1. ADAPT
THE FUTURE OF WORK
THE WORK OF THE FUTURE
SPECIAL REPORT
February 1997

2. Foreword
ADAPT is now fully operational. Its mission is to provide a focus for innovation in
adaptation of workers in Europe to industrial change.
ADAPT has an important role to play in encouraging practical project activity which,
amongst other things, will assist with the crucial job of anticipating and adjusting to
the impact of industrial change on specific occupations, local and sectoral markets,
and groups of workers especially those most threatened by change.
With a total budget of almost 3,400 million ECU, Adapt is a major Initiative under the
European Union’s Structural Funds aimed at helping, workers and companies
anticipate and prepare for the changes in work patterns that are being brought
about through rapid economic change.
The first round of 1,400 ADAPT projects now underway has shown a pattern of
common concerns and interests in all Member States, and regions: the development
of improved support and services for SMEs, the access of workers in SMEs, and other
workers threatened by unemployment, to relevant and locally available guidance
and training.
Against the background of the drive to create and sustain employment through the
Confidence Pact for Employment in Europe , the second phase of ADAPT’s work will
see the Initiative further expand its scope, and launch a second call for projects.
As from 1997, the critical phase of ADAPT begins. This is the phase in which the work
of the projects, their achievements and their problems will be carefully noted and
analysed, and their experiences and products will be made available to policy
makers and practitioners throughout Europe. Much of this important activity will be
strongly reinforced by the close link between ADAPT and activity under Objective 4
of the Structural Funds, through which Member States can directly link the products
of project experience and transnational partnerships into their own strategic
investment in adjusting to the effects of industrial change. This transfer of
innovation and experience on responses to industrial change is the ultimate
justification for the substantial resources committed to this key Initiative.
Pádraig Flynn
Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs
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3. ADAPT
Exploring innovative solutions - the Community Initiatives
Adapt aims to contribute to the adaptation of the workforce to industrial
change, and to improve the workings of the labour market with a view to
growth, employment and the competitiveness of companies in the European
Union. As such, it is a direct follow-up to the Commission’s White Paper on
Growth, Competitiveness and Employment presented to the European Council
in December 1993.
ADAPT is aimed at:
Private-sector employees particularly of Small and Medium-sized
Enterprises (SMEs). The largest single group of people targeted by ADAPT
is men and women employed by private-sector companies undergoing
industrial change, and as such at risk of unemployment;
Workers who have recently lost their job as a result of restructuring within
a company and/or sector, with a view to helping them to become self-
employed;
Workers whose employment contracts have been temporarily suspended
as a result of problems linked to industrial change;
Workers employed part-time as a result of reorganisation at the workplace;
Workers with prospects of employment in newly-created jobs following
counselling on job opportunities and retraining.
ADAPT provides funding to projects which explore new ways of meeting its
overall aims. The impact of these projects is reinforced by grouping them in
transnational partnerships. Priority goes to experimental projects which fall
under one or more of the following headings or Measures :
training, counselling and guidance;
anticipation, networking and employment creation;
adapting support structures and systems;
information, dissemination and awareness.
The overall budget for ADAPT is almost 3,400 million ECU of which
the EU contributes around 1,640 million ECU
The first call for project proposals was launched in 1995 and, to date, Member States
have selected some 1,400 projects organised around 300 transnational partnerships.
These will run for two to three years. During 1997 a second phase of projects will be
selected, and by the end of the programme in 1999 over 3,000 projects will have
participated and shared their experience, their methods and their products.
A fuller description of ADAPT and its priorities can be found below.
National Support Structures (NSS) were appointed by each Member State to support
the work of the projects, especially in relation to their transnational activities. They
also act as a link with the Commission’s Support Unit, EUROPS, based in Brussels.
