BioEnergyTrain Project

The objective of the BioEnergyTrain project was to develop new post-graduate programmes with an emphasis on renewable energy sources, and the provision of a highly competent and innovative workforce in the field. Project partners successfully concluded the project in April 2019.

The development in the field of RES is also a priority of the EU and among the most important items of the Horizon 2020 programme. Studying new methods for the reduction of the carbon footprint is necessary and at the same time highly dependent on the competencies of the energy infrastructure staff, new energy sources, as well as the so-called smart buildings and transportation. Since the development in Europe has been at a standstill in this area due to a lack of qualified staff and insufficient links between the needs of vocational education and the needs of the industry, the objective of the project was to develop new post-graduate programmes with an emphasis on RES, and the provision of a highly competent and innovative workforce. The plan within the project was to cooperate with the representatives of educational institutions, the industry and energy policymakers.

At the Final BET Conference in Brussel, on 9 April 2019, the two Rectors from TU Graz (AT) and UTwente (NL) confirmed that the two-master’s programmes on Biorefinery Engineering and Bioresource Value-Chain Management will continue after the project finalisation. TU Graz has launched an extensive marketing campaign, which showed positive results as student numbers are growing. The BET Consortium confirmed to carry on the successful Student Camps in the following years (UTwente 2020, LNEG 2021, and TU Graz 2022) with sponsoring from industry. In addition, TU Graz will conclude bilateral agreements with all lecturers through teacher mobility facilitated by Erasmus funds. The lessons learnt from the project were compiled into a publication entitled “Theory and Practice of European Education and Training for the Support of Energy Transition” soon to be published in the Springer open access Journal Energy, Sustainability and Society.

 

Project Profile

  • Duration: from May 2015 to April 2019
  • Project value: 3.7 million EUR
  • ELES activity value: EUR 110,625
  • Funding source: Horizon 2020 programme (European Commission)
  • Partners: eseia, Landesenergieverein (EAS), ECO WORLD STYRIA Umwelttechnik Cluster GMBH (ECO), BRP-Powertrain GMBH & CO KG (BRP), Kompetenzzentrum Holz GMBH (KPLUS), Technical University GRAZ (TU Graz), Bergischer Abfallwirtschaftsverband (BAV), Technical University Hamburg-Harburg (TUHH), KIC InnoEnergy SE (KIC), Universiteit Twente (UTwente), Laboratorio Nacional de Energia e Geologia I.P. (LNEG), Asociatia »Green Energy« (BIO-C), Universitatea Transilvania din Brasov (UTBV), ELES d.o.o., University of Ljubljana (UL)
  • Participating countries: Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia
  • ELES’s role: head of regional awareness raising of target groups
  • Website: www.bioenergytrain.eu

 

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