In the recent years, technologies that enhance or recreate real world environments are increasingly influencing the world of the production industry and business. In particular Virtual Reaity is expected to drive productivity that experts believe will bring companies significant ROIs. Just about any process that can be carried out in the physical world can be simulated in VR. The quantity and quality of VR solutions are constantly being improved and equipment and content creation costs continue to fall, so the momentum to explore VR’s role in business and education is likely to continue to grow. This will also have a strong direct impact not only on SMEs but also on HE business management and related studies.The EU is trying to prepare intensively for the challenges of digital teaching and learning and it therefore included this issue in a series of educational policies published, such as “European Strategy 2020” (Com2010), “New Skills Agenda for Europe” (Com2015/196), “A Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe“ (Com2015/192), “Education Policies in Europe and Beyond” (EU 2017/29000) and the “European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators” (EU, DigCompEdu 2017, 52). However, Europe’s HEI are not able to fulfil the postulated requirements and they are poorly prepared to tackle the challenges of digital teaching and learning. The need for comprehensive and effective digital teaching and learning has been exemplified even more starkly by the impact of Corona on higher education. The problem is not the lack of infrastructure or software, but that HE managers and teachers have insufficient knowledge about the potential of VR and its application within their own faculty. HE managers and teachers themselves need in-depth education and training concerning what VR is about, what kind of VR skills and competence industry requires from graduates and how their own pedagogical approaches can be boosted by using VR applications.Therefore, the VRinSight project has implemented the following main activities and delivered the following outputs:•Implementation of the “VRinSight 3 in 1 survey” with VR developers, HE managers and teachers as well as with SME managers to get a clear picture about the state of the art in the field of VR developments as well as about frameworks, demands, needs and attitudes within HEIs and SMEs with regards to applying VR solutions.•Development of the “VRinSight Curriculum” about relevant key data and background information, pedagogic considerations and recommendations about applying VR at the HE level, global developments in the field and a compilation of a virtual learning materials library for HE managers and teachers with a specific focus on business management and related studies; the so-called “VRinSight Showcase” is a collection of 25 VR apps most suited to HE business management studies and an education setting.•Development of the “VRinSight Training Programme” enabling HE managers and teachers to acquire knowledge, skills and competences to apply VR in their own classes; also enabling SME managers (and their R&D and HRD experts) so both sides can learn together about the potential of VR and its possibilities for HE and industry. The heart of programme is the “VRinSight Classroom and VR Lecture Theater apps”, purpose-built VR environments specially created for the project allowing for virtual learning experience and live multi-user interaction in VR. The training programme and VR applications were tested by over 80 target group representatives in DE, CY, BE, FI and also AT and ES.•To raise general awareness of the project’s objectives and promote university business cooperation as key factor for successful capacity building, a “VRinSight Green Paper” was published. Its focused on the project’s objectives in general, with article contributions from key stakeholders in education and technology, presenting 24 of Europe’s best practice examples in VR HE teaching and digital education.•The project intensively promoted capacity building, especially at the university business cooperation level. Therefore, it set-up an informal network with project partners, associated partners and almost 200 other stakeholders representing all direct and indirect target groups (HE managers and teachers, SME managers, IT experts and VR developers, education policy makers and stakeholders at all levels etc.) •The overall aim of the project in the long run was to boost the use of VR applications within HE business management and related studies and to contribute to reaching the digitalization goals set by the authorities of the EU.Partners from DE, CY, AT, ES, BE and FI represent 4 HEIs and 3 business representatives (1 business association, 1 EU network and 1 VR developer); they are all embedded in relevant national and transnational networks, which will actively contribute to the project to ensure effective dissemination and exploitation of its outcomes.

