The project is in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and especially the outbreak of its second wave. Trying to control the situation which constitutes the largest global public health crisis in a century, EU governments are already again (like in spring) putting in place a series of restrictive measures, including ‘social distancing’ and school closures. With the recent shift to online and distance learning, education and training systems are facing challenges regarding their digital education readiness. Teachers and trainers have to be equipped with knowledge in order to develop and improve their digital pedagogical competences in order to safeguard the inclusive nature of learning opportunities.Some VET teachers are proficient and devoted to using digital and online learning, and in these cases the learning process becomes a mutual endeavour in which students learn from the teacher, and vice versa. Others recognise the importance of digital and online learning but have limited skills. Still others are ambivalent or refuse to try out such practices.Many VET teachers find challenges of distance learning due to COVID-19 situation. The content of their materials is not sufficiently attractive for the students and they are not involved in the process of learning. Their attention could be much better preserved if the learning material is presented in a more interactive way. This can be achieved by transforming and adapting the learning content, including gamification as a pedagogical approach in the vocational e-learning process.The main objective of the project is Development of digital pedagogical competences of VET Tourism Teachers in the COVID-19 situation.Specific objectives are: •To support the providing of high quality inclusive digital education in VET;•Development and use of open educational resources, open textbooks and free and open source educational software;•Strengthening the cooperation and networking between Vocational Tourism Schools;•Prepare education professionals for equity, diversity and inclusion challenges in the digital learning environment;•Encourage teachers to use School Education Gateway during the project implementation and after the project activities;•Target qualifications: cook, waiter, hotel receptionist Target groups: Direct beneficiaries: Teachers in VET schools/centres in the tourism sector.Final beneficiaries: VET learners in the tourism sector.The implementation of the project objectives includes 3 IOs:IO1 – Study and online consultation workshop on the lack on digital competences in teaching in VET (tourism sector)IO 2 – Development of Innovative Open-Source Educational SoftwareIO 3 – Development of open-source digital libraryThe implementation of the project will positively contribute to the achievement of the following expected long term impacts on the project target groups:•Providing teachers with quality and specific digital pedagogical competencies and tools supporting rendering the teaching process more attractive and effective for learners during the Covid-19 situation.•Creation of ICT tools to enhance digital pedagogical competences of teachers.Result 1: Development of high quality attractive digital content.Result 2: Development of Innovative Open-Source Educational SoftwareResult 3: Online resource (open-source digital library for VET in Tourism sector).The methodology, chosen for achievement of the project general objective and concrete aims, ensures development of applicable and sustainable products, which can be transferred beyond the partnership and the project lifetime.The ImDiPeT project activities are designed into 3 IOs. For each IO we have agreed to have a leading partner with all partners contributing to dedicated aspects of activities planned. Furthermore, for all IOs each lead partner will be supported by 1 partner as co-leader. The IO leaders as well as the IO leader supporting partners were selected according to their specific expertise and capacity required for the competent IO leadership and coordination. The organisation of the project work covers different types of activities related to management, administration, content generation, ICT and software development, communication, reporting, quality assurance and other related issues.The long term impact is:- cover the needs for improved digital skills of the educators in VET tourism sector;- development of strong links between VET schools, VET providers and IT companies;- creating a joint open source digital library applicable on EU level;- development of an innovative tool - Open source educational software that will improve the quality of training offered by VET schools and VET providers on EU level;- inclusion of information about project outputs on the web sites of project organizations and dissemination of ImDiPeT project products along their partnership networks;- “multiplication effect” - translation of project outputs in additional languages.

