The research and development of new and improved services, systems, and products is an important driver for the European market. Innovation requires people that can interact in innovation teams, innovative and new ideas, crea-tive environments supporting the creation of innovation, and innovation pro-cesses that support the entire chain from idea creation to the implementation of an innovation project. Innovation is intimately linked with entrepreneur-ship. Ideas, Innovation and Entrepreneurship are considered the keys to a wealthy and sustainable economy [1], [3], [5], [6], [8]. The InnoTEACH pro-ject empowers the innovation mind-set in the European Union by establish-ing learning environments in schools which fertilize the grounds for young people to apply innovation principles in problem solving and learning about entrepreneurship concepts at the same time. This paper presents “InnoTEACH”, a European project that transfers the innovation best practic-es from industry to the education and certification of school teachers.

1. InnoTEACH – Applying Principles of Innovation in
School
Borut Likar3
, Richard Messnarz2
, Jürgen Mack1
, Evelyn Schröttner1
, Damjan
Ekert2
, Maria Hartyanyi4
, Urska Mrgole3
, Janos Szabo4
1
ORG Schulschwestern, Austria
{juergen.mack, evelyn.schroettner}@schulschwestern.at
2
ISCN GesmbH, Austria,
{rmess, dekert}@iscn.com,
3
Korona plus d.o.o., Slovenia
info@innovation.si
4
IT STUDY, Hungary
{maria.hartyanyi, maria.hartyanyi}@itstudy.hu
Abstract. The research and development of new and improved services, systems,
and products is an important driver for the European market. Innovation requires
people that can interact in innovation teams, innovative and new ideas, creative
environments supporting the creation of innovation, and innovation processes
that support the entire chain from idea creation to the implementation of an
innovation project. Innovation is intimately linked with entrepreneurship. Ideas,
Innovation and Entrepreneurship are considered the keys to a wealthy and
sustainable economy [1], [3], [5], [6], [8]. The InnoTEACH project empowers
the innovation mind-set in the European Union by establishing learning
environments in schools which fertilize the grounds for young people to apply
innovation principles in problem solving and learning about entrepreneurship
concepts at the same time. This paper presents “InnoTEACH”, a European
project that transfers the innovation best practices from industry to the education
and certification of school teachers.
Keywords: Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Teacher
1 Introduction
Nowadays innovations are of crucial importance for the development and economic
results of the European Union [1], [3], [5], [6], [8] and its members. Slovenia, Austria
and Hungary invest a lot in the field of innovation, yet there are still challenges to be
faced involving innovation in all fields. One of them is related to the educational system
[4] which has to be continuously adapted to the needs of the modern society. It should
address the nowadays needs, e.g. creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship.
Creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship (CI&E) are crucial competences that
cannot be taught in a simple manner. The project’s aim is to trigger different ways of
thinking in primary and high schools and to show that creativity, innovation and
entrepreneurship are crucial for success - anywhere; in all subjects, in daily situations

2. in school, in real life challenges, and to teach participants how to implement that in
practice.
The InnoTEACH project uses a pool of previous knowledge and project results
which were developed for innovation processes management in industry, and transfers
the principles of innovation from industry into schools [2],[8].
E.g. In industry creative learning environments are used to open the minds and to
continuously come up with new ideas and improvement suggestions. Teachers learn to
apply similar project based tasks for student teams in problem solving situations.
E.g. In industry specific team roles are defined for innovation teams and so teachers
will learn how to apply such roles in student team work.
E.g. In industry specific analysis methods are used to identify strengths, weaknesses,
threats and potentials and to identify root causes of problems to be solved. Teachers
will learn how to explain such methods and how to use them with student teams in
problem solving scenarios.
InnoTEACH develops the materials applying European skills definition standards
and skills and learning portals [8], [9].
Skills set/skills card. The skills set is defined for a job role and a job role contains
areas of knowledge (skills units), specific skill topics (learning elements), and tasks a
student can perform after acquiring the knowledge per learning element (learning
objectives, performance criteria). This structure is based on the NVQ (National
Vocational Qualification Program) of UK and has been adapted and mapped to the EQF
(European Qualification Framework). Every learning element has ECTS (European
Credit Transfer System) and ECVET points (European Credits for Vocational
Education Training). The skills set has been developed for teachers and mentors of
teachers.
Job Role. A job role is a specific role which a person can play at the work place. It
can be understood as an upgrade of skills to play a specific role and it is certified by the
ECQA (European Certification and Qualification Association, www.ecqa.org).
Certified Training Structure. To fulfil the ECQA guidelines the training material
must be consistent with the skills set. This means that learning elements and
performance criteria are mapped onto the training material.
Certified Test Questions Pool. To fulfil the ECQA guidelines the test questions are
developed as a pool to be shared among the regions in Europe and are mapped onto the
skills set and training material.
Job Role Committee. At the end of the project an ECQA job role committee is
formed with training bodies, schools and innovators to maintain the skills card and the
network between the educational institutions.