The ArtS – Skills for the Creative Economy Project, following a waterfall approach, managed to identify current skill needs and shortages in the Cultural and Creative Sector (CCS) of Greece, Italy, and Spain, and develop a modern, flexible training programme that corresponds to those findings. Based on the results of the mapping and the needs assessment analysis of the CCS, the VET partners of ArtS designed nine modules, three of which address common needs (Business Administration, Entrepreneurial Skills and Social Entrepreneurship, Networking/Digital and Media Communication), while the rest six target sector-specific shortages (Craft, Cultural Heritage, Literary Arts, Multimedia and Audiovisual, Performing Arts, Visual Arts). All modules were designed according to the EQF/ECVET framework and are to be certified under the International Standard ISO 17024:2012 for Certification of Personnel Qualifications (pending approval of Hellenic Accreditation system, (ESYD)). The ArtS training programme is freely available in the ArtS Learning online platform (http://www.arts-project.eu/elearning/login/index.php), that will remain fully functional for five years after the Project’s end. In the same framework, the ArtS portal (http://arts-project.eu/) will, also, remain operable and updated for the same time period, as it has been proven very popular among the target group (more than 8300 unique visits), who seem to prefer it for getting informed about the project, interacting with each other through the featured ArtS Forum, and catching up with the latest news in the CCS.During the ArtS implementation period, more than 2000 people expressed their interest in participating in the ArtS training, either by registering to the Project’s platform or by filling in a relevant application (through Dropbox) that was used before the launch of the platform. The VET partners delivered the ArtS curricula through blended learning to 928 trainees in total, for both training rounds in all three consortium countries (Greece, Italy and Spain). A relevant certification procedure was, also, carried out and trainees had the opportunity to get certified as Cultural and Creative Sector Project Specialists (CCSP Specialists), a qualification that can surely contribute to the improvement of their employability potential. As this is one of the key objectives of the Project – to match labour market needs and improve employability of the CCS – the ArtS partnership assisted 352 trainees to find an internship, work or collaboration, providing them with the opportunity to put in practice their acquired through ArtS knowledge and skills, and gain useful professional experience to start or progress their careers.To ensure the quality of the ArtS’ results and activities, a quality assurance process was running in parallel with the Project’s implementation procedures. In brief, the quality assurance measures included internal and external evaluation (by the established Focus Group and Expert Advisory Board), biannual evaluation of Work Packages’ progress, and peer reviewing of results. As a result of this continuous process, the produced outcomes were of high quality, thus facilitating dissemination and exploitation activities, always in accordance with the elaborated Dissemination and Exploitation Strategies, respectively.

"The purpose of PROVET 4.0 project is to respond to a strong need for Europe and specifically for the partnership: the need of qualified workers to face the challenges of the industry 4.0, though a) identifying the current and future capabilities requirements of Key Enabling Technologies for Advanced manufacturing in electric and metal mechanic industries in Italy, France and Spain and b) developing an innovative joint training programme and a blended free course which contributes to reduce the mismatches and shortages between VET providers and electric and metal mechanic industries demands in the need of key skills and capabilities for Advanced manufacturing.The previous analysis, made by partners (training center SIGMA, in FR/ Cofindustria SIAV, in IT / FVEM and VET FFE in ES) shows 2 conclusions:1-In recent years we are witnessing a huge resurgence of interest in manufacturing in Western economies: US National Plan for Advanced Manufacturing, UK Strategy, the continued adherence to the ""reshoring"" in many EU countries…. The reason for this interest is the finding of the major role that manufacturing industries have on innovation, productivity of the economy and sustaining the level of social development, weights much higher than other field of activity. The important relative specialization of the economy of the partner regions in the industry is reflected in its strength as a guarantee of employment and competitiveness even in the current crisis, becoming thus a key factor of development.Taking into account this important relative specialization in industry, partner regions have developed their own Smart Specialization Strategies (RIS3) and the three of them share two European priorities of RESEARCH and DEVELOPMENT: Advanced Manufacturing Systems and Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) (Smart Specialisation Platform (S³P)2-This new EU industrial revolution is marked by the advancement of technologies applicable to the industry, which demands high R&D intensity, rapid innovation cycles and more skilled jobs. The electric and metal mechanic EU industries need qualified people with a range of skills and competencies related to Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) for Advanced manufacturing to respond to demands of the new century organizations and maintain and develop levels of competitiveness.Unfortunately the overall R&D spending in partner regions is still very far from the European average of 2.0% and the Europe 2020 goal of 1.53%. To meet the challenge of this new industrialization 4.0 is necessary to invest in skills, increase flexibility of VET training programs, develop links between VET and the labor market and promote their presence in the company.PROVET 4.0 aims to contribute to a suitable, innovative and job-oriented vocational training responsive to the needs of this new EU industrial revolution, developing and validating an innovative curriculum and training material transnationally which allows qualify VET learners and workers of industry factories for the new industrial revolution 4.0. This purpose is stated in the following activities: -identify the current and future capabilities requirements of KETs for Advanced manufacturing in electric and metal mechanic industries in Italy, France and Spain-improve the knowledge and comprehension of KETs both at VET level and industrial level by organizing 6 multiplier event with stakeholders in each country -develop an innovative online joint curriculum and training modular programme to acquire skills and competences for KETs -qualify 90 industrial workers and VET learners through the online free course PROVET 4.0.Results:-analysis on current and future capabilities requirements of KETs in Advanced manufacturing will be developed.