The eighth edition of the Pioneers into Practice kicks off, strengthening the community of experts and ensuring the exploitation of the results.
Pioneers is one of the pilot programs that emerged in the first partner regions of Climate KIC to train professionals from various sectors in innovative methodologies that accelerate change in the system, identifying the levers of change and ensuring the impact of our initiatives. Over the years, Pionneers into Practice has proven to be a success. From the beginning, the Programme has trained more than 1,500 professionals and is currently implemented in 20 countries across Europe.
The Polytechnic University of Valencia, together with the Climate KIC Spain office, is the partner responsible for the organisation and development of the programme in Spain. In the 2019 edition, the programme has selected 20 experts. As in previous editions, entities from all over Spain will participate to provide lines of collaboration so that both national and international pioneers can apply to work together on projects or initiatives with stays of four to six weeks.
Keeping in mind the climate emergency we are facing, at Climate KIC we work from a portfolio perspective in which, based on very specific lines of action, we seek the greatest impact and be a reference for other projects when facing the necessary ecological transition. These projects, in which solutions and new ways of working are developed, are led by entities committed to transforming the existing model to carbon neutral models.
Transforming the port sector, optimising logistics in cities, exploring the opportunity to work with voluntary carbon markets or waste management in areas of international cooperation are examples of lines of work on which the 2019 edition of the Pioneers programme focuses.
For this reason, the selection of experts participating in the current program aimed to combine experience, geographical balance, multisectorial and thematic profiles of the chosen professionals.
After a three-day intensive Bootcamp, the participants were able to exchange experiences and viewpoints on the challenges ahead. From now on, a group work process begins, with previous online training and the support of the mentoring team.
During the last day of this initial Bootcamp and as a new element, the 20 pioneers selected have had the opportunity to be in contact with pioneers from previous editions with the aim of reinforcing the feeling of community and to exchange impressions about the programme, as well as to identify opportunities for future collaborations.