Málaga TechPark, selected for three new Erasmus Plus European projects, in the Centre of Excellence category

Málaga TechPark

AccessCove, H2Excellence, and AGRIFOOD4FUTURE are the three new initiatives that the park is beginning to work on.

For the first time, the park has been able to introduce companies from the Technopolis into the consortia established for these projects.

One of these projects will be carried out with the University of Malaga (UMA).

The European Union has approved three new projects for Málaga TechPark within the Erasmus Plus program, under the Centre of Excellence category. What is most noteworthy about these projects is that, for the first time, the park has been able to introduce companies from the Technopolis into the consortia to carry out these initiatives. As such, the University of Málaga is participating in one of these projects. These projects, totalling around €200,000, are AccessCove, H2Excellence, and AGRIFOOD4FUTURE.

AccesCoVE

The first of them is AccesCoVE. The proposal of this project focuses on the development of a Professional Centre of Excellence for the provision of vocational education and training (VET) programs aimed at endorsing the knowledge and skills of students from different sectors such as health professionals, engineers, or researchers, in the field of implementation and evaluation of accessibility services in both public policies and private business activities. The consortium of this project is composed of 23 partners, including universities, secondary education schools, and companies, among which are the TechPark, the park's company Habi Diseño Accesible, and the training centre CESUR.

H2Excellence

Fuel cells and Professional Training Centres of Excellence for Safe and Sustainable Energy in Europe is the premise of the second project, an initiative that supports the establishment and gradual development of European platforms for professional centres of excellence, contributing to regional development, innovation, and smart specialisation strategies, as well as international collaboration platforms in the field of hydrogen. In this consortium, composed of 24 partners, are Málaga TechPark, the University of Malaga, and CESUR.

AGRIFOOD4FUTURE

Centres of Vocational Excellence in Smart Agriculture and Sustainable Food Systems is the underlying theme of this project, which focuses on developing competencies in vocational training and educational programs that address the needs of the "future agriculture." By bringing together the main European actors in vocational education, academic research, and companies from all regions with a tradition in the agri-food sector (but lagging behind in the adoption of new practices), the project aims to build vocational excellence centres capable of responding to existing and emerging needs in the sector, while focusing on the key priorities of the sector: digitalization, decarbonization, and sustainability.

In this case, the consortium is composed of 23 partners. The TechPark participates in COVE #5 Spain together with CESUR, FEMAC Cluster (Cluster of Agricultural Machinery and Means of Production), and Trama Tecnoambiental (a consulting and engineering firm).

Other projects

Málaga TechPark is currently part of other European projects and plays an active role in ERRIN, the European Regions Research and Innovation Network, especially within the Circular Economy group.

The park also participates in projects such as MakeMyFuture, which aims to support VET educators in implementing activities to provide advanced digital competencies to VET students; Tourism 4.0, focused on developing and launching transnational and cross-ecosystem support programs to enhance digital transformation capability and offer smart tourism solutions for SMEs in the tourism ecosystem; and B-Skills, to introduce Blockchain technology into high schools.