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4. 4

5. Where to find information on …
ADAPT..............................................................................................................................................................3
INDUSTRIAL CHANGE - EUROPE IN A WORLD MARKET....................................................................6
THE EUROPEAN UNION RESPONSE..........................................................................................................7
ADAPT - a novel response ..........................................................................................................................7
Structural Funds and ADAPT......................................................................................................................9
WHAT MEMBER STATES ARE DOING ....................................................................................................9
ADAPT IN ACTION......................................................................................................................................12
PROJECT OVERVIEW: Four overall groups of projects..........................................................................12
PROJECT OVERVIEW: Implementing organisations..............................................................................15
PROJECT OVERVIEW: Activities............................................................................................................16
PROJECT OVERVIEW: Target groups.....................................................................................................18
SELECTING PROJECTS FOR THE SECOND PHASE...............................................................................18
ADAPT - The priorities..................................................................................................................................19
The information on projects presented in this report is based on information
provided by the Member States.
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6. INDUSTRIAL CHANGE - EUROPE IN A WORLD
MARKET
Industrial change and how to live with it is a central preoccupation of European
companies and workers as they prepare for the market conditions of the final
years of this century, and the beginning of the next. The problems and the
opportunities presented by industrial change provide a focus for the economic
and social policies of every country in the world.
INDUSTRIAL CHANGE
The term industrial change is used to sum up the wide range of effects on
economies, on companies and on workers themselves of:
the internationalisation of business and markets - large companies
becoming world producers, and even small companies supplying goods and
services in other regions and countries;
the changing structures of companies and production processes -
management hierarchies disappearing, and new technologies replacing
traditional production lines with teams and multi-skilled workers;
technological change - information technologies are revolutionising
communication in every type of company and every type of production and
service process, telecommunications are creating global networks, and
biotechnologies and other advances are characterising the engineering of
the 21st Century;
the decline of employment in traditional industries, and the
generation of new sectors associated with new technologies and with
services - this is changing the job prospects of countries and regions as well
as of individuals, and at the same time dictating the agenda and the
standards for basic education, apprenticeship, third level education,
continuing training and lifelong learning;
The European Commission’s 1996 Employment in Europe report, reviewing job
gains and losses over the last decade, confirmed that throughout the Union there
were job losses in agriculture and manufacturing, and gains in services. It also
identified two groups of service industries:
medium growth (making only modest contributions to job creation) - banking
and insurance, public administration, transport and communications, and
distribution;
high growth (making more substantial contributions to job creation) - health
and social services, business and personal services, education, and tourism.
the changing structure of the work force itself, as the proportion of
young people in Europe declines, and the proportion of those aged
60 and over increases - altering the structure, and the learning demands
of the work force, through its gradual ageing, and in the early years of the
next century its decline in real numbers;
the positive impact of more women in work, and of their increasing
influence in positions of power and responsibility - further changing
the nature of the labour force by, for the first time, placing at employers'
disposal the abilities and skills of the whole European population;
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7. the growth of part- time work (much of it undertaken by women,
whose wage levels generally still lag some way behind those of men
in comparable jobs), and the disappearance of employment for life
-arrangements in both the public and the private sectors are changing the
career expectations and the working patterns of most workers.
THE EUROPEAN UNION RESPONSE
Two key European Commission White Papers - Growth Competitiveness and
Employment , in 1993, and the White Paper on European Social Policy, in 1994 -
and the conclusions of the European Councils since Essen all affirmed the
overriding objective of job creation.
Between 1980 and 1995 European unemployment rose from less than 7% to
more than 11%. In the same period in North America, despite fluctuations during
which it never rose as high as 10%, unemployment was at around 6% both in
1980 and in 1995. In Japan it was at just over 2% in 1980, and at about 3% in
1995. (Source: OECD Jobs Study 1995)
In terms of employment growth, ever since the 1960s the European Union has
performed worse than any other world grouping. In North America employment
has grown by 1.8% a year since 1960. In the European Union the growth has
been 0.3% a year. (Source: OECD Jobs Study 1995).
The message from the White Papers was that growth is not enough, and that
active labour market policies are required if we are to create new jobs in
sufficient quantity to make a decisive impact on the current high level of
European unemployment. Similarly, only active policies will preserve large
numbers of jobs in industries which are affected by the world impact of industrial
change. One of the most important areas of active policy making is education
and vocational training, especially continuing training and the development of
the concept of lifelong learning.
