Europe could become more competitive and more innovative by recognising the role of VET in R&D. The European Commission is aware of that. The Council Recommendation on VET calls for the establishment of CoVEs, acting “…as catalysts for local business investment, supporting recovery, green and digital transitions, European and regional innovation and smart specialisation strategies, development of vocational education and training, including at higher qualification levels (EQF levels 5-8) in line with national context and provide innovative services such as clusters and business incubators for start-ups and technology innovation for SMEs, as well as innovative reskilling solutions …”. In the same vein, Erasmus+ has included applied research (AR) in VET as a priority. The objective of AIRinVET is, after understanding existing experiences, to define the role of VET in R&D by proposing a European reference framework for AR in VET. This framework will help European countries and regions to build more competitive innovation systems. To produce the framework, we will: 1- Do a mapping of VET centres involved in AR in Europe and abroad. The AR affinity group of the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics will support us. 2- Do case studies to explain, describe, evaluate, and understand different approaches to do AR in VET. 3- Analyse how VET AR activities can fit in different policy contexts in Europe 4- Identify financial models of AR in VET. 5- Create a glossary to clarify the meaning of the term “applied research”, and other terms related to R&D, in the context of VET. 6- Identify the main barriers to engage SMEs: What are the success factors? 7- Create tools to develop VET staff and teachers mind-sets for AR. 8- Develop a framework and work on ways of building the capacity of VET systems to work on AR projects.9- Co-work with established AR agents within regional innovation ecosystems

Five European Regional Skills ecosystems will collaboratively design, test, refine and exploit an integral curriculum in digital transformation competence for mid to high level EU technicians. The curriculum will be available in EN, BG, EL, ES, IT and NL and supported by an international IoT network Hub.The Digital Transformation in Advanced Manufacturing – DTAM project aims to create and provide innovative curricular training (reskilling and upskilling opportunities) in digital transformation competence for the advanced manufacturing sector (AM), for mid-high level IT and OT technicians at EQF Levels 4-5 +. Materials delivered will allow technicians to understand, install, configure, monitor, analyse, transfer data and maintain digital systems in advanced manufacturing environments. The complete DTAM curriculum will offer learners in IVET and CVET open access to all training modules as OERs via the project e-learning platform and to innovative supporting digital technology in the form of an international network of IoT labs. The partnership will encourage the growth of digital transformation, and talent and technology 4.0 profiles in H/VET centres by providing and launching a(n):• Model for the Creation and Exploitation of a Sustainable IoT lab: the model created will address the essential issue of financing and sustainability of IoT laboratories through collaboration with local / regional industry and SMEs• International Network of DTAM IoT labs which H/VET centres developing IoT labs can join, supporting a growing pool of labs which learners can access remotely via the project IoT HubThe DTAM curriculum aims to be a reference curriculum for Quality training and certification in digital transformation competence for Smart Industry. The partnership aims to have the DTAM Modules validated and included in regional and national VET training courses in the mid-term.

The fifth industrial revolution is built upon the technologies of the fourth, with an increased emphasis on a human-centric, sustainable and resilient industrial base, emphasising the digital and green transitions. A key pillar of this economic transformation is the role played by Advanced Manufacturing systems such as Robotics, 3D & 4D printing, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. I5.0, requires VET to develop 'learning centric approaches' that focus on the holistic competences of humans that plan, manage, oversee or operate technologies. LCAMP will tackle this by incorporating a permanent European Platform of Vocational Excellence for Advanced Manufacturing, seeded from a consortium of 20 partners and over 50 associate organisations including leading VET/HVET centres, companies, regional government, R&D centres, associations of companies and clusters. By collaborating across borders, LCAMP’s goal is to support and empower regional AM CoVEs to become more resilient, innovative, and better equipped to train, upskill, and reskill young and adult students to successfully face the digital and green transitions. We will help regions grow and be more competitive through their VET systems. The Alliance is service-oriented, planning to establish permanent structures for: Teaching & Learning: establishing AM skills frameworks and curricula; launching or revising AM programmes (including micro-credentials); creating or capacity building learning factories (special AM labs, jointly run by VET and industry) Cooperation and Partnerships: launching a skills & jobs observatory for advanced manufacturing; accelerating industry/VET/region cooperation ideas via an open innovation community, and providing consultancy to SMEs on integrating SME/VET connections. Governance & Funding: creating a one-stop-shop portal for all our services; ensuring a business case for continuing services to stakeholders in the long-term, while enhancing participation

The MachinE Tool ALliance for Skills (METALS) intended first to map out and identify skills needs in the European machine tool sector, studying which technology areas would become more prominent and where more competences would be needed. Second, it aimed at preparing online learning materials in line with the emerging technologies identified.To this extent, in the initial phase of the project, the consortium conducted surveys, interviews with experts and desk research and concluded that additive manufacturing is a technology area that would prominently impact on the skill set of the European machine tool workforce between 2015 and 2025. On the basis of these findings, the consortium then prepared a European machine tool skills panorama concretely presenting skills needs in key areas of the advanced manufacturing process (such as design, operation and maintenance) within this time span This panorama paved the ground for the development of a curriculum on additive manufacturing at EQF level 5, whose final version included 27 learning units (26 in the English version) divided along three main knowledge areas: work process-oriented area, additive manufacturing-specific area and entrepreneurship-oriented area. Based on this curriculum, METALS partners prepared e-learning materials meant to address the current and future skills gaps in the European machine tool industry, particularly in relation to additive manufacturing technologies. These learning materials were prepared with significant focus on clearly defined learning outcomes and made freely available in English, Italian, German and Spanish in the project e-learning platform (https://metals.mobil-lernen.com/en/elearning). The array of project results has been endorsed by a variety of leading actors in this community, including additive manufacturing machine producers and universities.