Europe's placement programme for climate professionals takes shape - Fundación CV

A new type of mobility programme designed by Climate-KIC : Europe's largest public-private innovation partnership focused on climate change - is nurturing the multi-skilled practitioners needed to meet the EU's ambitious climate targets.

Three years after its launch, Climate-KIC's Pioneers into Practice (PIP) programme is getting great feedback, with 61 per cent of participants saying it had furthered their overall understanding of the low carbon agenda, and 63 per cent reporting they'd gained specific insights from their placements.

Operating in six EU regions ¿ Central Hungary, Emilia-Romagna, Hessen, Lower Silesia, Valencia and West Midlands ¿ Pioneers into Practice starts from the position that making the transition to a low carbon society and meeting the EU's 20-20-20 climate targets are tough calls.

"There's no magic bullet," says programme co-designer Jon Bloomfield. "It demands engagement from all sorts of people at all levels of society. It calls for a new breed of multi-skilled pioneer equipped in the thinking and practice of low carbon transition."

Close to 200 professionals participate in the programme, representing a broad range of sectors. The intake of Pioneers into Practice in 2013 has already developed over 40 new business cases with the application period for the 2014 programme set to open in December.

"The guiding philosophy of the programme is to position pioneers outside of their usual structure of operation so that they can learn and adapt, develop unique approaches and bring new impetus to the challenges faced by the host organisations," says Jose Luis Muñoz, coordinator of the programme.

Placements for climate professionals

Pioneers into Practice is a two-month placement programme that brings together professionals from industry, small companies, universities, research institutes, local councils as well as non-profit and public organisations.

Says Bloomfield: "PIP offers them two placements, at home and abroad, that take them out of their comfort zone. They get experience of another European region, plus a workshop and mentoring element that has real gravitas. It adds up to a systematic innovation programme that's highly manageable in terms of the time commitment."

The programme recognises that practitioners are the backbone of climate change innovation and implementation: they are the key link in the innovation cycle.

Cross-disciplinary reach

PIP nurtures multi-skilled practitioners using new types of training programme that recognise the breadth of the climate change agenda and the cross-disciplinary capacities needed to confront it. Significantly, it reaches out beyond the student community to attract participants of all ages and work backgrounds.

Having got PIP off to a great start, all the regions are looking to `up' the quality of what's on offer by, for example, fine-tuning the international placements planning and enhancing the mentoring support.

Already there are signs that pioneers are scaling up their activities from, say, micro-business to SME. And the potential is there to improve the outlook of employees of larger organisations too.

"Because we've had such good feedback from participants," says Bloomfield, "there's a strong case for replicating this model in other regions, or within other regional groupings, to help meet the EU's climate targets. It's not just our six regions, after all, that need multi-skilled practitioners steeped in the low carbon agenda."

Climate-KIC

Climate-KIC integrates education, entrepreneurship and innovation resulting in connected, creative transformation of knowledge and ideas into economically viable products or services that help to mitigate climate change.

Headquartered in London, Climate-KIC currently conducts operations in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK, Spain, Italy, Poland and Hungary.

The pan-European organisation is one of the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) created in 2010 by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), an EU body tasked with creating sustainable growth.

MORE INFORMATION

Pioneers into Practice

Applications for the 2014 in take will be opening in December 2013.

pip.climatekic@delcomval.be
+34 (0) 96 31 31 080
http://www.climate-kic.org/pioneers

Climate-KIC

Angela Howarth, Head of Communications, Climate-KIC

a.howarth@climate-kic.org
+44(0) 20 7594 2748
www.climate-kic.org