THE CREATION OF A EUROPEAN INFORMATION SOCIETY
The European Commission’s Green Paper Living and Working in the Information
Society: People First (COM (96) 389), published in July 1996, drew attention to the
impact of information and communication technologies on the labour market:
“ These developments are reshaping work, skill structures and the organisation of
enterprises. Through this, they are bringing fundamental change to the labour
market, and to society as a whole. The resultant shifts in the structure of skills,
work patterns, companies, and goods and services are bewildering, and make
very different and new demands on workers and employers. Static function-
based skills, and traditional management models and techniques, are rendered
inadequate and inflexible in a workplace which demands the opposite of workers
and managers - the development of a new industrial and enterprise culture
characterised by flexibility, trust, commitment and ability to anticipate and
harness change.”
ADAPT - a novel response
ADAPT is designed to make a European, transnational contribution to the
modernisation of European Union companies and the skills of the European work
force. ADAPT is a Community Initiative funded mainly through the ESF.
7

8. ADAPT’s activities conform closely to the three objectives of the 1996 Confidence
Pact - Action for Employment in Europe :
mobilising national, regional and local authorities, social partners, and the
Community Institutions in a comprehensive strategy;
making better use of the multiplier effect, creating and preserving jobs by
learning and building transnationally from national, regional and sectoral
experiences and programmes;
and incorporating the fight against unemployment in a medium and long-term
view of society by anticipating the changes in both work and society as a
whole.
The Green Paper on Living and Working in the Information Society highlighted a
number of key issues which are also at the centre of ADAPT’s priorities.
The first, and cited as a major challenge, is to build knowledge and raise
awareness of new forms of work organisation .
The second is also cited as a major challenge, and is to ensure that SMEs take
full advantage of the Information Society.
The third is to propose the need for a new culture of anticipation , and in this
respect the Green Paper specified the roles of Objective 4 of the European
Social Fund and ADAPT. The Green Paper stated: .... one of the main objectives
of the anticipation approach should be to enable companies to identify more
readily their quantitative and qualitative needs as regards human resources in
the context of a better understanding of overall change, thus enhancing the
internal and external capacity for adaptation.
In a 1996 study carried out for the European Commission,
anticipation mechanisms and methodologies in the European Union
were shown to be in need of extensive development and
improvement.
Only a third of the Member States were found to have well-
structured institutional arrangements for anticipating shifts in
employment. Others had arrangements which were only partially-
structured, or which required better coordination, and some had no
institutional context.
Only six Member States were found to have well-structured
arrangements for anticipating shifts in vocational qualifications.
Three had no institutional structure, and others had only partial
structures.
Coordination mechanisms, ensuring the use of anticipation
forecasts in Initial and Continuing Vocational Training,
vocational guidance, and the work of employment agencies,
were similarly variable in their status and effectiveness.
Instruments used to detect training needs at the level of individual
companies were usually not linked directly to the results of
forecasting instruments operating at a macro level.
Reference : Instruments, tools and policies to anticipate the effects of
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9. industrial change on employment and vocational qualifications (Instituut voor
Toegepaste Sociale Wetenschappen, Nijmegen and the Hoger Instituut voor
de Arbeid, Leuven )
Structural Funds and ADAPT
With its theme of 'facilitating adaptation of the work force to industrial change
and changes in production systems', Objective 4 of the European Structural
Funds interacts closely with ADAPT. It has been framed to focus on stabilising
employment through training and retraining within the Member States. It
provides Community support for a wide range of national, regional, local and
multi-sectoral measures. ADAPT is directly complementary to Objective 4,
investing in innovation, and requiring that this be done in a context of
transnational collaboration between linked projects.
Both ADAPT and Objective 4 are part of the process of creating active labour
markets in Europe. This is a gradual process, especially since it involves adapting
and tailoring institutional frameworks to novel approaches, translating complex
concepts and approaches into operations, responding to fast-moving
developments, and resolving problems of co-financing.
