PoVE Water Scale up builds on the partnership that was initiated in the Pilot PoVE Water project.
Our ambition: Scaling up the Platform of Vocational Excellence Water
The new PoVE Water Scale-up facilitates the further development of PoVE Water into a world-class reference point for vocational training in the Water sector. It brings together the Regional CoVEs Water that, as a result of the PoVE Water pilot project, share a common interest and approach in the Water sector, including digitalisation, stakeholder involvement and sustainability aspects. The new project will also establish North-South collaboration by connecting to an existing water and water smart agriculture cluster including 6 VET schools via Stellenbosch University in South Africa. This link also brings on board additional learning materials to all partners and a dissemination platform for these materials across Africa.
The aim of the project is to integrate Vocational Excellence in the Water sector, thus ensuring high quality skills and competences that lead to quality jobs and careers, meeting the needs of an innovative, inclusive and sustainable economy.
Resources needed
ERASMUS+ has made 3,995,489 euros available for this project.
Evidence of success
WaterCampus developed a novel concept to integrate VET education into innovation ecosystems, align learning outcomes with company needs and support upward convergence. This approach inspired DG EAC in developing a dedicated ERASMUS CoVE programme. CIV-Water successfully applied for and executed ERASMUS+ pilot project PoVE-Water, in which several European partners collaborated, including partners from Southern-Moravia and Latvia. This collaboration will continue in PoVE Water Scale Up project.
Difficulties encountered
Aligning regional stakeholders from education and business side to develop a dedicated VET programme for future technicians in the water sector. Enabling them to effectively address the specific challenges from Europe's twin transition towards a green and digital economy.
Potential for learning or transfer
Local water-related issues do not come together spontaneously at EU level. Many local problems are best addressed through cooperation between Vocational operators, i.e. the people in the field, as they have the best knowledge on what happens on local level. VET is thus a crucial partner and needs to have a front seat in the regional water innovation ecosystems. VET is in a favoured position to be the linking pin between innovation ecosystems and "escalate" problems and challenges they experience to research & innovation partners and Water industry clusters. When truly having VET in an operational position on board of the innovation ecosystems, they will act as an extra sensor for spotting opportunities for cooperation and solutions in Europe. This contributes to a further reduction in the fragmentation that often occurs in the water sector in Europe.
Tags: Ecosystem, Education, Innovation, Networks, Schools, Startups, Technology, Water
