Innovation Ecosystems for Circular Economy Entrepreneurs

<< Background >>ECO-CENT was initiated to support the transformative potential of business models driven by social, economic and environmental sustainability objectives. Its design allows to mainly involve: (1) entrepreneurs and business owners, committed to adopting business models premised on up-cycling and re-cycling, resource efficiency, and ensuring valuable resources are not simply discarded but live on in innovative products and services; (2) and, iVET and cVET providers and trainers, supporting their continuous professional development in this domain. Thus, by bringing innovation to the forefront of VET provision and businesses in each country – Portugal, Ireland, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece and Cyprus – the ECO-CENT addressed the following needs:1) contribute to a more circular global economy, by targeted training offered on a local level to support business communities’ endeavours.2) contribute to improve VET offer meeting the needs of emerging trends like the circular economy, by targeted training on a local level to develop a culture of innovation and creativity.3) contribute to cross-sectoral collaboration, by local synergies with VET providers and business representatives, bringing innovation to their own practice.<< Objectives >>ECO-CENT (2021-2023) brought together a diverse group of public body, research institutes, higher education institution, trainers (SMEs), and chambers of commerce to support members of the education and business communities to adapt their respective practices to respond to the environmental and climate crisis we are facing. The project’s focus was on the practical skill development of business owners, VET providers and trainers. Five project results were produced following an iterative and participatory development approach:PR1. Circular economy business modelling curriculumPR2. Skunk-Works Framework Facilitating an Innovation Ecosystem for VETPR3. In-service training programmePR4. ECO-CENT MOOC and Community of PracticePR5. Policy PaperECO-CENT’s activities supported business owners and VET providers and trainers with validated knowledge regarding the circular economy and the green transition in Europe. Multistakeholders foruns were organised and developed in each country of the partnership during the project lifespan to identify the problems, bottlenecks or issues to be addressed to make VET more responsive to the challenge of growing the circular economy of the local economies concerned.<< Implementation >>1) A Circular economy business modelling curriculum was developed with 5 business models explained and a handbook including the how to run a masterclass for business owners, with lessons plans, exercises and further reading; plus, 7 pilot tests of these contents with 150 business representatives in total were in the partner countries.2) A Skunk-Works Framework was developed including the steps and the analysis to create a successful skunkwork team facilitating an innovation ecosystem for VET; plus, 7 multistakeholder forums with a total of 40 participants were organised in the partner countries to test the framework and enable the creation of new synergies among VET and business.3)A In-service training programme was developed with 3 modules and a handbook including the how to run the training programme for VET trainers and providers; plus a 3-day VET tutors mobility was designed and run with 14 VET tutors in Slovenia, and 7 pilot tests of these contents with 39 VET trainers and providers in total was also organised;4) A MOOC and Community of Practice was developed to host the ECO-CENT project results and allow target groups to debate around the project topics in an online safe space; plus, 7 multistakeholder forums with a total of 49 participants were organised in the partner countries to tailor made this online space with the target groups.5) A Policy Paper was developed compiling the lessons learnt from the ECO-CENT project in a documents and translating these into recommendations for the target groups and policy makers.6) Multiplier events were held in each partner country to disseminate the work of the project and promote evidence-based cross-collaborations and learning – reaching more than 220 participants face-to-face.The project also held 3 transnational meetings and frequent virtual meetings that helped foster a strong collaboration within the diverse partnership. All the results are available at eco-cent.eu in English, Portuguese, German, Greek, Bulgarian, and Slovenian.<< Results >>In developing the proposed innovation ecosystem, the project consortium pursued an ab initio approach to development work and provide a fully vertical support system for those involved. The following list outlines the key project results and outcomes expected and achieved:1) A total of 28 multi-stakeholder partnerships to inform and drive the VET innovation process, involving 278 individuals from target groups;2) A bespoke business modelling curriculum to foster creativity and innovation within the business community (PR1);3) A framework, approved and supported by education managers and other stakeholders, to facilitate ‘skunkworks’ by teams of educators and business owners working together to find innovative progression pathways (PR2);4) A bespoke in-service training programme to support the continuous professional development of VET tutors to ensure that they are committed to developing innovation in VET provision to make it more responsive to the needs of businesses, and suitably trained to support the business modelling activities of circular economy business (PR3);5) A MOOC where all resources developed are hosted and where VET professionals and business owners can exchange best practices and discuss future actions with their counterparts at home and abroad (PR4);6) A Policy Paper (PR5) to present the ECO-CENT model as an example of best practice in supporting the development of innovation in VET and establishing local synergies of VET and business representatives to support the sustainable transition of the European economy to one that is built of circular principles;7) A total of 7 skunkworks teams were created as innovation ecosystems to test the project results and support VET providers and businesses to adapt their practices to include circular models;8) A sustainability plan was developed to invest on the transfer of the ECO-CENT model to other regional and national settings within the networks available to ECO-CENT project partners, and the future sustainability of all project results and approaches.