WHAT MEMBER STATES ARE DOING
ADAPT exists to encourage innovation and to help ensure that the products of
successful innovation (and the lessons of failure) are used to inform and improve
future national and European practice.
Random innovation, however interesting and attractive, is unlikely to be influential.
Member States' market and social conditions and needs are very different. For this
reason, ADAPT projects are selected against the priorities set out in each Member
State's Operational Programme (OP). These relate the broad objectives and priorities
of ADAPT to national circumstances, and indicate which of them will be given the
highest priority, and how project results will be related to mainstream policy and
practice.
These OPs underline both the strong general pressures resulting from global
industrial change, and the wide regional and local variety of resulting symptoms and
proposed remedies.
Core skills and competitiveness
The German OP reflects two dominant themes: the improvement of 'common core
skills', and the contribution which these can make to improving the slipping
competitiveness of SMEs (and other German companies). In the new German Länder,
priority will be given to the construction industry, to sales, distribution, marketing,
environmental protection, and to continuing training for new businesses. Otherwise
Germany will prioritise transregional and interdisciplinary themes and projects which
have a high multiplier effect, which are innovative, and have high transfer potential
towards other countries.
In Portugal, action is to be targeted on improving the currently poor levels of basic
training and qualifications in the labour force, on modernising productive capacity,
on reinforcing the education and vocational training systems, and on helping
companies to modernise and adapt, and thereby contribute to job creation. Even
though ADAPT does not have a specific sectoral focus, Portugal will group projects in
a number of geographical zones in which traditional industries are heavily
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10. concentrated.
Productivity, employment and company training
Finland , entering a Structural Fund Programme for the first time, is concentrating its
priorities on activities which can help improve productivity and help employment.
The emphasis will be on internationalising the approach of companies, especially
SMEs, promoting tele-work and flexible working, improving training planning,
distance learning and training evaluation, promoting the introduction of new
technologies in companies, and creating databases in support of employment
services.
The OP for Ireland draws attention to low levels of training investment in Irish
companies, to the poor existing systems for in-company training, to the need for
multi-skilling and innovative approaches to the delivery of training, to the absence of
training in very small companies and to the lack of links between companies and
education and training institutions.
SMEs and local networking
The UK (GB and Northern Ireland) programmes intend to concentrate resources
on SMEs - they highlight the continuing decline of employment in large companies,
and the growth of jobs in SMEs, especially those which employ fewer than 50 people,
and especially those in growth sectors of activity like services, tourism and arts and
culture.
In the Netherlands too, there is a strong emphasis on SMEs. Specific attention is
also to be paid, as in the UK, to new start-up companies as potentially important
creators of employment.
In Luxembourg the OP plans to improve human resource development systems for
SMEs, and to
develop new databases and networks through which they can have better access to
information, and can be helped to make better use of it.
The focus of the Austrian OP will be on measures and support structures to help
SMEs respond to the challenges of industrial change. Local networking, including
SMEs and support structures involving private and public training organisations, will
be built up to foster company competitiveness and to stabilise employment. Training
innovation will largely be centred on environmental care and protection, on quality
assurance systems for manufacturing and for service industries, and in the
development of self-directed learning materials capable of being used in the
workplace.
And in Sweden , ADAPT will be used to foster networks in which individuals,
businesses, research institutions and other local and national organisations
collaborate to support SME development. There is a special emphasis on the service
sector, and priority will also be given to developing new methods and forms of
promoting information and communication technology applications, particularly in
small firms.
Forecasting change, regional strategies, upgrading skills
The French OP promises an intensification of the effort to forecast industrial change
at a local level, and to support the training of workers in large and small companies,
and the provision of a focus for the creation of new forms of work. An important
aspect of this is a significant decentralisation of ADAPT in France. Projects will
involve local organisations and experts to the greatest possible extent. Regional
authorities will take decisions, and 80% of the French budget will be divided
10

11. amongst the regions. The French programme will be co-ordinated nationally.
