HUCO LABS - Collaborative HVET-University-COmpany Labs for Research

"True innovation is based on synergy, and synergy requires diversity. There can be no synergy between two people who have the exact same vision of things. In this case, one plus one equals two. But two people who see things differently can enter into synergy, and in their case one plus one can make three, ten, or a thousand,"" Stephen R. Covey (educator). The HUCO LABS project, which brings together Higher Vocational Education and Training, Universities and Companies to develop technicians’ skills that will facilitate synergies, and thus innovation, during the Fourth Industrial Revolution that we face today. Across Europe there is a diverse and fragmented approach to the provision of skills for Research and Innovation (R&I) at Level 5 and 6 of the European Qualifications Framework. Based on an analysis of the status quo, HUCO Labs will develop a training model and standards to equip Mid-level Technicians at EQF level 5 and 6, with a key set of R&D related skills that can make them competent to work with teams of researchers and entrepreneurs. Through 2 pilot pathways (EQF 5th and 6th) in advanced manufacturing, the results will be scaled up through the establishment of a European Platform or ‘coalition of the willing’ among training providers to develop such integrated skills across different innovative sectors of the economy. This Platform will also boost transnational cooperation through ‘Technological European Villages for Technicians’ that will also integrate university researchers and companies to develop a new model of innovation ecosystem."