DETOUR empowers tourism destinations to develop and embed wellbeing philosophy and capitalise on the tourism and economic benefits which follow such as increased consumer spending, additional employment opportunities and contributions to GDP. It will upskill VET educators and Tourism SME's about the potential of wellbeing tourism as a emerging European Tourism Megatrend which can increase their competitiveness, inspire new wellbeing tourism products/services and develop even stronger unique value propositions. (VisitBritain, 2014, World Travel and Tourism Council, 2014, Deloitte, 2013). The goal of the DETOUR project is clear: provide VET, tourism development stakeholders and tourism SME’s with the knowledge and skills to capitalize on current and future wellbeing and slow tourism opportunities, so as to increase innovation, market diversification and the sustainable growth in regional tourism economies.It is clear that wellbeing tourism is an expanding niche market globally, providing specific business opportunities through products that promote or maintain health (Kelly, 2010, Rodrigues et al., 2010). In 2017, tourism centred on health and wellbeing grew by more than 9%, almost 50% faster than overall global tourism. Today, a return to nature, renewed awareness of the environment, the rediscovery of local identity, and the search for both physical and psychological wellbeing have resulted in new wellbeing and slow tourism opportunities for tourism destinations and providers, and importantly for the destinations they are embedded in. DETOUR emerges in the context of consumer trends changing the tourism landscape. DETOUR recognises that European Tourism SME’s are ideally placed to capitalise on the opportunities that wellbeing and slow tourism pose. Our specific OBJECTIVES are to:a) Increase the understanding of Wellbeing TourIsm - a Future Tourism Megatrend for Europe and develop a resource pack for VET tourism educators, policy makers, tourism bodies and stakeholders to learn the necessary components and tactics required to create regional wellbeing destinations (IO1) b) Increase awareness of wellbeing tourism opportunities and provision of a framework for sustainable collaboration between VET, HE and tourism business (DETOUR Communities of Practice - IO2). Wellbeing tourism destination placemaking cannot be limited to single tourism properties, instead it must developing and promoted as a whole, from town, regional or even national. Crucially, by testing this resource to setting up 5 Wellbeing Tourism Destination Communities of Practice, our project will identify the potential growth opportunities for the tourism sector in each partner region through a focused on analysis audit approach and crafting of opportunities intoCooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practice education and training actions. c) Develop the first Wellbeing Opportunities for Regions/Destinations training programme for Tourism SME's (IO3) and make such training available in two formats - 1) which can be delivered by tourism education providers and 2) direct online training modalities via our DETOUR MOOC (IO4) The DETOUR project addresses the needs of the following groups: a) VET and HE ORGANISATIONS b) TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AND POLICY STAKEHOLDERS - local governments and tourism and economic development stakeholders c) TOURISM SMES d) COMMUNITIES WITH TOURISM POTENTIAL - community groups, marketing organisations, development groups, special interest networks e) STUDENTS OF TOURISM Digital technologies are at the very core of the DETOUR project and are key to the delivery of our innovative pedagogies and methods for wellbeing tourism teaching, learning and assessment. Not only will digital tools (IO4 MOOC), ebook resources (IO1, IO2) and OER's (IO3) be developed, a new digital angle will be given to destination tourism training topics (such as Digital Placemaking and Digital Destination Mapping) to make them more relevant to the digital era we now live, work, learn and travel in. Marrying this priority with the aforementioned one, DETOUR will pay particular attention to the European Framework for Digitally Competent Educators (DIG COMP EDU) and utilise the framework to increase trainers’ confidence of using digital teaching in their daily work. Meeting this priority is crucial to the success of DETOUR, hence the inclusion of EUEI as technical/digital partner. Based in Copenhagen (the number 1 innovation capital in Europe) EUEI are embedded in the digital learning eco-system and have a significant network of collaborators working not just in e-learning but in the ICT sector generally. They will bring the latest innovation thinking, open education trends and digital tools to DETOUR and will advise on how the relevant digital frameworks such as DIG COMP EDU can be integrated into project work/design from the onset.

<< Background >>Hospitality (accommodation/ food & beverage businesses) is in a deep crisis as a result of temporary and permanent closures and loss of its customer base linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. Together with tourism, the hospitality sector is the 3rd largest socio-economic activity in the EU. The industry is also central to the European recovery and as such needs to contribute to building smart (digital, sustainable) ecosystems for all tourism stakeholders which offer travellers more memorable and sustainable experiences through for example longer or off-season stays (European Tourism Convention 2020). Travellers, tourism businesses (90% of which are SMEs or microbusinesses) as well as destinations all need to be supported in working towards a sustainable tourism recovery.The future of tourism is green, digital and inclusive. The hospitality sector plays an important role in social inclusion, offering the first job experience for many young people. It also offers jobs to relatively unskilled people, as 30,2% have a lower secondary education or under, compared to 17,7% in the overall economy (EUROSTAT).The project considers the Council Recommendations on VET and the New European Skills Agenda as well as the Osnabrück Declaration (2020) and will as such be working towards all four priorities of the declaration:1. Resilience and excellence through quality, inclusive and flexible VET2. Establishing a new lifelong learning culture – relevance of CVET and digitalisation3. Sustainability – a green link in VET4. European Education and Training Area and international VETThis will be achieved through - A broad range of project activities, bringing