<< Background >>The Food & Drink industry is the EU largest manufacturing sector in terms of turnover, value added and employment. Despite of market turmoils also due to Covid-19, it remains stable and dominates the EU external trade. Higher Education and training activities in the food sectors are growing in the EU largely dominated by conventional study programmes and teaching methodologies that in general do not allow the achievement of competences and skills needed by the current and future job market.<< Objectives >>The ASKFOOD main aim was to create a permanent knowledge sharing alliance between businesses, business associated organisations and Universities in the food and food-related sectors. Establishing such an alliance, the ASKFOOD consortium: (1) created the necessary frame for collaboration, (2) converted innovative concepts into new tools to be provided within this frame(3)tested and applied innovative training methodologies(4)ensured sustainability by establishing a permanent alliance<< Implementation >>The project has:-implemented a series of virtual tools to early discovery and anticipate trends and related emerging skills-implemented an interactive platform and dynamic networking for multisector knowledge sharing and co-creation-improve training models, by launching disruptive, learner-led and cross-industry training schemes, i.e. Reverse incubator -set up common tools and organizational frame that will guarantee the sustainability of the network: the permanent Observatory.<< Results >>•Cross-industry knowledge platforms (Knowledge and Training Hub and Clusters) •Open Innovation framework to modernize education/training (ASKFOOD DBTE)•Interactive repository of emerging skills and professional profiles in the food sector in a forward-looking perspective (Interactive Atlas) so to forecast future skill needs (Forecast Aggregator) •Acceleration and growth hacking solutions (Reversed Incubator, ASKFOOD Garage Labs)•Permanent ASKFOOD Observatory

There are new challenges and opportunities for agriculture today, driven by the climate change, the greening of the products and processes, the reuse of side-stream products, the raised complexity of the chain and the increased availability of information.However, to successfully address and react to these drivers, agriculture and forestry needs new business models and skills. The identification of existing and emerging skills needs in bio-economy, agricultural sustainability and for the use of digital technology, is of paramount importance in order to develop a strategic approach to keep the European agricultural sector competitive and sustainable in the long term.The multi-stakeholder approach in the FIELDS project, with 30 partners from 12 countries (HEI, VET providers, agricultural and forestry sector representatives and agrifood industry) will allow tackling the complexity of the issues EU agriculture faces today.The FIELDS approach, starting from the current and future trends and skills needed, will lead to a sustainable European strategy to address these skill gaps. Since agriculture issues and opportunities differs a lot from country to country, the EU strategy will be customised to have a country strategy for 7 countries. It will address country-specific actions, occupational profiles and training material to reflect the country needs while keeping EU quality standards (ESCO, EQAVET, ECVET) to address the mobility of learners through Europe concretely.An Agriculture SSA will be established during the project to build upon the regulatory frameworks and opportunities at EU and country level, while proposing concrete and practical initiatives to address skills challenges, in particular through offering modular training inside the project while guaranteeing mobility of workers within the agriculture, forestry and agrifood industry.