Devolution of responsibility to the regions, both in project selection and in the
implementation of ADAPT, is also a strong feature of Italy's approach. The main
Italian goal is to support the national plan to establish a modern and efficient system
of continuing training. The first phase (1994- 1997) involves stimulation of training in
companies, refocusing public vocational training capacity, establishing
observatories, encouraging training consortia, and retraining unskilled workers. The
second (1997- 1999) involves further development of training capacity, improvement
of forecasting, training initiatives in support of innovation and competitiveness, and
the development of an advanced certification system.
In the same spirit, in the Belgian Flemish Community , the accent will be on the
increased skill requirements of employees (transferable skills), and less effort will be
expended on more technical aspects of adaptation to change. The Belgian French
Community has identified its priorities as improving general levels of qualification
and the competitiveness of companies, and on the development of new job creation
measures.
In Spain , priority regions and beneficiaries are being identified through two key
indicators:
one reveals the rate of industrial change, calculated on the basis of public
funds paid over to workers (temporary suspension of employment,
cancellation of contract, reduction of working time), and provides a focus
on the economic sectors and the occupations most affected;
the second is an index of technological content from which an indicator of
skill demand by sector and by occupation can be derived.
The following priorities amongst those most affected by change emerge from this:
workers needing to update their skills, or to equip themselves for new and
newly created jobs;
newly recruited workers in need of training;
workers in jobs where quality programmes have been implemented;
those at risk of losing their jobs, or temporarily unemployed; managers
and owners of SMEs;
independent workers and members of co-operatives.
Technology, management, company groupings
The Danish OP places its accent on the introduction of new technologies, new
materials and new forms of work organisation/quality management systems and
flexible working time arrangements.
The Greek OP accepts the broad lines of the Commission's priorities for ADAPT, and
frames its proposals around them. The programme states its intentions to be: the
training of company executives in the creation and use of shared services; the
training of trainers (especially in co-operation between training organisations,
companies and research centres, and training, guidance and counselling systems);
high-level information support for groups of companies; the encouragement of small
business development plans designed to deal with industrial change; and of plans
for an initiative based on 'like enterprises' capable of sharing product development,
supply of raw materials, training and other activities.
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12. ADAPT IN ACTION
PROJECT OVERVIEW: Four overall groups of projects
All ADAPT projects have been designed to fall within four broad categories or
measures (though there will inevitably be overlap as projects are tailored to local
and company realities).
1. Supply of training, counselling and guidance
Projects included under this measure may encourage the development of joint
training activities, links between firms and the European training market, job
mobility and exchanges, both of those undergoing training, and of trainers, training
managers, heads of SMEs, and others responsible for the design and delivery of
good training. Projects linking national and regional guidance and training
structures, and projects pioneering the design and use of distance learning are also
likely to be encouraged, as are transnational pilot projects involving SMEs,
engineers, counselling and training bodies, technical institutes and the social
partners, enabling flexible manufacturing methods to be tried out in industry.
UNITED KINGDOM - NORTHERN IRELAND
Grant Thornton
A project in Northern Ireland, in partnership with German, Italian, French and
Dutch projects, is developing and testing a new qualification to improve the skills
of SME workers concerned with financial planning. The qualification will include
personal communication and financial planning elements, and both national and
international recognition will be sought for it.
PORTUGAL
INSTITUTO DE FORMACÃO DE TRANSITARIOS E TRANSPORTES
A Portuguese project is focused on the technological, organizational and inter-
company renewal of ports. It will develop and deliver innovative training in
telematics, logistics and cargo transfer. These will be aimed at workers whose
jobs are in jeopardy. The project will also raise the awareness of managers and
operatives in freight-forwarding and transport companies to change, and will
design and pilot training for them. A transnational partnership of nine
organizations from four countries will contribute to, and disseminate the results
of the project. The partners are German and Greek training and development
organisations and the Italian provincial administration in Livorno.
