The CCWater project addresses 'knowledge building' to address water scarcity and water management in 3 partner countries in Asia. It will strengthen the local capacities to cope with Climate Change adaptation through 3 universities from Sri Lanka, 3 from China, and 2 from Mongolia. 3 program countries, Norway, Germany and Poland, with 3 universities with broad and diverse experience in climate-resilient water management will build a knowledge-sharing partnership with the 8 universities in 3 partner countries. The universities, as the key stakeholders preparing tomorrow's leaders, engineers, and scientists, have a key role to play when educating the graduates in the water sector. The participating units of the universities have teaching responsibilities related to water resources, water supply and wastewater management, which are the focus of the CCWater project. The CC Water project aims to strengthen the water-related higher education in 3 partner countries to increase the resilience against climate change impacts. This is achieved by developing HEI’s competences and skills with modern technology and teaching resources. The international collaboration, which is a unified strategic priority of all participating HEIs, will be strengthened together with improved gender and ethnic diversity and inclusion. The main objectives is designed to achieve with five focus areas with five concrete results: (1) enhancing climate resilience and sustainability of water resources and infrastructures in the Partner Countries (2) modernising water-related higher education with climate change issues and internationalise HEIs from the Partner Countries (3) improving the level of competences and skills in HEIs from the Partner Countries (4) strengthening relations of HEIs in the Partner Countries with the wider economic and social environment, and enhance their innovation capacity and (5) improving diversity and inclusion of higher education in the Partner Countries.

Project consortium4 European countries, 4 technical universities, 1 industrial companies (SME), 4 vocational secondary schools and IT training organizations.MotivationThe project reacts to the decreased interest in studying at secondary schools providing education in electrical and information engineering, as well as in the related fields. Our motivation is to contribute to higher attractiveness of the study, to foster the students’ interest in the given field and to involve them in the international competition.Objectives and formsThe main objective is to increase the quality of education at vocational secondary schools using a form that will be highly attractive for students.This objective has been achieved through preparing a wide portfolio of modern learning aids and offering them in an attractive way as:• Explanations arranged in the form of an explanatory dictionary (similarly as in Wikipedia, but with guaranteed content);• Worksheets;• Short chapters of text;• Tests;• Multimedia multilingual translation dictionary.All these types of content are now available in English, German, Spanish, Czech and Slovak. Thus, the developed materials will be useful also for language education.The formats of the learning aids include LMS packages (e.g. for Moodle), PDF, as well as formats suitable for e-book readers and mobile devices (smartphones, tablets). All files are now freely downloadable from the learning portal where teachers and their students may choose those materials (or their parts) that are interesting for them (in terms of content or form) and capable of enriching their teaching/learning. In order to increase the attractiveness for the students, a special Facebook account has been maintained during the project.Pilot testing was a substantial part of the project implementation; it included also students’ international competition – Technical Olympiad; its winners have been awarded attractive prizes and issued certificates.Learning topicsThe project consortium has identified a large number of modern topics, for which, however, there are often not available any learning materials in the considered languages in satisfactory quality. The topics have been selected by secondary school teachers – not only from the consortium, but also from other training institutions:Wireless networksCryptography, cybercriminalityModern security systemsCloud computingAutomationSystems for intelligent buildings and homesHome automationInternet of thingsUser identificationMMI (multimodal interfaces) for interactive communication and navigationFuture Networks - SDN & NFVNew generation of multimedia services/applicationsOptical systems and networksOptoelectronics, photonics and sensorsModern data interfacesModern modulation methodsUse of power lines for transmission of messages (PLC, BPL)High-speed Internet AccessModern TV standardsLTE (Long Term Evolution)

The current electric energy distribution grid—based mainly on alternating current (AC)—has served us for over a century. Transporting energy generated at large power stations over long distances to a distributed network of consumers. It is starting to show its shortcomings due to a rise in local generation with renewable energy sources and the essentially direct current (DC) nature of many modern electric loads. Modern grids need to deal with two-way energy flows, local intermittent generation from renewables and local energy storage in stationary batteries. Medium voltage distribution microgrids using DC instead of AC hold the promise to address the shortcomings of the AC main grid. There are several initiatives in low voltage secondary distribution grids, and DC-POWER is expanding their concepts into the medium voltage range. We propose the D3Bus, a bipolar DC bus operating at ±1.5 kV. Compared to standard 3-phase 400V AC distribution the D3Bus can reduce distribution energy losses by over 90%, reduce downtime, equipment cost, and space requirements while increasing sustainability. DC-POWER demonstrates, tests and validates the D3 Bus concept in two operational pilots: One powering an industrial-scale hydrogen electrolyser stack at 2 MW power, and one powering a new data centre with up to 500 kW installed IT power. Both pilots include sizeable solar PV arrays (200 kW), while the data centre also includes a directly coupled DC UPS solution. In order to realise these pilots, DC-POWER develops several DC-DC converters, an AC active frontend, as well as system protection components and a power/energy management system. The D3Bus is intended as a first stepping-stone towards standardization of MVDC distribution microgrids. It is such industry-wide standards that will enable and accelerate the adaptation of the electricity distribution system towards the energy demands of the future and net zero.

Cluster Management is a highly demanding work which requires a set of good skills, ranging from strategy preparation skills to human resource management and internationalisation skills. Today, there is no clear definition of the work role Cluster Manager, and therefore no defined education for this work category. There are a few commissioned educations, but nothing in northern Europe nor in the BSR. In the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) Policy Area Innovation highlights clusters as one of three strategic policy instruments. In a pre-study performed within the Baltic Leadership Programme for Cluster Managers, the main conclusion emphasize the need for a systemic and multilevel take on leadership and cooperation. The main objective of this project is to define the work role of Cluster Managers and thereby improve cluster management in BSR cluster organisations, by developing and piloting a 1-year cross-border Cluster Manager training with ECVET validation. The strategic partnership consists of seven partners, both educational organisations and cluster organisations, from four countries (Sweden, Finland, Lithuania and Germany).- NetPort Science Park (Lead Partner, Sweden) with extensive experience from project management, manages NetPort Energy Cluster and Edtech Southeast Sweden.- The Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau (Germany) - Technische Hochschule Wildau (TH Wildau) - teaching and research in technical subject such as Photonics, Telematics, Biosciences, engineering as well as economics. - Lithuanian food exporters association (LitMEA, Lithuania) is managing the SMART food cluster, who with its 20 members from agrofood, food processing and manufacturing sectors, help cluster members to enhance competitiveness in foreign markets, bringing together the capabilities of the companies, competencies and contacts. - Kaunas University of Technology (KTU, Lithuania) a technological university in Lithuania with interdisciplinarity, internationality, innovation and technology transfer as well as integration of sustainability as key objectives. - Technology Centre Oy Merinova Ab (Finland) coordinates and manages the EnergyVaasa cluster in Vaasa, promoting the growth, competitiveness and success of the cluster companies by offering facilitation of cooperation between cluster members, joint marketing and visibility activities, staff recruitment campaigns, internationalisation activities and access to public support and funding. - The University of Vaasa (UVA, Finland) is a business-oriented, multidisciplinary, and highly international university with the main disciplinary areas in technology, business economics, public management and communication.- Hyper Island (Sweden) is a education company specialized in digital and interactive media with full-time programs and master’s degrees, online and on-site courses. Hyper Island designs transformative learning experiences to enable growth for individuals and for businesses and to help them adapt to rapidly changing times. The project is divided in 4 different work packagesWP1. Project ManagementWP2. Intellectual Output, 'Develop and pilot a 1-year cross-border Cluster Manager training with ECVET validation'. a. Preparation, development and validation of the curriculum b. Implementation and evaluation of a cross-border four module long training program for 20 Cluster Managers c. Validation from Experts and Cluster Manager reference group WP3. Follow-up and quality assuranceWP4. DisseminationIn this project we will use the methodology to address both the very practical aspects as well as theoretical areas. We will address the stakeholder in different levels, both vertical capacity building as dealing with complex environments and different levels of learning (on-site and e-learning for example). Project results - A new and well-prepared curriculum for training of cluster managers- 20 cluster managers trained with the new curriculum- At least 100 European clusters made aware of the new cluster management curriculum and training.Project impact and long-term effects- Clusters with a professionalising management will be more effective, efficient and successful and contribute to a more dynamic economic development of the cluster and beyond.- Improved availability of tailor made training for cluster managers is assumed to result in a long-term increased interest in cluster management and cluster management training.- Improved cluster management practices of the clusters in the Baltic Sea Region.- Better cluster services to SMEs - leading to improved competitiveness of the companies and improved regional development and growth.- A higher number and proportion of clusters in Europe achieving the Gold and Silver Labels in cluster management