-Awareness and dissemination events in each partner country (Spain, France and Italy) to validate the project outcomes -an innovative modular training program will be developed and -a free course to reduce the mismatches and shortages between VET providers and electric and metal mechanic on KETs Impact and benefits expected:1- Vet learners will benefit from being able to be prepared with updated professional profiles required by electric and metal mechanic industries, ensuring the realization of the full potential of new technologies. 2-Industrial employees benefit from a training programme that matches their needs, and contribute to their employability and thus, their mobility. 3- VET providers and other adult education services have highly innovative and targeted curricula and be able to anticipate to the changes in the required competences. They will have more clear and structured identification of actual industrial problematic, broader vision for development and improvement of educational curricula. 4- Industrial companies benefit by developing their capacity to adapt and innovate, achieving higher added value products and providing a leading role in the development of vocational training."

"The Talent4LIFE Project is established in front of two core megatrends which are hitting the European economy and European SMEs in particular - demographic developmemt and digitalisation. For SMEs in Europe these are crucial risks for their survivial since there is the need to employ workers who are able to apply digital skills in practically every economic sector, however, it falls extremely difficult to find talented younger employees within Europe. The ""war for talents"" has already started and in front of the very obvious demographic challenge with an constantly ageing workforce, the identification and hiring of new young talents is no longer the option or solution. The only solution to tackle this situation is the approach of staff retention through active talent management and development within the company. Moreover with companies we can also clearly see that workers from 45+ experience quite some changes in their whole life environment which has considerable impact on their work motivation, added values and talents. This group of workers has finished their family planning, have all established their lifes with living, housing, leisure, health, interests, work-life-balance and within the companies we can also see that they have managed to grow and develop, got more responsibility, senior jobs, better payment etc. but around this age their growth has somehow slowed down or stopped, they are already supervisors, line managers, foreworkers etc. and there is actually no real or hardly any development perspective anymore within the company. Especially in SMEs there is in fact not much to offer for the best talents who are at their peak of corporate development. If businesses (and SMEs especially because of more limited possibilities) are not able to make an appropriate offer to this target group of workers the consequences are really fatal. Out of this reason SMEs, their staff and managers, HR responsibles, line managers etc. need support with a modern talent management based staff retention approach which is in fact the only solution to manage the change triggered by demographic developments and digitalisation.The main aim of the project is the development of a model (including instruments) for talent management based staff retention for European businesses (especially SMEs) to be able to manage the challenges of the future of work together with the challenges of the demographic development and the all time war for talents.During its lifetime the Talent4LIFE project is going to develop four core intellectual outputs:IO1: Explorative research study: To be able to fully understand and grasp the challenges and frame conditions of the target group (personal needs, talent scopes, challenges and fears etc.) as well as the situations of European businesses and companies on the level of staff retention and adaptation to change and digitalisation / automatisation, a brief explorative research study will be launchedIO2: Talent4LIFE Model: This model defines the processes and instruments used for talent identification and management for staff retention and development processes in companies for the target group 45+. The model should be a hands on practical collection of instruments to be able to approach the target group, guide them through a talent identification and management process and elaborate a development and training plan which is developed as IO3 of the project.IO3: Talent4LIFE Development Plan: the findings of the talent management and identification process together with the agreements of future developments, in fact the whole offer that the company is making to the single worker 45+ will be stipulated in a dedicated development plan which has its core function to draw the whole way and process for re-orientation, education and training, mentoring and monitoring of this development process.IO4: Green Paper for Sustainability and Policy Integration: To achieve a best possible sustainability of the project and its outputs it is crucially important to embed the project and especially the findings and outcomes into policy discussions and a whole canon of activities around the future of work discussion, the adaptation needs of businesses and requirements / challenges of modern HR in terms of staff retention and talent management. For this reason the partnership will develop a green paper.The partnership of the project consists of 7 organisations (social partners, training centres, consulting organisations, start ups and SMEs) from 6 European countries (AT, DE, IE, ES, HU and CY). Direct impact will be realised on about 700 SMEs in the partner countries during the course of the project. All project outputs will be made available as open educational resource in all partner languages for further use on a comprehensive dissemination and exploitation strategy."