BELGIUM - FLANDERS
UNIVERSITEIT GENT
A Belgian Flemish project is training owners, managers and employees in the
new technologies affecting the textiles sector. In order to improve its ability to
compete, it will also look into purchasing patterns of retailers and consumers, as
well as other strategic changes affecting the sector. The project will establish a
multi-media open learning system, and a system for training trainers. The
transnational work, with French, Greek, Italian, Portuguese and UK research and
training institutes as partners, will define European training needs in the sector,
and will plan and evaluate common training modules.
GERMANY
COMBI CONSULT GmbH
A German project is developing and evaluating a multi-media tele-coaching
system for women in SMEs. It will provide a qualification in the design and
12

13. implementation and marketing of multi-media systems. Distance learning will be
provided through interactive training modules on CD-ROM, tutorials via e-mail,
and contact seminars, as well as two hours a day of on the job training. Its results
will be exploited with transnational partners from Italy and Spain.
2. Anticipation, promotion of networking and new employment opportunities
Adaptation to industrial change demands from companies, from employer and
sectoral bodies, from trade unions and from training bodies and local development
agencies, the capacity to analyse the technological, organisational and skill and
qualification trends which will dictate the number and nature of available jobs.
The analysis of trends at European level will require the establishment of
observatories and networks, and at local level will depend on the ability to match
local labour market information with appropriate international, national and sectoral
data and experience.
Projects are also likely to focus on the emergence of increasing numbers of part-time
jobs, and on the encouragement and resourcing of micro-enterprises and non-
conventional forms of work.
SPAIN
FOMENTO DEL EMPLEO S.A.
A Spanish sectoral project, collaborating with French and Belgian partners, is
anticipating the new job profiles and training requirements emerging in the
related construction and health and safety industries. After a thorough cross-
sectoral analysis, an interactive database network will be set up to provide
technical assistance and counselling for workers.
GERMANY
I.B.A.
A German project is anticipating and analyzing the impact of the new electronic
media on the publishing sector. A training programme is under development, and
will be tested and evaluated, enabling European publishers to meet these
challenges, and to improve their competitiveness in relation to their Japanese
and US competitors. The project will cover the whole book economy: publishing,
bookshops and libraries. The transnational partnership also covers a Dutch
training organisation and the Italian Cultural Ministry.
UNITED KINGDOM - GREAT BRITAIN
CALDERDALE AND KIRKLEES TEC
A UK project with French, Dutch and Danish partners, is using a tool called Aster
to anticipate SME skill needs, and to create training materials. The tool will be
tested in some 50 SMEs, using both workers threatened by redundancy, and a
group recently made redundant. The results will be used to improve training, to
assist with new business creation, and, with the transnational partners, to
improve the Aster anticipation tool.
3. Adaptation of support structures and systems
To maximise ADAPT's impact, it will be necessary to improve the support structures
through which firms can cooperate. Cooperation has been increasing significantly in
recent years (closer integration between a leading business and groups of sub-
contractors and suppliers, chiefly but not exclusively SMEs; cooperation between
firms of comparable size within the same sector, either through short term
agreements on research and technological development, or joint production of new
products, or creation of service companies), but it has not been sufficiently
encouraged or resourced.
13

14. Other possible examples include the creation of structures for shared services,
primarily for SMEs in regions facing serious employment problems as a result of
industrial change; the creation of multidisciplinary expert teams to provide technical
guidance on aspects of cooperation and exchange between different partners; the
setting up of structures for the assistance and counselling of SMEs in the preparation
and implementation of staff training programmes.
New structures will be welcomed such as cooperation between public and private
partners with the aim of developing programmes in the field of training for
instructors, or the strengthening of links between firms and research and training
centres through exchanges of staff.
NETHERLANDS
RENAVAL AMSTERDAM NOORD
A Dutch project is creating a platform which will function as a meeting place for
a minimum of 50 new and recently-formed companies, which have all been
operating for between one and half and five years in growth sectors of the
economy. The purpose is to stimulate co-operation and exchanges of experience
and expertise. At the end of the project the platform should be functioning
independently, and active in the promotion of small local businesses. There are
Greek and German transnational partners.
