During the last decade, many governments have announced new climate change mitigation commitments that include national or regional commitments to reduce their carbon emissions in the 2025-2035 timeframe. The underlying government planning efforts and national actions do tend to be linked with a major transformation in the transport sector toward advanced efficiency technology with a shift to lower-carbon energy sources.Many governments have announced that their original goals will not be met for a variety of reasons, amongst which one of the most important is the lack of skilled and trained personnel with sufficient level of knowledge in this area.This project has as a goal modernization of WB HEIs study programs through introduction of new electric vehicles-related courses at the bachelor and master levels of education in WB HEIs. It will be done through creation of new or modernization of existing study programs at bachelor/master levels and creation of awareness-raising hubs within which EM associations will be created.WB HEIs from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo will opt, depending on their capacities, whether they will introduce new programs or modernize existing, in English or in their native languages. In both cases number of new courses, their titles, ECTS and other characteristics, will be determined in advance.This will include set up of new laboratories which will enable laboratory practices for students, as well as Electric Mobility Popularization Hubs within WB HEIs. Thus, all partners should select equipment which is adequate to the goals of the project.Project will include partners from EU, HEIs from all WB countries, non-academic and associated partners.

The new paradigms of electricity grids and markets require that staff employed in electrical energy related jobs as well as electricity end users are properly educated and trained. The electrical engineering curricula in WBC, formed to serve the conventional model of one large scale power grid, owned and operated by one company, need to adapt. ELEMEND is designed to facilitate electrical engineering curricula in WBC to be competitive through teaching and training in smart gird and microgrid technologies and electricity markets. Courses at the BSc level and a MSc programme will be developed; academic and technical staff will be trained; new ICT tools, such as e-learning platforms and gamified content combined with blended learning, will be used; an internship programme will be put in place for the most motivated of the ELEMEND students; a University - enterprise network will be created within the project, around the core group of the ELEMEND industrial partners. The ELEMEND laboratories will be accessible to all partners and are expected to attract research funding while ELEMEND graduates are expected to have increased employability rates and play a leading role in their field. The student projects carried out in ELEMEND labs in the third project year will focus on real‐life problems and are expected to attract the interest of relevant stakeholders. Outputs, such as the e‐learning courses, the gamified applications, the virtual labs, the new courses and Master’s programme are expected to engage new students and relevant target groups after the lifetime of the project as well as enhance public’s awareness.

Modern agriculture is largely based on new technological solutions closely related to the increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and various software solutions, not only for monitoring, but also for managing production processes. In Bosnia and Montenegro agriculture remains largely dependent on manual farming, with technical and technological solutions being poorly explored. At the same time, both countries have strong ICT sectors employing sizeable number of highly educated professionals who develop front-end software solutions. Building a sustainable regional future for the large extent hence depends on the intersection of the two which, even though a concern that should be addressed in all parts of society as a critical strategic area for development and economic activity, has in so far not been given a fair attention in educational and training practices. With this in mind VIRAL project aims to trigger higher level of knowledge, skills and application with reference to use of ICT in agricultural education and training in both formal and informal settings. Henceforth, VIRAL connects key HEIs and industry learning communities’ participants in the process of co-creating and testing new in and out of the classroom methods and practices, initiating professional pitch competitions (hackathons), and spinning off a distinctive regional university-business collaboration platform. Core learning experience involving agricultural and IT engineering teaching staff and students and passing on the knowledge gained onto professional advisory services and collaboration practices with the companies in the field is realized through intensive training experience and study visits to European universities. On the impact level boosted ICTs use in agriculture underpins sustainable rural development, increases resilience of rural families, improves access of farmers to needed services, and further empowers women and youth living prospects in rural areas.