More than 20 business and training entities from Greece, Italy, Slovakia, Portugal and Spain have joined together in the SECOVE (Sustainable Energy Centres of Vocational Excellence) project, an initiative that aims to establish a cooperation network between centres of excellence in vocational training (CoVEs) and companies linked to the sustainable energy sector to, among other aspects, create training and specific educational material for VET that responds to the needs of the labour market in renewable energies.

The SECOVE project, which will last 4 years, will create an ecosystem of companies, business associations, universities and Vocational Training centres to work together in the development of technical training related to sustainable energy and aligned with the needs of companies.

Within the framework of the project, the Global Smart Grids Innovation Hub of Iberdrola (Bilbao) participated in a conference held on the 7th of February, aimed at training centres and companies, which analysed how the initiative can help VET excellence in the field of AI, Cybersecurity and IoT and the needs of companies in this area.

Among other initiatives, the Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) of the five participating countries are cooperating through the SECOVE platform through which a dialogue is established at local and transnational level to ensure a common approach in all countries.

In addition to the constitution of this platform, the project envisages the production of educational material that will make VET respond to the needs of the labour market in terms of the profile of sustainable energy professionals; the promotion of synergies between industry representatives and VET organisations; the promotion of an inclusive and attractive approach of VET towards women and the incorporation of a culture of quality and innovation in vocational education and training.

This is a project led by the University of West Attica (UNIWA) in Athens, funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme and aligned with the European Green Deal, a package of initiatives whose aim is to set the EU on the path towards an ecological transition, with the objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

The programme also foresees the development of activities like:

• 28 local and transnational workshops.
• Networking events with the participation of around 600 professionals.
• International mobility programmes for 45 VET students.
• The organisation of 9 VET trainings for girls in secondary education (180 participants).
• 4 capacity building events (training of 89 people from partner organisations).
• Organisation of 3 Transnational Conferences (for a total of 210 participants).

Iberdrola’s Global Smart Grids Innovation Hub (Bilbao) hosted a workshop on the 7th of February (Tuesday) from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. where the opportunities for collaboration between vocational training centres and companies were discussed.

In addition to presenting the SECOVE project and Iberdrola’s Global Smart Grids Innovation Hub, two workshops were held to analyse the needs of companies in terms of qualified personnel in sustainable energy and how VET centres can respond to these needs. They also analysed how the project can contribute to the excellence of VET by linking it to sustainable energy and within the Sustainable Energy sector, the Basque region will focus on Artificial Intelligence, Cibersecurity and IoT.

Learn more about the SECOVE project at www.secove-project.eu.