SPAIN
UNIVERSIDAD DE CADIZ
A Spanish project, in partnership with the French Institut d’Ínformatique
Industrielle, is developing a European business information centre. Experts,
public authorities and SMEs are involved in the design of the centre, and will
cooperate in identifying and studying key labour market trends. Local industry,
including shipbuilding, and the aeronautic and automotive industries, will be
prominently involved. The centre will provide training and technical assistance.
Like many ADAPT projects, it involves activities reflecting all four measures.
FRANCE
ASSOCIATION DU SEGALA TARNAIS
A French project in a rural region is setting up a network of some 80 SMEs to
provide them with support and expertise in the development of their workforces.
It will coordinate existing SME support structures. This collective approach will
provide support and consultancy in marketing, training, quality management and
product innovation. The individual firms will be provided with support training
needs analysis, and in the management of their training plans. The project is in
partnership with Portuguese and Spanish projects.
SUOMI - FINLAND
TAMPERE TECHNOLOGY CENTRE LTD
Based on a high-technology business park, a Finnish project is providing
business support, training and counselling packages for managers in high-
technology SMEs. The main targets are SMEs which require high-technology
transfer in order to remain competitive, SMEs seeking to improve their business
efficiency, and newly redundant workers capable of starting up new high-
technology businesses. There are Portuguese, German and UK partners.
4. Information, dissemination and awareness actions
The actions under this heading are primarily seen as support for the three measures
mentioned above. They may include: software and hardware support, through the
development of transnational databases in the field of employment and vocational
training linked to industrial change; studies on technological changes and changes
in production and work organisation systems; technical support for measures
undertaken by networks.
Along with the more technical support tools, other actions leading to the
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15. establishment of a 'multiplier effect' through information, dissemination, exchange
of experiences and awareness raising of all the players involved will be ADAPT
priorities.
LUXEMBOURG
INFPC
A Luxembourg project, with Portuguese, Italian and German partners, is
establishing a database of training information which will be widely accessible to
SMEs. This will provide information covering different sectors, and will contain
details of relevant seminars and courses. It will also provide information on
training available nationally and internationally in fields like health, agriculture
and the new technologies. It will establish and test a network approach,
promoting the use of information and communication technologies for training
delivery.
GREECE
GREEK WINE FEDERATION
An integrated training and awareness raising project is directed at improving
production techniques and quality assurance, storage and delivery in the Greek
wine-making industry. The work is being based on a comprehensive analysis of
training needs, and will incorporate a sectoral database combined with a labour
market information system. The Spanish Union Vinicola del Penedes is a partner.
BELGIUM - FRANCOPHONE COMMUNITY
ASSOCIATION BELGE DES ECO-CONSEILLERS
A Francophone Belgian project, with Spanish, German and French partners, is
aimed at confronting SMEs with environmental and ecological issues, and
showing them how they can benefit from developing a new focus on the
environment. An awareness- raising programme will be followed by the
introduction of a range of practical environmental instruments, including new
internal policies, the use of eco-audits, and the introduction of clean
technologies. These actions will be evaluated prior to wide-scale dissemination of
the results, which will be produced in the form of a practical intersectoral guide
for SMEs.
AUSTRIA
BFI BURGENLAND
An Austrian project will raise awareness amongst SMEs and social partners of
the need to increase resources devoted to human resource development and
training. The needs of women workers will be treated as a priority. Companies
will be provided with external consultancy and expertise, as well as being given
access to the experience of other SMEs in the network. Subsequent training
activities will be financed with the support of Objective 4 of the European Social
Fund. There are German, Irish and Italian partners.
ITALY
EFESO
An Italian project with French, Swedish and Spanish partners is creating a
European network for SMEs and small manufacturing cooperatives to help them
operate in a profoundly changing European market, and to exploit new
opportunities in Central and Eastern Europe. The network will undertake
research, will give direct assistance, and will develop interactive training. The
network will include training agencies, cooperative development agencies,
companies, consultancies and bilateral agencies.
