<< Background >>The project “INPROFUTURE – Industry Professional’s Future Education ” is inspired by the partners long time experience working with SME national settings, but it is also inspired by the EU Commissions proposal of March 2021 to establish a Digital Compass to further target the EUʼs digital ambitions 2030 for SMEs and their employees. The “INPROFUTURE” project will focus on the cardinal point of Digital transformation of businesses and how to make possible and concrete that by 2030, three out of four SME companies should use cloud computing services, big data and Artificial Intelligence and how we can promote and ensure more than 90% SMEs should reach at least basic level of digital intensity in order to lift the number of EU unicorns to the double. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) remain the backbone of the European economy, because of their high share of employment and value-added. However, a renewed focus on innovation and digitalization is required for these companies to retain their local, national or global competitiveness.The partner organisations of “INPROFUTURE” Prios Norway; Slovakian Innovation and Progress Consult Hungary have a long experience in delivering innovation and capacity building programs to support SME production and service-industry. The partners will through their cooperation with adult education providers, company instructors and in-service trainers from the SME industry create a program to help SMEs to benefit from digital transformation so that the involved SMEs in the program get access to very concrete opportunities to innovate and grow, overcome some of the significant barriers to raise digital competences from bottom to top of the SMEs. SME digital transformation processes often fail due to the lack of overview and how digital technologies can support production, logistics and market access. Employees lack digital skills to support and actively shape how their company can work more efficiently and with fewer resources. It is an important transformation process for all SMEs to motivate their staff to become ready to use digital tools and solutions. Even for the management of the SMEs it is often a difficult task to plan and raise these competences and without management and owners involved the digitalisation will not happen. Finally, the project will also approach how SMEs become better to retain qualified staff because of the possibilities they can offer to be a part of a digitalised company environment. It all has to be based on a learning strategy which the INPROFUTURE program will support the SMEs with, and to offer the same attractive conditions as large corporations. The “INPROFUTURE ” project has been established to introduce tools and methods which will support SMEs management and educator of digital skills to empower employees with the right and necessary digital skills. Management by being able to recognise the needs for skills and realisation of how better digital skills among their staff positively can affect their business. And educators with tools that will make them better able to create tailored digital skills training that meet both employees’ and employers’ needs.<< Objectives >>This project’s overall objective is to find new pathways to improve SMEs ability to understand what skills and competencies are needed to support a digital transition and to implement it within the daily production life and practice of the company, and in a cost-effective way, where the SMEs can overview and handle the process. The Project target group are adult educators (like company instructors/HR consultants), management and selected staff of the participating SME companies.The scope of the project:●develop a hands-on mapping tool for SMEs to measure, analyse and judge their degree of digitalisation and give them an understanding of what needs to be done to secure company operation and sustainability and to give the digital transition process a clear direction.●support SMEs and Educators to understand how the gaps could be filled with digital competence development, training models and ongoing capacity building to improve employees’ digital skills competences. ●motivate SMEs by showing how digital skills development can empower employees to take part in the digital transition processes in their workplace ●develop a complete toolkit and resource platform for all involved in facilitation digital skills development as part of SMEs digital transition processes. ●To launch the platform so it can be disseminated by the partners in their national settings. An English version of the platform aims to bring out the project to other interested partners.All in all, the partners of the program will implement this project “INPROFUTURE ” to further expand the ability to support the SME sector in finding their way in the digital transition and by this contribute to long term sustainability to SMEs.<< Implementation >>The project will introduce an easy-to-use mapping tool, which will provide the SMEs with an overview of the most critical aspects of digital transition and the competence and skills needed for such a transition. The mapping tool is based on a SWOT analysis used by a majority of SMEs and it provides a value-based score and assessment of the actual level of digital transition. The mapping tool will supplemented by training and capacity building recommendations, present best practices ways to initiate digital transition and list a number of resources for the SME to maintain digital transition over time. These resources will be presented in an SME-wide handbook and will be disseminated on a virtual resource platform.To ensure the relevance and useability of these tools and platform each partner will conduct a pilot in collaboration with 3 SME companies within a chosen SME business sector in each of the participating countries. The pilot will test and give feedback on relevance, effective use and the communication of the entire digital transition resource. After mapping the SMEs degree of digitalization, the findings will be transformed to proposal for digital skills training, effective training methods. The pilot will test at least 3 SMEs in each of the 3 countries. As a result of the project, both SME management and adult educators will have much better knowledge in collaboration and facilitating digital transition processes. In order to achieve long-term benefits, the project’s methodology is centred around close cooperation with all stakeholders, such as education institutions, employer and employee organisations and business sector. The professional network of the project partners aims to create a network where the wider perspective is to reach out to a higher number of potential SMEs in a given region and show how it is possible to work together in order to improve SMEs’ innovative and digital transition capacity.