Project description:

The ECOSIGN project will create an Eco-Innovation Skills Alliance in four European countries (Slovenia, Spain, Romania and Italy) with the goal of addressing the lack of knowledge of designers coming from three economic sectors: food packaging, electronic goods and clothing/textile. These sectors have production-consumption systems with globalised supply chains and large shares of imports to the EU economy. Production stages are frequently carried out abroad, whereas the design phase, mainly undertaken by European designers, determines 80% of the environmental impact of a product. ECOSIGN will allow industrial designers from those sectors to reduce environmental impact during the products life-cycle, including the use of raw materials and natural resources, manufacturing, packaging, transport, disposal and recycling.
The alliance is formed by: sector experts, like research centres, clusters and associations that have dedicated eco-innovation departments; educational providers like VET centres and Universities, all of them teaching courses of eco-design and educational authorities like public bodies at national and regional level, independent Certification Bodies and VET authorities in Environmental Protection.

The main results of this alliance will be a new joint curriculum and a training course for European Ecodesigners that will add skills and competences to the designers regarding environmental technologies. Also, it will allow designers, from one specific sector, to change their industrial activity to other sector. The new training course will be formed by Open Educational Resources protected by open licenses and available in Massive Open Online Course platforms.

Tecos' role:

Coordinator of the project.