together stakeholders from across sectors linked to the hospitality and tourism ecosystem, especially by encouraging lifelong learning and linking VET education and business leading to boosting the resilience and sustainability of SMEs and CVET provision. - The creation of results and materials such as the collection of practices, the development of a high quality training programme, adequate exploitation materials and the creation of a sustainable SME network to boost international collaboration and exchanges. - Answering to the recently published European Commission Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027) by offering inclusive and accessible digital education through high-quality learning resources.Identified NEEDS:Need for an open source, flexible and easily accessible online training and OERs for SMEs who are chronically lacking financial resources and local access to upskill staff (EC 2018).Addressing inclusivity by offering an attractive training opportunity for hospitality sector workers: the tourism industry gives more opportunities to low educated workers. Focusing on sustainability; the project will offer support to overcome the current crisis, build resilience/develop more sustainable and profitable practices for the future in line with the European SME strategy 2020 and focus on the EU post-Covid recovery.Offering academic staff/educators access to resources to support their students by rooting sustainable practices and entrepreneurship throughout their learning journey. Participation in entrepreneurship education increases the likelihood of engaging in entrepreneurial activities later in life by 35% on average (European Training Monitor 2019). Supporting/strengthening the links between SMEs & VET/HE/Adult education providers in line with the EC focus to boost innovation through education-business cooperation.Raising awareness of sustainability challenges/current & future skills needs of SMEs to encourage adequate educational provision, inform/support SMEs & alert policy makers.Supporting the hospitality and tourism ecosystem/local communities by developing sustainable tourism that benefits people, business and the environment.Providing new practical examples and recommendations for public authorities and policy makers to support decision making.<< Objectives >>OVERALL OBJECTIVES: - Raising awareness of the advantages of sustainable business management & green skills for business, society/community & the environment. - Supporting SMEs in their green transition by upskilling/reskilling staff and encouraging sustainable entrepreneurship & practices. - Contributing behavioural change and understanding that sustainability is not a nice to have by-product but can be integrated across all aspects of business operations. - Developing business sustainability competences of academics & educators. - Offering a new flexible open-source training opportunity for hospitality managers/ workers to upskill and meet new labour market needs future demands of employers & businesses. - Offering an opportunity for adult professionals to gain relevant green business skills to upskill, reskill, increase their employability, or reinvent their “green” business & access a changing labour market in the hospitality sector. - Supporting hospitality/tourism schools with expanding their CVET training offer for SMEs & hospitality professionals. - Expanding the offer of relevant resources & training materials available to academic/educators to support changing skills needs. - Supporting the adaptation of existing training offers/programmes to recent developments in the industry by providing new highly relevant content. - Supporting the integration of (business) sustainability into hospitality curricula.CONCRETE OBJECTIVES - Produce a comprehensive report about the post-Covid 19 sustainability challenges and skills needs of hospitality SME staff (PR1) to inform all subsequent project activities.Offering a comprehensive set of transferable good practices to be integrated into the training programme or consulted separately in order to make more informed and sustainable business decisions and strengthen resilience. (PR2)- Develop an attractive and multilingual training programme and hands-on practical easy to use learning resources/toolbox for SME staff, academics/educators that will lead to the uptake of sustainable practices that benefit businesses and their local ecosystem, the community as well as the environment. (PR3) - Demonstrate and raise awareness about how sustainability benefits local businesses and their staff, the community, immediate environment (through all training materials, events, guidelines and policy recommendations). (PR1, 2, 3 & 4) - Target hospitality and tourism schools, SMEs, sector representations, public authorities, policy makers as well as other players part of the local and regional tourism ecosystem through dissemination and exploitation materials to encourage the uptake of sustainable practices in hospitality businesses. (PR5) - Create and animate a network community of sustainable hospitality businesses across the partner countries which can be rolled out across Europe and lives on after the end of the project (PR 5).<< Implementation >>MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIESDescribed in a Project Management Plan, which includes, among others, partner meetings incl online and other communication actions to promote the creation of synergies, the cooperation/exchange of good practices among partners active in the project area; transnational meetings, scheduled to contribute to smooth progress; other pre-established communication actions. This Project Management Plan will not only guarantee that the project is carried out as planned but also enhances understanding among the partners and the products/results tailored to the real needs of the target groups.QUALITY ASSURANCE ACTIVITIESAs a core framework of the quality assessment, there will be similar steps followed in each activity: research/needs analysis, design/development, implementation, evaluation/assessment and lessons learnt, revision and, finally, exploitation of the results and sustainability. These processes (see the Quality Assessment section) will contribute to a better quality of the products/results and, thus to a more successful achievement of the goals.DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIESThey will directly contribute to the spread of the information about project activities/results as well as raise awareness about the crucial role of sustainability for SMEs and business. Besides, the fact that all partners will collaborate to carry them out, will contribute to the improvement of transnational cooperation of partners working within the hospitality ecosystem.CONSULTATION REPORTThe consultation about the post-Covid 19 sustainability challenges and skills needs of hospitality SME staff will inform all subsequent project activities and project results and will hence be essential to reaching the project objectives at all levels (regional/national through country analysis and at European level through consolidated analysis).METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK & COLLECTION OF PRACTICES Innovative practices linked to sustainable business management from the partner countries will be used as case studies to enrich the training programme but will also be available as a stand alone tool to offer maximum flexibility to the user and target group. Practices will offer practical examples for SMEs to work on becoming more sustainable in very different business areas such as for example value chains, communication or partnerships.COMPETENCE FRAMEWORK AND CURRICULUMThe mapping of competences to be acquired and the establishment of the competence framework are essential for the development of the lesson plan/the detailed and attractive/highly relevant curriculum for the 6 module training programme.DEVELOPMENT OF TRAINING PROGRAMME, WEBSITE/TOOLBOXHighly attractive website and OER will all project materials/results will be easy to navigate and use, also respecting the needs of those with limited digital skills. The high quality digital and open source training programme will be available in partner languages to provide an interactive learning experience for those who are maybe not regularly engaging in continuous education and lifelong learning activities. The programme and Toolbox will lead to the uptake of sustainable practices that benefit businesses and their local ecosystem, the community as well as the environment.TOOLKIT FOR CHANGEGuidelines and policy recommendations and a comprehensive campaign at the final stage will target various audiences - academics & educators, SME staff, adult learners through adult education providers job centres, public authorities, policy-makers - and will raise awareness about the role of sustainability in business management and the need for uptake of sustainable practices. The EcoSME network will serve as a hands-on tool to test the exchange of practices of SMEs and encourage collaboration to bring about sustainable change, lasting impact and a shift towards a sustainable business mindset.<< Results >>The project has been developed in a way to ensure that a maximum of results can be disseminated and exploited by its target audiences in the long term.REPORT FROM CONSULTATIONThe country reports & analytical report does not only serve as a basis for all subsequent project results but can also be disseminated to local/regional/national policy makers/VET schools/sector associations in order to highlight the importance to invest in CVET and particularly in the area of sustainability to strengthen the sector.The CATALOGUE OF PRACTICES to which all partners will contribute, forms another central part of the project. It will provide practical examples in order to illustrate the content of the training but can also be accessed/consulted/used independently without taking part in the training or modules. It will be searchable with tags and links and updated along the project life time as well as beyond when new examples emerge.COMPETENCE FRAMEWORK AND CURRICULUM for SME owners and aspiring entrepreneurs in the hospitality sector comprising both accommodation & restaurant businesses in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic which has put new pressure on SMEs to adapt and survive under very challenging circumstances. New expectations are being put on businesses to comply with demands in the area of sustainability. Green skills will be essential for businesses to remain financially sustainable. The ONLINE TRAINING & TOOLBOX will offer 6 modules linked to key areas of sustainability, from understanding the concept to implementing it in a way that it favours both the business and the three dimensions of sustainability (society, environment & economy) in the hospitality sector. Although participants/users of the training programme are encouraged to take the whole course, they can also choose to only work through individual modules. The course can be used as a blended or stand alone online course.GUIDELINES FOR EDUCATORS & POLICY RECOMMENDATIONSThe project will develop guidelines for academics/educators in order for them to see where the main gaps and needs of SMEs are, to understand trends in the industry etc. and how to best benefit from the training programme/materials. The guidelines will help them to anticipate future skills needs and guide their students in the right direction. The project will produce policy recommendations to be sent to policy makers together with the consultation report. The policy recommendations will be based on all the work carried out during the project (consultation, case studies, reports from the regional pilots and fora, feedback from partners and stakeholders etc.). The WEBSITE containing training/toolbox & VIRTUAL NETWORK SPACE will be the shop window of the project and will be flawlessly and professionally designed to ensure that participants stay engaged and enjoy the learning experience. The website will include all relevant information about the project and its results destined to its different target audiences to be explained further on.All partners have very good and regular contacts with SMEs and where SMEs have struggled because of the crisis, partners are also looking at developing new networks/relationships in the sector within regional ecosystems but also internationally. The project aims to initiate a NETWORK OF SMEs working on sustainability that can serve as a pool for knowledge exchange across regions. The network will initially comprise SMEs from the partner countries but will be rolled out to other regions as a tool to establish and encourage sustainable hospitality business practices.PILOTS AND MULTIPLIER EVENTS will be held in 4 partner countries bringing together project target audiences to test and subsequently improve project results upon their recommendations as well as to inform and raise awareness about project results.WORKING DOCUMENTS: Dissemination & Exploitation Strategy, Evaluation Plan, Visual Identity, Templates and Charts, Sustainability Plan.