<< Background >>The AISkills4CircularTransition will explore the opportunities and challenges that come with this monumental new taskforce that is defining the new standards of business, through the implementation of a training programme on the opportunities Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Circular economy (CE) can offer to agri-food businesses. The whole training programme aims at supporting the transition of European SMEs of the agri-food sector from a traditional development model to a circular one that will enhance the regeneration of skills and competences at workplace and favours circular businesses and organisation models. AISkills4CircularTransition will thus rethink and redesign the jobs already performed to exploit the skills already available at workplace, avoid their underutilisation and enhance the career path of the (older and recently hired) employees that miss the right competences. Skills formation at workplace has been proven to alleviate this phenomenon and is one of the main pillars of the EU 2020 strategy for economic growth.The AISkills4CircularTransition project is based on a genuine and adequate analysis of the needs of these target groups: In first place, the needs to be trained and upskilled about the innovative solutions and practices that could support them to initiate a circular and digital transformation of their activities and practices, have been expressed by them-selves. As reported by ANIA, FIAB and SEVT, the agri-food professionals require to advance their knowledge and increase their competences and capacity to lead the transformation process, both digital and circular, and accommodate the need for new skills in interdisciplinary courses. In second place, a specific training approach and methodology are needed to design and elaborate the different modules and contents in order to meet the expectations of the target groups. The learners are the agri-food professionals, in activity, with various backgrounds and professional experiences. The training program, approach and schedule will be specially adapted to them, taking into account their availability. As mentioned, the trainees who will participate in the project, are professionals in activity and their professional commitment and everyday activities could be an obstacle to follow a course if the conditions are not adapted in terms of schedule, duration, frequency, online availability. Aware of the importance of this element, the project members will design the training program to overcome this potential boundary to the effective participation.<< Objectives >>AISkills4CircularTransition project aims at providing agri-food professionals with fit-for-purpose knowledge and skills on AI technologies to nurture the development of fairer circular food chain models, combining the environmental, social, economic, and digital dimensions.The project main goal is to sensibilize and train professionals from the agri-food sectors to the use of AI along the supply chains allowing a fair digital transition of their industries, with a specific focus on how AI could facilitate and help the implementation of circular economy principles.The project main objectives are:-Raise awareness, improve knowledge and skills of agri-food professionals about AI and CE, and the opportunity of transformation and sustainable development they can offer-Empower the agri-food professionals to engage transformation and innovation activities that will have a positive impact on the development of their businesses and local communities, and to the green and climate-neutral transition-Support and strengthen capacity-building and capacity-adaptation of the professionals and improve their resilience to manage and address complex challenges and issues-Build new cross-sector networks and stimulate multidisciplinary way of thinking-Promote innovative pedagogical approaches in VET.<< Implementation >>To achieve the project objectives, the partners agreed on a 36-month work plan structured in six work packages, including three categories of actions: 1) related to project activities, 2) sharing and promotion actions, and 3) project management.WP1 to WP4 are dedicated to set up all the defined activities which will lead to the expected project results. The main activities that will be deployed will consist in a logical sequence of tasks in order to release the defined outputs. -The PR1: Pedagogical scenarios and methodological framework design, will be handled in WP1 concerning the specifications of the learning contents and pedagogical methodology. -WP2 will lead to the PR2: Tailored multi-media modules on AI and CE integrated into the e-platform. Once the specifications and methodology defined in WP1 and consolidated in PR1, raw contents for the training programmes will be developed, including assessment tools. -The activities in WP3 will be dedicated to the project platform development. (PR3: Project platform development).-Within WP4, the project consortium will assess the of pedagogical methodology, and contents. Based on the project overall analysis and will formalise a set of relevant recommendations for the key actors and stakeholders in the form of a Guidance and recommendations report. The activities defined in WP5 will carry out all the tasks linked with the sharing and promotion strategy of the consortium, and WP6 has been structured in order to ensure a good administrative and financial management. WP6 on management will ensure the quality of the process and best practices for daily administrative and financial management and reporting.<< Results >>During and after the completion of the AISkills4CircularTransition project, both direct tangible and intangible results will be produced and released as a final version.These tangible results will be considered as the main transferable assets:1) Tailored training content designed to be integrated on on diverse learning management systems, including specifications for training and learning methodology based on the analysis of the needs of targeted audiences.2) OER (Open Education Resources) – e-learning multimedia modules content for implementation and testing adapted to the targeted audience. This result will be consolidated into a public deliverable and will remain at open access for dissemination and future use.3) Assessment methodology, criteria and results of the training outputs of the project. A set of qualitative and quantitative indicators will be defined to objectively measure the efficiency and the learning impacts of the project activities. The feedback and the subjective perceptions of the involved audiences, both trainees and trainers, will also be taken in account to complete the analysis of the project activities and underline the possible margin of improvement.4) Finally, guidelines for transferability and reapplication will be elaborated to share and promote the project outcomes, findings and best practices at large scale, complemented by a living directory of AI technology providers and CE experts towards agri-food professionals.On the side of intangible results, the project will produce several outcomes:1) Contribute to fostering the digital transformation and 4.0 transition of agri-food businesses through the use and benefits of AI technologies to enhance their production and human resources management in a circular way.2) Contribute to improve key knowledge and competences of the agri-food professionals with an advanced skill set for the labour market, thus maintaining or enhanced their employability.