<< Background >>The fashion industry is one of the most important industries in the world with billions in turnover and great influence in the global economy. The textile and clothing industry plays an important role in Europe, employing 1.7 million people and generating an estimated turnover of EUR166 billion. However, it also has a significant impact on the environment which seems hardly compatible with the Commission’s European Green Deal and circular economy goals. Considering supply chain pressures from an EU consumption perspective, clothing, footwear and household textiles is the fourth highest — or fourth worst ranked — pressure category for use of primary raw materials and water. Also, textile waste is one of the most pressing, but perhaps not frequently talked about environmental problems faced globally. Italy was the leading textile polluter among the EU countries, followed by Czech and France.Over the past few years, the EU has been implementing a number of initiatives aimed at greening the sector which, undoubtedly, will leave their mark on the post-pandemic period, including the 2018 waste management rules package, imposing separated collection of textiles by 2025; the EU Ecolabel; and the Green Public Procurement (GPP) encouraging sustainability. However, a harmonized legal framework ensuring minimum sustainability and circularity standards across the Member States still needs to be defined.In the path towards a more sustainable fashion sector, the right to repair is considered key also by the civil society that, in April 2020, published a position paper with recommendations to the Commission on how the 2021 EU Textile Strategy should look. In this so-called Civil Society Strategy, various organizations call for the respect of human rights and the establishment of high social and environmental standards throughout the whole value chain. They point out that the introduction of a right to repair would create new jobs, prevent textile waste and tackle the issue of hazardous chemicals contained in garments. The ECOMODA consortium supports practically the respecting text by developing effective results with a great impact at the local, national and EU levels. To achieve this ambitious goal, the project will undertake many actions in training, financial grants, market stimulation, technology transfer, IPR protection, etc. The project “ECOMODA” constitutes the first step into a new dynamic sustainable community of diverse private/public actors committed to supporting skills development and employment opportunities across EU in the Textile, Clothing, Leather, Footwear and Leather Goods sector on young people. The high number of designers companies in the partner countries (CZ, IT, CY, ES, FR) shows that there is a clear need in investing in the clothing industry.<< Objectives >>The strong competition in the textile industry on international level imposes a better flexibility of the industry as well as the investment in education and the adaptation of new skills for young textile specialists. This is the reason for the need for enhancing the quality and relevance of the learning offer in education towards the latest developments in textile research and innovation. ECOMODA project envisages the development of new tools for improving key competences of young textile specialists: professionals in the textile industry, young entrepreneurs and students in higher textile education. Objectives of the project: •enhancing the quality and relevance of the learning offer in training by developing of a innovative textile course and e-learning platform/ Digital Pop Up Workspace and supporting the dissemination of the project’s outcomes; •improving the level and the assessment of textile competences, including entrepreneurship, green skills and digital skills;•promoting take-up of innovative practices by use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), open and flexible learning.•promoting structured inter-regional cooperation•improving the capacities of organisations in the fields of training of specific textile target group•promote entrepreneurship education, employability and new business creation, supporting the personal and professional development of the target group.ECOMODA welcomes the recognition of cooperatives in the key European actions for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, as means to achieve inclusive and sustainable economic growth (SDG8) as well as the commitment of the EU to “support the development of a competitive local private sector including by building local institutional and business capacity, by promoting SMEs, cooperatives, inclusive business models…”, recognising the impact of young creativity at the local level. ECOMODA will target in presenting the current situation within the fashion industry and means to success. ECOMODA project aims to promote also awareness, interest, skills and competences in most innovative issues of textile and clothing sectors, improving, firstly in the short term targets groups, the knowledge about the most up-to-date technologies for design and also manufacturing, but also management. Through the involvement of relevant training centres working also in the field of fashion, ECOMODA aims to re-motivate and valorize the creative and innovative attitude of young people, showing the potential and diversified opportunities of the textile and clothing sectors. Regarding the dissemination of the project, it is not only limited to those who will directly benefit from the project’s activities and outcomes, but involves also a range of stakeholders, actors, professionals and associations working in the fashion entrepreneurship sector. The partners believe that the proposed tools will provide ways for young people to enter in fashion industry and youth workers to maximize their time and resources when looking for upgrading their competences and helping youngsters to gain a wide range of skills and competences that are in demand in the labor market and especially in fashion industry shifting their focus on greener and more sustainable procedures.