<< Objectives >>Designed in AR learning environment and delivered as a short-cycle course with micro-credentials, the FORESTWELL teaching module contributes to the innovation and flexibility of the existing curriculum in tourism, wellness and wellbeing in VET. Further, it contributes to upskilling pathways and to the improvement of digital skills of VET providers (teachers), VET learners (students and tourism and wellness employees) and entrepreneurs and finally, to the development of sustainable communities.<< Implementation >>The project is designed to initially identify forest-based skills in the tourism and wellness industry and in VET (preparation phase, WP3); to design the educational program on forest wellness and tourism for VET providers and industry (implementation phase, WP4); to test and implement the program in AR environment (implementation phase, WP5) and finally to implement a relevant, high-quality project and to disseminate its results in a sustainable manner (horizontal phase, WP1 – WP2).<< Results >>The objective of the FORESTWELL project is to develop an innovative and sustainable teaching module in a AR forest environment on forest wellness and tourism for VET providers, VET learners and entrepreneurs in the tourism and wellness industry to develop the knowledge and skills aimed at capitalizing on the latest megatrend known as forest-based wellbeing, wellness and tourism.

Food 2030 (EU food innovation policy) highlights boosting innovation and empowering communities as a key priority. It wants value-added products to meet the needs, values and expectations of society in a responsible and ethical way. However, the food service market (caterers, cafes, takeaways, pubs/restaurants, café, food trucks, contract caterers, hospitals, schools etc.) is challenged by a lack of growth ( just 5%in three years in the UK), price pressure from food retailers and changing consumer behaviour. Obesity is a public health time bomb but as consumer interest in healthy and sustainable food continues to rise, European food service businesses face a win-win opportunity: they can grow their businesses AND empower consumers to make healthier choices. Stimulating Healthy Food Service Innovation (SUSTAIN) seeks to empower food service SMEs with the innovation knowledge and skills to introduce healthy, affordable products to market, thus boosting their competitiveness and contribution to a healthier society. To ensure our approach seeks maximum reach and impact, we will provide enterprise support centres - the main source of training and support for small businesses –with the resources they need to radically improve the innovation training they provide to small food service firms. Our SMART objectives are closely linked to our project outputs:i. Provide SMEs, VET trainers and policymakers with rigorously researched, up-to-date knowledge on the business opportunities arising from the healthy food agenda. (IO1: Good practice healthy food service compendium)ii. Provide food sector trainers with new resources to introduce healthy food innovation courses for their client base reaching 2,000 food service SMEs (IO2: OERs)iii. Boost the effectiveness of the aforementioned courses and widen access to food service SME owners and employees by developing an online platform, “Healthy Food Innovation and Digitization for the Food Service Sector” (IO3).iv. Widely disseminate our resources, particularly with VET and food sector policymakers to maximise uptake in the short to medium term.SUSTAIN will impact the following participants:-1 Organisations linked to target groups: organizations providing VET to food service companies and representative bodies for food service companies 2 Policy makers in terms of public health and economic development 3 Partners’ links to associates, peers, stakeholders and policy makers at regional, national and EU (e.g. the Regions of Gastronomy network, the Balkans sustainability development network).In terms of results, SUSTAIN will - Provide 500 SMEs, VET trainers and policymakers with rigorously researched, up-to-date knowledge on the business opportunities arising from the healthy food agenda. (IO1: Good practice healthy food service compendium)- Provide 100 food sector trainers with new resources to introduce healthy food innovation courses for their client base reaching 2,000 food service SMEs (IO2: OERs)- Benefit 1,000 food service SME owners and employees through the online platform, “Healthy Food Innovation and Digitization for the Food Service Sector” (IO3).SUSTAIN partners will : - gain distinctive insights and strategies into food service innovation that arise from the unique combination of perspectives and types of organizations involved in the knowledge sharing process. Their new expertise will help their positioning and competitive advantage in their respectivespheres of work.- acquire new didactic strategies and will improve their own competences in knowledge sharing and strategic relationship building and have a clear understanding of how to sustain and grow the project in the long termSUSTAIN has been designed to impact positively in the long term to build the capacity of food service SMEs to introduce healthier options leading to more growth in the SME sector, greater choices of healthier food service offerings for the consumer and ultimately, improved health in communities and reduced health care costs. Such an initiative has never been more important. Obesity is rising at an alarming rate with estimates indicating over 51% of EU adults are overweight and 20% are obese.