“INVESTech Innovation Vocational Excellence and Sustainability in Tech

The ICT sector is growing rapidly and constantly evolving, creating a strong need for new skills and innovation. However, according to the OECD, current VET programmes often struggle to keep up with these changes and do not always provide students with the skills and opportunities they need to succeed in ICT jobs in industry. The fourth and fifth industrial revolutions are key drivers of the changing role of VET, as they are shaping the content and form of new jobs, skills and occupational requirements. “INVESTech aims to promote the innovation potential of VET in participating countries by fostering cooperation between education, labour market and other stakeholders; facilitating skills development and the use of innovative technologies; promoting green transition and social inclusion; and providing opportunities for transnational cooperation and the exchange of best practices, thus ensuring that VET can play a key role in supporting innovation, skills development, green transformation and social inclusion.

The aim of the project is to support the creation of an international cooperation platform and the development of Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in five European countries: Slovakia, Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Lithuania.

INVESTech will foster the creation of CoVEs in five European regions (Košice in Slovakia, Attica in Greece, Sofia in Bulgaria, Nicosia in Cyprus and Klaipėda in Lithuania), involving a five-level innovation spiral (Q2IH) framework that promotes partnerships between academia, industry, the public sector, civil society and other sectors. By fostering collaboration between different types of stakeholders, the project aims to support the alignment of CoVE with regional smart specialisation strategies focusing on sustainable development and innovation. More specifically, INVESTech will develop a bottom-up approach to vocational skills, involving a wide range of stakeholders at regional level, building on, expanding or creating new skills ecosystems, thus enabling CoVE to rapidly adapt skills provision to changing economic and social needs.