ACE-EX brought three years of work to a close in the heart of Europe

On 22 June, at the Lombardy Region Office in Brussels, ACE-EX held its final conference. In the room and online, representatives from European institutions, social partners, research bodies, sector federations and regional authorities followed a day built around one concrete question: what skills does European agriculture need to face the circular transition.

The conference was organised by the project's Belgian partner, the European Chemicals Regions Network (ECRN), which hosted the closing event in the heart of the European Quarter. Our thanks go to its whole team for the work that made the day possible.

After the institutional opening by the Lombardy Region, Carmen Fusilli, ACE-EX project manager for ITS Academy Giulio Natta, the project's lead partner, presented the results of three years of work. The discussion then came into its own with two roundtables. The first, moderated by Erina Guraziu of OpenCom, focused on the skills and professional profiles needed for the transition of the agri-food sector. The second, moderated by Jesús Díez of the Fundación Patrimonio Natural de Castilla y León, widened the view to the sector's long-term economic sustainability. Two sessions of genuine debate, bringing different voices around the same table and confirming just how central the question of skills has become on the European agenda.

The day closed with a live demonstration of the immersive learning technologies developed by the project, led by Oliver D'Adda of Softcare Studios: a concrete glimpse of how training can evolve beyond conventional methods.

Three years of cooperation between 20 partners across 9 European countries reach a point of arrival here, but also a point of departure: the ACE-EX curriculum remains available and will live on well beyond the end of the project.
In the coming days, we will publish interviews with the participants of the two roundtables. Stay with us.

🇪🇺 Co-funded by the European Union
Project website link in bio

#ACEEXproject #ErasmusPlus #CircularEconomy #AgriFood #GreenSkills #Brussels

For a farm, sustainability isn't a separate cost: it's how the work gets done. That was the message from Luigi Bosio, of Cooperativa Erica, at the ACE-EX national dissemination event, hosted on 27 May by ITS Academy Giulio Natta in Treviolo, near Bergamo. 🌱

Moving towards a circular economy is essential for farmers, Bosio says: it trims costs and processes while serving every farm's ultimate goal, a quality product that also stands up environmentally.

The telling part is the "how". Farms no longer start from scratch, from compostable bioplastic mulching films left in the field, to handling the organic fraction on site so the soil keeps its nutrients. There's now a pool of shared experience to draw on. No one faces the transition alone.

That's where ACE-EX comes in. Funded by the EU under Erasmus+ (Alliance for Innovation), 20 partners across 9 countries are building a European training pathway for a brand-new role: the circular economy expert in agriculture (wine, olive oil, cereals).

Bergamo was one of several national events. The closing moment is the final conference in Brussels, on 22 June. 🇪🇺

🔗 Link in bio

#ACE-EX #CircularEconomy #Agriculture #ErasmusPlus
🇮🇹🇪🇺 Co-funded by the European Union

ITS Academy Giulio Natta
CEP- Center for European Projects
OpenCom Italy
Sostenibilidad Cámara Valencia
AINIA Consumer
Softcare Studios
Střední průmyslová škola chemická a gymnázium Brno
Patrimonio Natural
Fagskolen Innlandet
Klaster Gospodarki Cyrkularnej i Recyklingu
Ies Federico García Lorca De la Puebla de Cazalla
Επιμελητήριο Φθιώτιδας
Confagricoltura