The Next Tourism Generation Alliance project will establish a BluePrint for Sectoral Skills Development in Tourism to provide concrete innovative and highly relevant Skills Products and Tools for improving the relationship between Industry and Education Providers in the Tourism sector and respond to skills needs. The project will develop, deliver and test the new Next Tourism Generation (NTG) Skills Products for professionals, trainers, students, university tourism departments, local authorities, companies to respond to the fast changing and increasing skills gaps in digital, green and social skills sets and Specialist Sub-Sector Tourism Skills such as Destination Management, Blue Economy Tourism, Heritage Interpretation, Gastronomy and Collaborative Economy provision with appropriate, flexible learning and training methods to enhance skills responses and training provision to ensure a more competitive, sustainable and contemporary and authentic visitor experience. The Blue print strategy will directly assist destinations, enterprises and higher education institutions to support regional strategies and plans in employment and sustainable development. The new modules and learning methods will be integrated into the current European VET system, providing a standard benchmark for sustainable tourism management, digital and technological innovation and social skills in tourism. The consortia is a multi-disciplinary partnership which comprises 14 partners: 7 Industry Partners and Tourism Sector Representatives(Federturismo, UnionCamere; Eurogites; IHK Academy Chamber of Commerce; People 1st; VIMOS; CEHAT); 6 Universities (Dublin Institute of Technology, University of Sopron, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Alicante University, NHTV Breda Applied Sciences University, Varna University) and ATLAS-Europe, the Association of Tourism Lecturers and Students in Tourism in Europe.

According to current discussion within the community of stakeholders, there is in the Geographic Information (GI) sector a gap between the knowledge currently being offered by the European universities and the knowledge and skills requested by the enterprises and public authorities. This is partly due to a fast technological development but also due to societal changes, for instance the EU INSPIRE directive and the e-government action plans within the member states.giCASES, as a Knowledge Alliance project, aimed to enable and strengthen innovation in GI education and industry and to facilitate the collaborative creation, management and sharing of knowledge.These objectives have been addressed by developing new methods for co-creation of knowledge, where industrial partners and universities jointly developed new case-based learning materials by facilitating the exchange flow and co-creation of this knowledge. The project specifically addressed the Geographic Information (GI) sector.The giCASES method for co-creation of knowledge consists of process patterns, supplementary material and a collaboration platform. A process pattern is here a general description of a business process, which may be slightly modified in a particular case in order to suit the specific conditions better. All case studies are different from each other, but the processes they use to co-create knowledge have many characteristics in common which are captured in giCASES by the concept of business process patterns.giCASES considered the following paradigms:• co-creation of knowledge: the process through which two or more organizations and/or actors interact with each other in a collaborative fashion to generate learning content. • case studies: consisting of a real-world problem, which tackle specific topics and issues and has well-defined scopes, learning outcomes, results, actors and corresponding roles, and is addressed in a learning environment. • case-based (collaborative) learning: the educational approach adopted within the giCASES project, where knowledge is cooperatively produced by all the actors involved in the specific case studies planned. • (case-based) learning/training material: the whole of materials produced and/or used to co-create knowledge. • (case-based) learning/training tools: the solutions and technical tools adopted to store, visualize, reproduce, present or aid the development and exchange of learning/training material as well as the results of the learning process.The specific objectives of the giCASES project have been to improve the quality and relevance of GI courses provided by the University members of the consortium, to facilitate the growth of new knowledge-sharing processes and tools between enterprises and universities.In the approach taken in this project, enterprises and academia collaborated both when creating learning material based on real cases and during the courses. Collaborative web-tools have been identified to support the collaboration and co-creation of knowledge among different stakeholder groups. The new learning material and collaborative teaching have been tested in university settings. The project outcomes are provided under open licenses. In order to optimize the spread and usage of the project results, dissemination actions have been specifically addressed to external universities adhering to the open learning paradigm and companies that want to have a close connection to academia. In addition, the project results can also improve the knowledge management within the participating organisations. Questions related to processes for creation of knowledge and knowledge repositories have been placed at a strategic level, also within the enterprise, including Public Authorities with the possibility to enlarge their vision and perspective in the Academic context and in the European level.

The development and promotion of Early Childhood Care and Pre-school Education (ECEC) is undoubtedly one of the major priorities of educational (and social) policies on the international stage and in the national circumstances of European (and non-European) countries. We see this in an effort to improve the conditions for extending early childhood care (under 3 years of age), to increase the number of children enrolled in the network of pre-school facilities, but also in an increasing number of countries introducing and implementing compulsory pre-school education one year (or more) before starting school. We also see this in the changes in the education programs for ECEC, which expect a high degree of professionalism in ECEC facilities. All these measures and steps are based on evidence that early care and pre-school education are a significant measure that improves the prospects of children succeeding in school, gaining quality education, and making good use in life. Early childhood care and pre-school education contribute to this goal in particular by balancing children's social chances, helping everyone to acquire the starting cultural capital and skills that are needed to succeed in school socialization.The project is a concrete contribution to the basic objective of improving the quality of ECEC and pre-school education, in line with the European Union and national education (and social) policies. In its specific definition, the project focuses on ECEC workers, their professional support and growth, in order to align their professional profile with the objectives that current ECEC development policy expects and requires.Within the European area, the project creates a targeted network of partner workplaces in terms of its geographical (historical and political) background. The project includes the so-called post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, namely Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Slovenia. As mentioned above, in the ECEC, these countries have similar historical roots and have been confronted with identical transformation challenges and problems. The transformation processes have already led these countries to the autonomous development of the ECEC, so that, both at the structural level and in the areas of preparation and qualification and professional provision of the ECEC, the participating countries have different settings. These differences are of great benefit to the project, as it enables us to find the best experience for the development of ECEC and the professional development of workers in the field on an international background and to apply them in the preparation and implementation of competence development programs in harmonized cooperation.The project from these countries enters academic workplaces as well as specific ECEC facilities from participating countries, including the professional organization of ECEC staff working in the international network. Partner academic workplaces from the participating countries represent a leading platform for the development of ECEC and pre-school education in their countries, whether in terms of staff training in this area or in significant participation in shaping and implementing national ECEC policies. All involved workplaces have rich experience in designing, training, research and conceptual activities in this area, with a high prerequisite for a successful solution to this project.Specific ECEC facilities from each participating country are also involved in the project to include public and private sector institutions as well as institutions representing the full range of ECEC's (childcare for three years of age, kindergartens) facilities is the starting point for a good interconnection of project plans to practice as well as to its regional anchoring. The professional training organization of ECEC staff (seated in the project coordinator country) will also make a significant contribution to the project activities aimed at training courses.The project activities have a proportional intellectual character linked to training activities and ongoing dissemination activities. Intellectual outputs aim to thoroughly map, compare, and harmonize the professional profiles of ECEC workers in the participating countries, linked to training activities and ongoing dissemination activities. Existing professional profiles are defined and compared to create an optimal professional profile structure applicable in a transnational perspective. Dissemination activities will also be in the form of accompanying published texts, outputs at seminars and conferences, presentation of the project through social networks and media outputs.