By R2M Solution Srl, 21 October 2025
Past Thursday 9 October, in the framework of Sustainable Places 2025 conference (Milan, Italy), the concept and results of ET4Digital project were featured to an audience of 20 people joining the workshop “Pushing on skills to address the current and future challenges: Learning solutions and trends across economic sectors”.
The workshop, organized by R2M Solution Srl in cooperation with other 7 EU-funded projects including ET4Digital and one association (Metabuilding asbl), wanted to investigate about the topic of the evolution of Skills and needs challenged by the green and digital transformations that are impacting now and in the future the working sector. Thanks to the speakers that welcomed the opportunity to be part of this workshop, the discussion rotated around the construction sector.
Speakers were involved in a dialogue with the audience to check which “traditional” and digitally advanced skills are needed now and in the near future to improve the resilience of the construction operators. Paired to that, the goal was also to navigate through recently available methodologies and tools for skills mapping skills, delivery of courses and ex-post assessment of acquired competencies.
Giuseppe Scarpi (R2M Solution Srl) opened its presentation about the ET4Digital project by focusing on the apparent paradox of the TVET system: what a learner studies and acquires (skills at school) can frequently 0differ from what a small company but also a modern digital construction site requires (skills at work). ET4Digital is working on this by proposing a circular process from market needs to the delivery of a real-world training impact, being sure that the connections between industry needs and vocational training can be strengthened. Part of this work include collecting data about skills (before and after a training course is delivered), as this helps to deliver a targeted training offer and learning pathways. Currently, the consortium is working on designing and delivering a hands-on, experiential training thanks to a 2nd generation Digital Twin demonstrator developed by UNIBO in cooperation with other partners. This pilot is already able to integrate several digital solutions, as a living digital model. This is just one of the results that support the acceleration needed by the construction ecosystem to stay on page and being able to both keep attracting younger generations, while retaining skilled workers in the near future. This is also part of the replicability strategy of ET4Digital in other TVET areas in Europe.
The workshop provided also a nice occasion for discovering the latest methodologies and solutions now available for being adopted by trainers of the Construction TVET area: examples go from accessing learning modules developed in virtual reality (VR) environment, fully integrable in existing curricula and representing an engaging yet effective way to have a higher engagement of both young and adult learners. Together with the EXTRA (Extended Reality) Methodology addressed to teachers and trainers, the validation of the two modules (done by IIPLE and R2M) with trainers and learners represents one of the key results of TEXIVOS Open call project, funded by the XR4ED Horizon Europe project. Other examples include the INPERSO project, thanks to which a Mapping of Skills considered strategic at EU level to deliver synergic renovation packages has been performed and a Moodle Learning Portal has been specifically designed for this scope and is now accessible at public level.
With RepowerRegions project, European professional engineers are now skilled about innovative Heat Pumps solutions, while SmartSquare project was featured as it has defined a detailed, ready-to-use Learning Platform to get a building assessor prepared about the Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) and how to perform an SRI audit.
Closing the workshop, Metabuilding Labs was featured as it is currently offering a package of services, including dedicated mentoring, for small companies willing to test and get new building components (innovative façade and insulation products) accessing the market. Paired to a platform, the Metabuilding Asbl association was founded to manage these consultancy opportunities.
Among the lessons learned, speakers and the audience discussed on the benefits to focus on the latest, innovative methodologies and tools to deliver skills to learners of all ages and geographic provenience, while keeping in mind the need to reinforce and push for linkages between a qualified TVET and the job market.