SUSTAINEXT is led by Natac and brings together 21 partners from Europe and Spain, 7 of them from the Extremadura region. The project will start in June 2023 and will last four and a half years. In summary, the technological objective of the project is to implement on an industrial scale a digital, dynamic, versatile, disruptive and multi-product biorefinery, with a processing capacity of 20,000 tonnes per year and following a NetZero Carbon strategy. This first-of-its-kind flagship will transform the plant-based ingredients sector, while showcasing and deploying a first-of its kind model likely to be replicable by the whole European bio-based industry. SUSTAINEXT aims to transform Natac's current production plant, located in Hervás in the north of Extremadura, into the most modern, digital, innovative and sustainable plant extracts factory in the world, placing the company and the region at the forefront of the sector at a global level. The model is based in the integration of the whole supply chain - from feedstock to end users - applying a disruptive circular model based on a smart dynamic analytical biorefinery (DYANA): a smart dynamic biorefining process for the cascade valorisation of feedstocks which is optimized batch-wise according to the initial composition of the feedstock to deliver maximum value with minimum environmental impact and ensure resource efficiency. DYANA will allow to achieve the complete valorisation of the processed feedstock with a zero-waste and zero-emissions ambition. SUSTAINEXT will be industrially deployed with six sustainably and locally sourced European feedstocks. Three medicinal and aromatic crops (rosemary, camomile, and lemon verbena) will be cultivated in Extremadura in disused tobacco fields as an alternative towards healthier crops, and also between solar panels (agrivoltaics) enhancing soil use. Three agro-industrial side streams (olive, artichoke/cardoon, and pomegranate) will showcase how biomass upcycling represents an opportunity to give a new life to certain underexploited bio-based feedstocks. SUSTAINEXT flagship will deliver 46 plant-based healthy extracts and functional ingredients out of which 13 are totally new on the market and 12 are newly produced in Europe. It will generate a revenue of 271 M€, will create more than 5,000 new green jobs (direct and indirect) and will have a decisive socioeconomic impact in Extremadura.

The project SolarCV is addressing the skills needs for an emerging technology of solar energy sector, Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), which has high levels of skill gaps. SolarCV aims to develop common frameworks of solar field operators with recognition at the European level. The general objectives are to make VET training more responsive to changing CSP skills needs in the labour market by preparing training programme for acquiring missing skills. The training includes strong component of work-based learning (WBL). Finally the project enables the mobility of learners, through the recognition of learning outcomes and by achieving qualifications.The project gathers 16 organisations from 5 countries which include solar energy VET experts, national sectoral associations, energy agencies, government representatives in the field of qualification, and 2 EU umbrella institutions.There are some main project results which can be underlined as objective-achievers (available on http://www.solar-cv.eu/results/) :•*(R1) Labour Market Network of CSP and VET experts that allowed to involve experts and entities beyond the partnership with the aim to increase the potential of project outcomes to be transferred/adapted and used beyond the partnership•(R2) Report on Skills and training provision needs per country and EU level that allowed to identify exactly the skill gaps•(R4) Report on current situation of non-formal, informal and formal training in the CSP sector and methodology for validation of non-formal and informal training.Both documents (R2 & R4) set not only the state-of-art and the analysis of training needs (i. on CSP – Plant Operators, but also allowed to pool of experience and knowledge from different partners in order to facilitate and improve the following tasks and products. (i.e. in Result n. 3) and to unify criteria and to clarify concepts.•(R3) Report on innovative tools from LLP projects designing EU competence profiles and EU CVs which gathers the best practices and tools for the definition of Competence Profiles, Curricula and learning units. •(R7, R8, R9 & R10) CSP solar field e-Simulator and Training platform including training materials that have been developed by European experts on CSP and training and have been tested on several pilot courses (R12) in different countries as Spain, Italy and Greece.•(R5 & R11) EU Competence Profile and EU CSP CV that standardise the skill set for the CSP sector at European level and have been developed European Qualification Structures (EQF and ECVET), quality principles (EQAVET) and following the classification of European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO).•(R13) National proposals of European Qualification in order to scale the recognition of the EU CSP CV by promoting the adoption of this formal training structure in Spain, Italy and Greece.The results of the project have enabled organisations independent of their geographic location to acquire new qualifications. Regarding the impact, the project strengthens the contribution of education and training to the realisation of the objectives of EU 2020, in both priorities employment and sustainability. It contributes to the “ANTICIPATION and matching of labour market and skills needs” (Agenda for new skills and jobs) and creation of a European permanent learning space and mobility of workers. It is necessary to point out some results that will have a great importance beyond the project life such as the e-Simulator and training platform that will allow to train new professionals by using free training materials and tools made by the main associations of CSP sector in Europe. The SolarCV consortium has ensured the future viability of these tools (results) by the review activities set on the After-Project Impact Monitoring Plan (R17).