PEOPLE IN WBL aims to improve the system of recognition of learning in WBL field through the reinforcement of cooperation between schools and host organizations involved in building together the processes of validation of LOs in WBL paths. Project partners have a consolidated experience in running WBL paths. However, they have a limited knowledge and skills in co-design and co-implement process of validation of LOs in WBL paths in line with the ECVET principles, which can guarantee an external recognition, outside the context in which learning process takes place . European strategies underline the growing need to provide validation process of LOs in WBL, enhancing the cooperation between schools and hosting organizations also through the application of ECVET principles. Partners carried out a preliminary internal survey in each country (school / host organization) where common problems emerged: • validation processes of competences in WBL contexts are not always built on LOs units • limited sharing of LOs validation criteria • Validation process of learning in WBL contexts are often random and arbitrary (limited knowledge of the topic) As consequence, the co-design process of LOs very often takes place only at the formal level through the stipulation of an agreement, but in fact it is designed only by the school and then it is delivered to the hosting organisation. The deeper involvement of the hosting organisation can be guaranteed by a better understanding of key concepts and the promotion of all tools: in this way the hosting organisation can fully perceive the benefits participate actively in the building the whole process from the beginning. Main target group of the project is the staff of IVET providers (schools) and hosting organisations involved in designing, implementing and validating WBL paths. Beneficiaries will be obviously also IVET students involved in WBL paths. General objective of the project is to give a contribution in improving the learning recognition system in WBL contexts, through shared processes between school and. Hosting organisations. Starting point is the development of the professional skills of the staff involved. The objective will be pursued through the development of innovative solutions for building a shared model (school / hosting organisation) for the validation of LOs in WBL processes based on ECVET principles, which have the potential to enhance learning outcomes in terms of recognition and certification, obtained outside the formal environment. Specific objectives are: - Co-built and co-tested model for validation of learning in WBL contexts based on LOs units. - allocated the same value to the recognition of LOs in non formal learning, through the strengthening of trust and the construction of a common language - Implemented strategies to integrate credit / school marks system with LOs units These objectives will be pursued through the implementation of an intellectual output containing 1) a model for the recognition of the acquired LOs in WBL paths in line with the principles of ECVET framework; 2) guidelines for the implementation of the model. 3) study / analysis of the benefits to obtain through the application of the model. The model will be tested on pilot groups in each country and its effectiveness will be assessed. After making corrections, the official version along with the guidelines and the study / analysis of the benefits will be ready. The implementation of the IO will take place through a methodology based on some of the main pillars of ECVET system: LOs-based approach and use of the components of the transfer process in ECVET. The project will adopt a multi-methods approach that allows it to cope with the complex nature of project objectives, taking into account also the significant change management components. The project will provide positive impacts on the staff of IVET providers and hosting organizations involved in WBL pathways, by increasing their skills on the validation process of LOs and on the use of ECVET tools to support the recognition and transferability of learning, also in terms of credits. As result, students will also improve the quality of their WBL paths. Project results will be disseminated following a well-scheduled plan aiming to reach the different types of targets groups through several actions and channels. This will contribute to reinforce the sustainability of the project, ensured not only by the the solutions developed, but also by the composition of the partnership.