmers and other agricultural stakeholders using the Precision Agriculture Handbook for Beginners (IO1) and the Precision Agriculture VET Curriculum (IO2). The content of the Beginners’ Handbook and the Curriculum will be the educational material on precision agriculture which partners will develop. Then, they will incorporate it in the E-learning platform (IO3) and the VET trainers will exploit it to train farmers and relevant stakeholders. On the project's completion, VET trainers of every partner will have obtained the knowledge and the skills along with relevant competences to train the members of the above mentioned targets groups effectively on the importance of precision agriculture application in succeeding a more qualified workforce for a more sustainable agriculture.

"Since the EU promotes a transition toward a more and more “circular” flow in the economic system, that transition need to be systemic and not limited to specific sectors or geographical area, and must affect each part of the production/recycling chain. The field of plastics industry is one of the largest producer of polluting waste that, at the same time, consists largely of recyclable material that can start a new production process. The EU underlines the beneficial impact of improving the reprocessing of plastics in its strategy on plastics waste and in its general strategy for the promotion of Circular Economy [https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy].As its main goal ENSURE wants to tackle the “Environmental and climate goals” E+ horizontal priority. In particular the project will foster the development of green sectorial skills and methodologies (focused on the plastics sector) for entrepreneurs and VET trainers as to allow them (in particular for entrepreneurs) to become true change factors towards a more sustainable entrepreneurship.The project has isolated three main areas of possible improvement toward this objective:1.Staple skills such as flexibility, capacity to innovate and ability to learn continuously2.Entrepreneurial skills in recognizing and seizing opportunities in circular economy processes. Special focus on the business cases provided by the Plastic industry.3.Ability to manage (Resilient Management Skills) the adaptation phase of shifting from the classical model (raw material product - waste) to the new ""Circular"" model (raw material - product - waste - raw material)Project idea:The project aims at bridging the gap of skills related to the creation of new businesses or the reconversion of old ones, in the field of circular economy. The project will identify the most interesting strands in this economic field elaborating different entrepreneurial paths that will be available to business coaches and the trainers will be able to pass on to future entrepreneurs. Then a specific focus will be developed toward the plastics production sector.General Objective of the project:To encourage the creation of new startups with a business model based on circular economy. The focus of the project will be on the plastics industry sector.Specific objective 1Train the trainers: Producing some collections of best practices and educational materials to teach the business coaches how to lead potential startups into the Circular Economy field, helping them to create and subsequently solidify their business.Specific objective 2Improve the awareness of present entrepreneurs and investors on the possibilities offered by circular economy, focusing in particular on those offered by plastics CE.Specific Objective 3:Supporting the creation of locally based CE startups, with focus on plastic's reuse and valorization sector, possibly aligning to local S3.Moreover the project wants to have an impact on the following target groups:-Entrepreneurs (age between 18 and 35)-Entrepreneurial Trainers-Startup Coaches-Investors (secondary target)As to achieve the aforementioned objectives in the best possible way, the following partners have been included in the consortium:-Chambre de Commerce Italienne de Nice Sophia Antipolis Côte d'Azur, France, Lead Partner;-FVB S.R.L., Italy;-COOPERATION BANCAIRE POUR L'EUROPE, Belgium;-ARGE Abfallvermeidung, Ressourcenschonung und nachhaltige Entwicklung GmbH, Austria;-Cz&K Consulting Szolgaltato Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Hungary;-Fondazione Edulife ONLUS, Italy;-Coopérative pour le Développement de l'emploi dans les métiers du patrimoine, France.Each partner was accurately selected keeping in mind their specific expertise and having as filter the needs of the project.In its 26 months duration the project wants to develop advanced tools (Intellectual Outputs) to impact positively on target groups, toward the specified objectives:1 - Circular economy plastics course and library content (IO1)2 - E-Learning platform. MOOC, Profiling test and interactive Library (IO2)"