<< Results >>The project till in close cooperation with selected SMEs in the 3 countries builds up a facility on how SMSs can raise digital competencies and thereby ensure the better and more effective digital transition. The facility contains a mapping tool - a capacity-building handbook and a virtual resource platform to give SMEs access to all available resources.-To create measurable a set of criteria to support SMEs on how to map an SME company’s degree of digitalization and the necessary capacity building and to test the relevance and usability of these criteria by the involvement of SMEs from different business sectors. -Provide a Web-based Mapping tool to be the actual methods to measure SME degree of digitalisation and relevant competencies (measured by readymade mapping tool) -To create a guideline for the use of the mapping tool, and how SMEs are able to use it and implement it in their company practice (assessed by the survey as part of the pilot process to collect best practices)-Produce a handbook to be used on the site of SMEs by in principle all stakeholders and with a special focus on how managers and adult educators/company instructors can prepare plans to facilitate digital skills training and competence development. (best practice collection and assessment) - Handbook (at least 25-30 pages) available on 4 language - The handbook will provide recommendations for on how to set up the digital competence construction process and will give recommendations on how to ensure workplace organized training which can be customised to the individual SME.- To implement the pilot, 3-3 professionals per partner will participate in online training - The partners' professional knowledge is expanding-The mapping tool and the handbook will be tested at least with 9 SMEs altogether - Pilot process has a positive effect on the digital competence development process of the SMEs. -Collect some of the best practices showing a positive effect for learners’ digital skills improvement -Establish a digital Resource platform that includes all tools and useful sources to support stakeholders and educators involved in digital skills learning. (assessed by a survey among stakeholders and educators as well as activity logging of usage of the platform)

The project “Valuable Creativity” focuses on creativity as a key competence and necessary skill for adults working in companies and organizations who are challenged by rapid and disruptive changes due digitalization; and similar high demand of climate protection; energy saving and transformation to circular economy. “Valuable Creativity” is a project aimed to find and present solutions for creativity development on one of the most difficult adult education disciplines; Workplace learning! The project shall collect knowledge, methods and experience on how it is possible to introduce creativity methods where the need for creativity is high, but where the conditions in terms of time and possibility to organize creativity learning often are the most limited. The partner-organizations Prios; SIEA and Progress Consult have a long experience in delivering innovation and training programs to production and service-industry. The partners will through their cooperation with adult education providers, adult educators and in-service trainers from the SME industry collect the most promising methods and cases on how creativity can be addressed to actual workplace and company situations. Based on this collection, they will develop a hands-on training and capacity building material, which can show how creative processes and creative learning methods can be used to involve employees at all levels of the company into changing processes. The aim is also to present how adult educators and/or artists interested in transforming their creative abilities into actual workplace settings can be organized. The criteria is to keep a strong focus on the value created in companies, but also value in the broader sense of more sustainable production, corporate responsibility and resilience. The training material will appear as a full virtual format in three sections; an Open Education Resource (OER); two training MOOCs and an impact assessment tool. The OER will contain the relevant themes about creativity learning in workplace settings. Through text, interviews, infographics and videoclips it will justify how important creativity is to solve some of the most urgent challenges of the companies, and how such learning processes can be initiated. The OER will highlight the impact of creativity learning and it will present some of the most tangible pathways to implementation, will be designed as an entrance point for the Project. The OER will be open source and presented in four languages, and make the partners able to communicate awareness about this topic to all cooperation partners in their respective countries. The OER gives the knowledge base for two effective, online training programs organized as MOOCs. The first MOOC will be aimed at the target group of adult educators, artists interested in working with business and industry and also in-service trainers from the Industry. It will give them an introduction course on how to approach creativity at the workplace and how to find the right methodology to create value in the form of pattern-breaking learning.The target group of the second MOOC are company managers, HR Managers and those responsible for in-service training. The course will introduce cases on how companies successfully have used creative methods to bring forward new solutions of products, new markets, sustainability plans, eco-innovative production and new ways of work-organization. The OER and the two MOOCS will appear as one “Valuable Creativity” digital training program and will be available and delivered through a joint Learning Management System. The virtual training material (e-learning) will be accessible in 4 languages. Each partner will introduce the material country-wise and the English version will appear as a learning resource within the European Basic Skills Network and potentially through the EPALE. A component in the program ensures that it is possible to invite people from art and cultural production to participate in design and communication of the material. The training materials will be tested through direct assessment from invited people/companies from the target group. The results of this will be concluded in the assessment tool for creativity impact, which is an integrated part of the MOOCs. Creativity training is not a new phenomenon. It has been used in HR development, and it has been used within the creative industry. “Valuable Creativity” has the mission to bring creativity learning and training into the field of workplace learning and to present it as a relevant part of modern basic skills required for all industries and companies on the edge of 4th industrial revolution, where artificial intelligence, robotics and growing climate crises will create ground-breaking changes for all working places and to cope with the growing disruption of workplaces.

