Announced by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, as part of the Human Capital Intiative, the objective of the project is to build a national platform for co-development and co-delivery of knowledge and skills to enable innovative and systemic adaptation of enterprise and society to a decarbonized economy and sustainable living.

The consortium involves leading Irish and European higher education institutions (HEIs), companies, enterprise clusters, local government, civic and social innovators. It will adapt best practices developed by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and Sustainable Innovations.

The assembled team will take a radical approach deploying a quintuple helix model of innovation to education, integrating state of the art pedagogies and learning pathways. Approaches include stackable micro-courses, summer schools, dual and collaborative learning via deep learning demonstrations, micro-credentials and digitization.

The platform that will emerge will deliver a step-change in agility with which Ireland’s higher education system can respond to the knowledge, skills and talent needs of society. It will present innovative scalable solutions for a teaching and learning experience that is flexible and personalized. It will promote professional development of students, community stakeholders, and those in the workplace to foster the transition to a carbon neutral society.