3. The objectives are to connect InnoTEACH with existing other European initiatives
to form a comprehensive framework for innovation in European schools, universities,
and industry.
Fig.1 illustrates that InnoTEACH is part of an overall innovation framework which
has been set up in various EU initiatives in the past years.
InnoTEACH is an EU project in the Erasmus+ program (2016 – 2018) which trains
and certifies teachers to apply innovation methods in their teaching classes. Teachers
will receive an ECQA certificate.
Idea to Enterprise was an EU LLP (Life Long Learning) project (2012 – 2014) which
developed an ECQA certificate and training material for students to apply innovation
methods [7].
ResEUr (Researcher Entrepreneur) was an EU LLP (Life Long Learning) project
(2010 – 2011) which developed an ECQA certificate and training material for
researchers and PhD students to apply innovation methods [8].
Innovation manager (2003 – 2005) was an EU Leonardo da Vinci project which
developed training materials and an ECQA certificate for industrial innovation
managers which manage innovation processes in leading industry [9].

4. Fig. 1. Innovation Layers: Teachers – Students – Researchers - Industry
InnoTEACH (Fig. 1) has a core role in this innovation framework because teachers
are empowering the students that later become researchers and eventually become
innovators in industry.
2 InnoTEACH Skills Set
The InnoTEACH skills set structure is outlined in Fig. 2 below. There are three
main skills units: U1 Development of Innovation, U2 Innovative Teaching, and U3
Making Innovation Work. U stands for Skills Unit.
Fig. 2. InnoTEACH Skills Set Architecture
The skills unit U1 Development of Innovation contains the following learning
elements (specific skills areas):
U1.E1 Identification of Opportunities and Problems
U1.E2 Production and Evaluation of Ideas
U1.E3 Research and Development Work, Prototyping, and Presentation
The skills unit U2 Innovative Teaching contains the following learning elements
(specific skills areas):
U2.E1 Innovative Teacher and Innovative Teaching Methods
U2.E2 Innovative Use of ICT in Learning
U2.E3 Practice Oriented Teaching
The skills unit U3 Making Innovation Work contains the following learning
elements (specific skills areas):
U3.E1 Guidelines for Leading the Innovative Project

5. U3.E2 Supporting Facilities
For each learning element performance criteria are defined which relate to task based
learning. For each performance criteria the teachers must be able to demonstrate skills
to perform a task correctly applying the criteria.
In InnoTeach 2 skills sets are developed, one for teachers and a second one for
mentors of teachers.
Fig. 3 below shows the sample performance criteria table for the skills element
“U1.E1 Identification of Opportunities and Problems” for the teachers:
U1.E1 Identification of Opportunities and Problems (for teachers)
Innovation starts with identifying an opportunity to change an existing process,
product, service and in most cases it starts with identifying a problem to solve.
Identified problems and opportunities often need to be analysed to identify root causes
for the problems. This relates to methods such as:
• Sources of innovations
• Innovation Cube
• Ishikava diagram
• Quadim method
Related I2E Element: U1.E2
The performance criteria for this element are:
INNOTEACH.U1.E1.PC1 The teachers is able to use methods and tools to
identify problems and opportunities.
INNOTEACH.U1.E1.PC2 The teacher knows the principles of decomposing
the problem and identify real roots of the problem.
Fig. 3. InnoTEACH Performance Criteria for Teachers for U1.E1
Fig. 4 below shows the sample performance criteria table for the skills element
“U1.E1 Identification of Opportunities and Problems” for the mentors:
U1.E1 Identification of Opportunities and Problems (for mentors)
Innovation starts with identifying an opportunity to change an existing process,
product, service and in most cases it starts with identifying a problem to solve.