<< Implementation >>In parallel with the project’s research and development activities and throughout the project implementation period, a set of horizontal activities will be organised:Project planning; communication; monitoring; fine-tuning; organising partner meetings; drafting meeting minutes; coordinating, collecting and reviewing progress reports; defining of qualitative and quantitative success criteria; monitoring and evaluation; developing executive quality reports; reporting any significant deviation to the partnership and initiating a contingency plan; communicating with the National Agency. A1.1. Development of Project Work Plan (PWP)A1.2 Organisation of partner meetings & conference callsM1: Kick-off meetingM2: 2nd Partner's MeetingM3: 3rd Partner's MeetingM4: Final MeetingA1.3 Two Progress reportsA1.4 Elaboration of QMPA1.5 Two quality reportsA1.5 Design and Development project websiteA2. Dissemination & Exploitation StrategyThe Dissemination Leader (P2) & Exploitation Leader(P5) will prepare a comprehensive Dissemination & Exploitation Strategy accordingly focused on: clarifying the dissemination and communication scope, aims and timing; Identification and classification of the target groups and stakeholders; Elaboration of stakeholders’ engagement plan; Identification of the particular messages to be communicated throughout the project; Definition of dissemination, communication and exploitation means, methods and tools at national and European level (social networks, press releases, events etc.), including effective ways to collect feedback; Definition of success indicators; Clarification of IPR issues; Detailed action plan and reporting templates of the partners’ dissemination activities.Furthermore, the Dissemination & Exploitation Leader will develop and regularly update the ECOMODA website.A2.1 Development of the Dissemination & Exploitation StrategyA2.2 Design of internal and external communication templatesA2.3 Design of leaflets, posters and roll-up bannersA2.4 Monitoring of dissemination and exploitation activities and eventsA2.5 A project website will be developed by P2 and on-line in month 3. It will be available in all partner languages and will be updated throughout the project life-cycle.Quality assurance surveys will be conducted in months 6, 12 and 18 by P3. These surveys will comprise questionnaires to be filled out by all members of the consortium in each participating country. The purpose of these exercises will be to ensure that key quality assurance guidelines and targets are being met throughout the project life-cycle. P3 will produce a summary of the findings from each of the quality assurance surveys. P4 will draft a project Impact Plan and update it with qualitative and quantitative indicators for all intellectual outputs following the proposed Impact+ workshops to be held during the early partner meetings. P4 will conduct impact assessment exercises in months 12 and 24 to measure progress towards the benchmarks set for each output and draft two impact assessment reports.An exploitation plan will be drafted by P5 to take advantage of all emerging exploitation opportunities; build a framework for lobbying; and devise a series of actions for influencing policy. All proposed actions that involve the collection of data will comply with GDPR.<< Results >>The expected results during the project and on its completion are: - ECOMODA Training courseRegarding the innovative element of this Result, is lying on the digitalized form of the developed material that ensures full and free access to the target group and provides availability at any time. The digitalized form will be accomplished through the development of e-learning videos, with images, useful links and easy instructions thus will be used as a non-formal e-learning material. Furthermore, e-learning videos will be used as an open source for anyone who involves in non-formal education and wants to be a part of this project by registering to the project’s Portal/ Digital Pop Up Workspace- Success Stories for Designing a Creative Career The content of the Success Stories is innovative as it could be easily transferred to other EU countries as it does not entail any additional costs. Also, it will be extremely useful for all the partnership’s organizations involved, as well as for other organizations which deal with young people and their support through employability skills development and training, as it will provide the opportunity to other people who have not been involved in the pilot phase of the project to access information, to learn from others’ experiences, and be inspired.- ECOMODA Pop Up WorkspaceThe ECOMODA Pop Up Workspace development will bring together expertise, knowledge and best practices, promote collaborations between the target group, create a social network for exchanging ideas, and help young talented people to make their first step into the world of fashion.The project will include all the necessary results to be coherent and successfully implemented. The partners will also deliver the following results: • A concrete management plan which will describe all the necessary steps and procedures for the smooth implementation of the project (structure, tasks per partner and responsibilities, project milestones, communication arrangements and reporting)• Minutes following each partner meeting to be drafted and delivered by the coordinator • A Quality Assurance Strategy covering the overall course of the project to make sure all activities are undertaken in an effective way, leading to the desired results based on the quality standards agreed upon among the partnership• An interim and a final evaluation report, with an overview of the qualitative and quantitative objectives reached and what course of action is expected by the partners• A dissemination strategy with detailed description of the dissemination tools and activities necessary to reach the target groups and a final dissemination activities report at the end of the project• Sustainability Plan and Exploitation Strategy• Participants' lists from all the local national events• Project logo• Creation of informative material• 4 Newsletters developed and disseminated after important project milestones. • Feedback questionnaires from members of the target group who will be involved in the local events and training sessions• One Multiplier Event for the target group and project stakeholders • Local pilot workshops in each partner country. During the project and after its completion, the partners expect that both youngsters, youth workers, NGOs, volunteers, professionals who are dealing with youth, as well as partners organizations, will show an improvement in several areas and will gain experience and knowledge from this collaboration: C1 Activity in Italy: This short term training activity will be organized for young talented people in the field of fashion (i.e. young designers, young stylists, etc) interested in joining the fashion industry in order to be trained in new innovative training activities, take part in study visits in another cultural environment and exchange views on entrepreneurial issues as regards to test the ECOMODA course. (2 from each partner organization for 5 days training).

