RECEBA, the Erasmus+ Centre of Vocational Excellence on the circular economy, has published the “Regional VET Intelligence – S4 Panel Activation Toolkit”. Coordinated by CEIN, the European Business and Innovation Centre of Navarre, with contributions from all partners, it explains step by step how a region can set up a Regional VET Excellence Panel: a group where companies, VET providers, public authorities and research organisations agree on which skills the region needs and how training should respond.
Why a Panel
Most regions have a Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3, or S4 in its more recent, sustainability-oriented form) that sets economic priorities. Turning those priorities into training offers is a separate task, and it needs the people who design courses to talk regularly with the people who hire. The Panels give that discussion a fixed place and a method. In RECEBA they focus on the circular economy, but the same approach can be used for other sectors.
How the toolkit helps
The toolkit does not prescribe a single model. A region can choose a Panel that covers several sectors, one that focuses on a single sector, or a mix of the two. It can create a new body or attach the Panel to a structure that already exists, such as a regional innovation council or a VET coordination group. The document gives a method to identify and select members based on their interest and influence, practical rules for running and recording meetings, and advice on keeping members involved over time, which in practice depends on seeing concrete results. It also describes how a Panel can move from a first activation phase to becoming a stable part of regional governance.
Six regions testing it
The toolkit is now being applied in Lazio, Navarre, Wallonia, Friesland, Normandy and Bulgaria. All six Panels should be active by November 2026, with review meetings in 2027 and 2028 and a final assessment in December 2029. Their work will validate RECEBA’s research on regional skills needs and feed into the Circular Business Labs the project is developing with local companies and training providers.
Join a Panel
The Panels are being set up now. If you are a company, VET provider, public authority or research organisation in one of the six regions and would like to take part, or want to know more about the Circular Business Labs, write to your regional contact:
Lazio: [email protected]
Navarre: [email protected]
Wallonia: [email protected]
Friesland: [email protected]
Normandy: [email protected]
Bulgaria: [email protected]