Farming in EU is essential to livelihoods and local development, while facing many challenges such as limited resources and growing environmental challenges. Bio-economy is a solution towards this problem. For a successful bio-economy strategy in farming, further support is needed for the workforce, more knowledge about the impact and business models of bio-economy, raising more awareness and involvement of a wider range of actors. Training in bio-economy is still absent in many EU countries and there is a shortage of people with higher education in the farming sector. The transition to bio-economy needs professionals with multidisciplinary, managerial, and cross-sectoral expertise. Higher education and vocational training can play a critical role in this transition integrating dedicated curricula andtraining.

RELIEF aims to develop and deliver an innovative approach for teaching bio-economy in farming, by developing specific learning resources addressing higher education institutions (HEIs) students and farming practitioners. HEIs, vocational education and training (VETs), farmer consultants, research institutes, and social partners from Italy, Greece, Sweden, Cyprus and Portugal will deliver a high-quality network within the EU to advance bio-economy in the farming agenda. RELIEF will deliver a training needs analysis and develop two curricula in bio-economy, for university students, farming practitioners and farmers exploring the key areas that are critical for the implementation of business models and strategies towards bio-economy in farming.
Based on this knowledge, RELIEF will design and pilot learning units which will incorporate a mix of training methodologies. An e-learning platform will offer learning resources in 5 languages for self-training and networking to support the long-term sustainability of farming enterprises.

RELIEF is relevant to the priorities of the call, and particularly the priorities of “inclusion and diversity”, “digital transformation” and “environment and fight against climate change”.

RELIEF will stimulate significant changes in the university curricula, course content, and VET training by integrating a learner-centred approach based on problem-based, active and transformational learning.

Project Website

Partnership

The project partnership is structured so as to implement a Knowledge Triangle and ensure the effective collaboration between key players in higher education (HE) and vocational education and training (VET), business and research in farming sector.
The main criteria for the selection of RELIEF consortium have been:
− Expertise and complementarities in agriculture, bio-economy sector and digitalization to fulfil project objectives
− Type of institutions, to cover the overall value chain to guarantee project completion and exploitation
− Balanced geographical distribution, countries with different growth rates in bioeconomy development
− Experience in European projects and participation/coordination of relevant EU projects

In line with the requirements of the Alliances for Innovation RELIEF brings together a collection of HEI, VET providers/farmer consultants, research institutes, social partners and farming business partners with presence in rural communities and farming.