Advanced textile materials are a thriving sub-sector in the textile and clothing ecosystem based on high added value and differentiation as unique selling proposition. Innovation in this field is key in the resilience building of the EU textile sector and its competitiveness, particularly in VUCA environments such as COVID-19 pandemic.Two major trends to increase the innovation ecosystem in the advanced textile sector are the update of digitalization and green innovations to address climate change and improve the sustainability of the sector. However, there is a lack of knowledge by textile SMEs in digital tools beyond traditional CRM and ERP. In addition, while sustainability is raising in the textile sector, many companies are still far from exploiting tools and principles such as eco-design.Therefore, a holistic approach fostering the digital and green transition is needed to boost innovation in the sector through knowledge transfer and co-creation between academia and the industrial sector. Clusters will bring together the triple helix of innovation along with industry.The ADDTEX project main objective is to facilitate the flow and co-creation of knowledge between higher education (HEI) and vocational education and training (VET), research, public sector and business sector within the advanced textile materials sector to foster new, innovative and multidisciplinary approaches to teaching and learning. In parallel, the project aims to stimulate a sense of initiative and entrepreneurial attitudes, mindsets and skills in learners, educational staff and other workers, in line with the Green Deal and Entrepreneurship Competence Framework. ADDTEX will also improve the quality and relevance of skills developed and certified through education and training systems. The project will also reinforce the clusters in each region, supporting education and training of advanced textile materials companies through linkages with HEIs and VETs.

Better Factory will provide methodology for Manufacturing SMEs to collaborate with Artists to develop new and personalized products. At the same time Better Factory will provide technology for SMEs to become fully connected cyber-physical-systems, transforming them into Lean-Agile production facilities capable of manufacturing new and personalized products alongside existing products. Main results: - An Advance Production Planning and Scheduling (APPS) system which can be deployed on a free and open IoT platform at 10% of the cost in 50% less time. APPS will automatically reconfigure the collaborative robots considering the individuality and gender of worker, and will also reduce 10% assets, 25% area, 30% resources, 35% logistics, 40% machines and tools and workplaces, resulting in 13% cost reduction, 15% production increase and 30% time to market. - A Marketplace, a one-stop-shop, where Manufacturing SMEs can buy services from Technology suppliers, Artists, CCs, training providers and financial brokers. - A portfolio of 16 cross-border Application Experiments by 48 SMEs selected through 2 competitive Open Calls, that will test APPS, SME+Artis collaboration and other services, and leveraging 11M€ of public and private funding becoming success stories. - Services, including Technical, Business and Art mentors, infrastructure, training and access to finance. Better Factory network consists of 28 members. 18 DIHs (10 CCs, 8 industry associations), 6 Technology suppliers and 4 service providers for marketing, access to finance, FSTP management and legal framework. Partners are currently engaged in I4MS-Go, DIH², HORSE, L4MS, MIDIH, AMABLE, BOWI, SHOP4CF. Better Factory covers 16 EU countries, 17 regions with 10 of them from EU-13. Better Factory will demonstrate that public funded research can help manufacturing SMEs & Mid-Caps achieve digital excellence and global competitiveness through Lean-Agile production for the manufacturing of new and personalized products.