VET Providers Look Ahead: A Strategic Meeting in Brussels Marks the Next Phase of Innovation
The BT4VET consortium recently met in Brussels for a significant transnational project meeting, attended by partners from across Europe. The meeting marked the completion of the project's second major phase (WP2) — which produced the VET Business Index and the classification of operational business models — while also laying the groundwork for Work Package 3 (WP3): developing an innovative business concept for VET providers.
The Brussels event was more than a formal milestone. It was a moment of strategic alignment and shared ambition. Partners shared their experience, reviewed the tools and models developed in WP2, and together set out a clear roadmap for the next phase of the project.
The aim of WP3 is to turn the transformation begun in WP2 into practical action. Its task is to help vocational education and training providers develop into versatile players, able to offer a broader range of services and create new value for communities, businesses and learners.
WP3 is structured around two main activities:
1. Activity 1 — Developing the transformation model
This activity will produce an innovative conceptual model to help VET institutions become multi-service providers. It sets out the competences, structures and management strategies needed to move towards a wider range of services without losing sight of the institution's core mission. The model is based on the Lotus Blossom methodology and is visualised as a multidimensional matrix. At its centre sits the VET institution, surrounded by various potential areas of business value proposition — innovation services, business support, community engagement, digital training and others — each representing a possible new line of business.
2. Activity 2 — The practical business toolkit
To ensure that change is not merely conceptual, WP3 will produce a comprehensive set of operational tools. These will include how-to guides, checklists, templates and exercises, giving VET managers and staff what they need in order to:
develop new training and service products;
identify and enter new market segments;
build strategic partnerships and cooperation networks;
explore innovative funding models (including equity, loans and public-private partnerships);
structure new operating and governance models that follow a business logic.
Together, these outputs will form a complete innovation package for vocational education and training institutions. They are designed to be practical, easy to use and relevant to the real situations and challenges that VET providers face across Europe.
As always, the project remains committed to accessibility and openness. All materials will be available in several languages, free of charge, on the project's official platform: