The rapid shift towards a climate neutral Europe and digital transformation is changing the way we work, learn, take part in society and lead our everyday lives. New VET skills are key to success in order to achieve the vision European economies and societies to become more sustainable, resilient, and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the green and digital transitions. The CATALYST project “European VET Excellence Centre for Leading Sustainable Systems and Business Transformation” is designed with strong vision and motivation to contribute to realisation of the European Green Deal and the new Industrial and SME Strategies.

The European VET Excellence Centre for Leading Sustainable Systems and Business Transformation (CATALYST) project aims to strengthen the sustainable competitiveness of professionals, students and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Upskilling and re-skilling are crucial for long-term and sustainable growth, productivity, and innovation and therefore a key factor for the competitiveness of businesses of all sizes, in particular SMEs. The goal of the project is to provide citizens participating in various VET programmes the right skills to work more effectively and take advantage of new technologies.

The project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Program, CoVEs Partnership for Excellence – Centers of Vocational Excellence.

The main goal is with the establishment of united CATALYST Centre of Vocational Excellence in 5 countries to give support, create an educational offer to tackle personal and organisational development, and to embrace transformation in SMEs, enabling and inspiring them to re-think and re-design their business models, co-creating and sharing between educational and business organisations.

The CATALYST project addresses sustainability from an organisational, social and economic perspective.

The project fosters innovation and applied knowledge in approaches of learning and tailor-made VET program via the “Enable component”, as well as support of SMEs to create sustainable businesses via the “Inspire component”.

The CATALYST project is developed and envision to:

  • Champion in business transformation
  • Accelerate high quality VET education
  • Transcend challenges of SMEs and professionals
  • Applicable knowledge and increased employability
  • Lead sustainable partnerships between educational and business orgranisations
  • Yield high returns from investments and effort made in education
  • Shape sustainable systems
  • Treasure competences for greener and circular economy

Coordinator: Institute for Research in Environment, Civil Engineering and Energy

Project partners:

  1. Civil Engineering Institute MACEDONIA, N. Macedonia – https://gim.mk/
  2. Small Business Chamber, N. Macedonia – https://www.sbch.org.mk/
  3. Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption And Production Ggmbh, Germany – https://www.cscp.org/
  4. Bells, Germany
  5. Green Business Federal Association, Germany – https://www.bnw-bundesverband.de/
  6. BEST Institute for vocational further education and personal training GmbH, Austria – https://www.best.at/
  7. Fh Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Austria – https://www.fh-joanneum.at/en/
  8. APFLBUTZN, Austria – https://www.apflbutzn.at/
  9. Iscte-University Institute of Lisboa, Portugal – https://www.iscte-iul.pt/
  10. ICAA – Intellectual Capital Association, Portugal – https://icaa.pt/
  11. CENTIMFE – Technological Center for the Mouldmaking, Special Tooling and Plastic Industrie, Portugal – https://www.centimfe.com/en-home.html
  12. Athens University of Economics and Business – Research Center, Greece – https://www.aueb.gr/en
  13. Creative Thinking Development, Greece – https://www.crethidev.gr/
  14. Sporos Circular Solutions Private Company, Greece – https://www.sporosplatform.com/
  15. SDSN Association Paris, France – https://www.unsdsn.org/

– Personal skills (transferable skills) – sustainable lifestyle, solving complex problems, entrepreneurial skills, systemic thinking, communication skills, sustainable leadership;

– Sustainable business skills – CSR 2.0., managing intellectual capital, knowledge management, building sustainable brands, innovation management, collaboration and Teamwork;

– Leading Sustainable Systems – sustainable business models, establishing collaborative-innovative partnerships (CO-IN), contributing

    Implementation period

    June 2022 – May 2026

    Reference number

    101056114 — CATALYST — ERASMUS-EDU-2021-PEX-COVE

    Project keywords

    Erasmus+Intellectual capitalManagementSustainabilityVET

    CONSTRUCT
    Green Vineyards