6. Identified problems and opportunities often need to be analysed to identify root causes
for the problems. This relates to methods such as:
• Sources of innovations
• Innovation Cube
• Ishikava diagram
• Quadim method
The role of the mentor is to coach teachers in applying this element of knowledge in
the classroom.
Related I2E Element: U1.E2
The performance criteria for this element are:
INNOTEACH.U1.E1.PC1 The mentor is able to use & coach teachers in using
methods and tools to identify problems and
opportunities.
INNOTEACH.U1.E1.PC2 The mentor is able to use & coach teachers to know
the principles of decomposing the problem and
identify real roots of the problem
Fig. 4. InnoTEACH Performance Criteria for Mentors for U1.E1
3 InnoTEACH Training Strategy
For each learning element there is a set of training materials. Each unit has an
underlying teaching workflow and strategy.
Fig.5 illustrates the teaching workflow for unit 1 “Development of Innovation” [2].
First teachers learn how to form student teams and to use creative methods to identify
problems and opportunities (U1.E1). In U1.E2 teachers learn about creative methods to
produce and evaluate ideas to solve the problems which they could apply with their
student teams. And in U1.E3 teachers are trained about how research the selected ideas,
come up with potential solutions and present them.

7. Fig. 5. InnoTEACH Workflow for Unit 1 Development of Innovation
Fig.6 shows the teaching workflow for unit 2 “Innovative Teaching”. First teachers
learn how to use innovative teaching methods (U2.E1). Some of the innovative teaching
methods are based on the use of ICT tools for teamwork and teaching (U2.E2). And
U2.E3 trains teachers in task based and practice based teaching methods where students
get tasks and upload results into the ICT infrastructure and their work gets rated and is
the basis for the next tasks to be performed.
Fig. 6. InnoTEACH Workflow for Unit 2 Innovative Teaching

8. Fig. 7. InnoTEACH Workflow for Unit 3 Making Innovation Work
Fig.7 shows the teaching workflow for unit 3 “Making Innovation Work”. In the
learning workflow the unit 3 is after the units 1 and 2. Once the ideas and potential
solutions have been analysed in unit 1 and once the teachers have applied the course of
the training the innovative teaching environment and methods an innovation project is
set up to implement the innovation (U3.E1). Also the teachers get trained on how such
innovation projects are supported in the EU (U3.E2).
4 InnoTEACH Teacher Certification
The ECQA (European Certification and Qualification Association) offers 2 types of
test and certification.
The test based approach generates an exam from a pool of test questions and
attendees of the exam must fulfil a minimum of 67% of each learning element area.
The evidence based skills assessment approach offers an interface for teachers to
upload evidences of their work (in this case the exercises from units 1 to 3) which get
assessed by an assessor panel (see job role committee in the introduction part). When
assessors rate a minimum of good (the rating scale comprises poor, fair, good,
excellent) in all skills elements the teacher passes the exam and a certificate is provided
by the ECQA to the teacher.
The InnoTEACH project decided to implement the evidence based skills assessment
approach.

9. 5 InnoTEACH Pool of Teachers Creation
The InnoTEACH projects starts with EU funded training of teachers in July 2017. If
teachers from different EU countries are interested they can be invited to the
InnoTEACH classes and disseminate the InnoTEACH approach across Europe.
In the exploitation it is planned to establish a job role committee to which different
schools from different regions of Europe can join.
6 Acknowledgements
The “InnoTEACH” project is financially supported by the European Commission in
the Erasmus+ part of the Lifelong Learning Programme under the project number KA2-
SE-33/16.
This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the
Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein.
7 References
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