The Energy Savings Insurance (ESI) Europe 2.0 project aims to: (i) replicate the successful innovative financing scheme ESI (currently being implemented in Italy, Portugal and Spain with the ESI Europe funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme) in three high potential countries in Europe – Croatia, Greece & Slovakia; (ii) hold capacity building, and marketing and promotion activities targeting key market stakeholders to help them understand the model and facilitate access to EE finance; & (iii) to create tools to promote & enable the further replication of ESI across Europe. The ESI model consists of financial & non-financial mechanisms designed to work together to improve the risk-return profile of EE investments & overcome the associated barriers to stimulate the demand for EE projects. It consists of: (i) a standardised contract, which clearly establishes the setup to guarantee energy savings to the SME; (ii) a performance insurance that is used to compensate the SME in case the EE project does not reach the expected energy savings; & (iii) validation mechanisms that provides an independent assessment & verification of the project. These three mechanisms work together to create trust & credibility between actors, & convince SMEs to invest in EE. The model is supported by communications, dissemination & outreach activities, as well as capacity building & EE investment roundtables targeting key market stakeholders, including technology providers with EE solutions, financial institutions, SMEs & others, to create dialogue between the relevant stakeholders & facilitate access to EE finance. The ESI model presents a proven & unique, market based approach that makes use of distribution channels & products that are already available on the market. The ESI mechanisms is complementary to other schemes & available funding, such as green credit lines, credit guarantees, or energy audits.

Industry 4.0 Upskilling for SMEs (I4U) aims to support the digital transition and Industry 4.0 skills upgrade for SMEs employees in labour intensive sectors such as engineering, mechanical, automotive, and manufacturing industries.The project will develop the concept for and implement 6 Upskilling Eco-systems which will bring together SMEs in labour intensive sectors with Vocational Education and Training (VET) Schools and High Education Institutions (HEIs) and other stakeholders involved in Digital transition/ Industry 4.0 processes. The objective will be to build capacity on relevant digital competences and develop easy-to-access ICT training concepts by matching HEI/VET offers with SMEs upskilling needs.3 curriculums within Technical competence, Analytic Competence and Life Skills will be developed. Those will be divided into 20 concrete training modules tailored for SME upskilling and reskilling training, which HEI/VET institution can offer SMEs.To support both collaboration within each Upskilling Eco-system and the access to training modules and knowledge about Industry 4.0, the project will develop the I4U Upskilling Eco-system Collaboration platform, which will have a OneStop purpose for partners and stakeholders involved in I4U topics.

The Project will commence implementation of the Roadmap established and endorsed under Pillar I Build Up Skills project in the Czech Republic. Specifically, the project will implement measures 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9 of the Roadmap. Moreover, the project will continue (as follow up to BUS StavEdu project) in implementing the Roadmap established and endorsed under Pillar I Build Up Skills project in Slovakia. Specifically, the project will focus on measures 1.2, 1.4, 1.6 and 2.6 of the Roadmap. The Project will set up in the Czech Republic the national qualification and training scheme for craftsmen and on-site workers in the field of energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources in buildings. It will also develop the training offer delivered via Slovak national scheme STAVEDU. Capitalising on the language proximity, the project will facilitate transfer of know-how and experience from the STAVEDU and Train-to-NZEB (H2020 GA no. 649810), as well as Fit-to-NZEB (H2020, GA no. 754059 ) projects between Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Particularly the project will lead to: • Development of 7 training programmes for further education and training of craftsmen and on-site workers in the field energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources of buildings. • Development of on-site training course based on the training course developed by CrossCraft project (IEE project BUS Pillar II); • Development of training courses for further education and training of craftsmen and on-site workers in the field energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources of buildings; • Setting up permanent network of trainers delivering the programmes developed under the project; • Training of trainers for delivery of the programmes; • Development of e-learning programme for targeted craftsmen and construction professionals in Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia; • Proposals to governments for incentives boosting demand for highly qualified workers.