PROJECT OVERVIEW: Implementing organisations
ADAPT projects are promoted and organised by partners who reflect the whole
range of companies, organisations and representative and intermediary bodies
which make up the contemporary labour market and those who provide it with
training, information, and other resources and services. Member States have
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16. indicated their own priority promoters, and in some cases excluded others from
direct eligibility, but generally the following types of organisations are involved in
active partnerships:
companies (especially SMEs), groups of companies, sectoral organisations,
chambers of commerce, crafts and agriculture;
trade unions and other worker organisations;
public and private training organisations and universities;
local and regional authorities;
local development agencies;
non-governmental and voluntary organisations;
organisations concerned with equal opportunities.
Many projects also involve, sometimes as joint beneficiaries, but usually as
experts:
guidance and counselling experts;
researchers and research institutions;
business consultants and advisers;
training organisations;
intermediary organisations.
PROJECT OVERVIEW: Activities
The first analysis of ADAPT projects indicates that a large number are concerned
with one or more of six major themes.
the development and support of SMEs
ITALY
LASER
An Italian project in a national and transnational SME partnership is creating
products and tools relating to quality, and will set up company networks for
development and dissemination. Product and process quality methodologies and
tools will be identified, and training products will be created. These will be tested
in companies for their content and their suitability as training and self-learning
tools for employees with technical and non-technical responsibilities. The
materials will be disseminated nationally and transnationally, and merged into
the management practice of the companies in the networks. Partners are the
Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the GRETA in Nice in France.
the nature and impact of changes in work organisation
FRANCE
GIE BANCAIRE DE LA REGION NORD PAS-DE-CALAIS
A French project with Italian, Dutch and German partners is analyzing and
anticipating the changes in the job and the skill needs of counter staff and front-
office workers in banks. These are the jobs most under threat from
modernization, and they are generally the least-trained personnel in banks. The
project will determine and develop appropriate training, and will define and
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17. develop a new job profile, that of change manager.
better anticipation of labour market trends, opportunities and skill
needs
ITALY
ISTITUTO GULIELMO TAGLIACARNE
An Italian initiative comprising three linked projects in different regions,
combines anticipation of trends and needs, thereby enabling SMEs and training
providers to plan strategically, with the provision of direct advice to SMEs, and
with training and support for SME service centre personnel. All three projects are
in a transnational partnership with French, Spanish, UK and Portuguese projects.
the development of effective local labour market support structures
DENMARK
TIC VESTSJÆLLAND
A Danish project will strengthen cooperation between regional enterprise
councils, training institutions and companies, with the intention of creating a
learning region in Vestsjaelland. The starting point will be an analysis of the
cultural differences between SMEs and professional support structures, and the
objective will be to remove the barriers which prevent SMEs from deriving the
optimum benefit from training, and which deter them from undertaking
systematic planning of their training provision. Austrian, Italian and German
partners are taking part in the dissemination.
the creation of new jobs
SWEDEN
ALA / SVERIGES LANTBRUKSUNIVERSITET
A Swedish project in a major transnational partnership with German, Greek,
Danish Italian, Belgian, Finnish, UK and Dutch rural organisations,
administrations and training bodies, will generate new jobs by helping the
establishment of new rural tourism SMEs. There will be a particular concentration
on developing marketing skills, and on developing more sustainable economic
development in rural areas.
the impact of the Information Society
BELGIUM - FLANDERS
VERVOLGSMAKINGSCENTRUM VOOR INDUSTRIEEL TECHNISCHE APPLICATIES
A Belgian Flemish project is setting up a transnational training network via
the Internet and ISDN. SMEs employing fewer than 200 workers, and drawn
from a number of sectors, will join the network to support self-study
packages. New training modules will be developed and circulated. The project
is in a partnership including Dutch, Portuguese, Greek and Spanish projects.
IRELAND
FORBAIRT
An Irish project, with Belgian, Spanish and UK partners, is developing tools
for use in the provision of a specific electronic business information service
geared to the needs of SMEs. In doing so the project will identify the skill and
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18. knowledge development needs related to improving SMEs’ access to, and use
of, advanced information sources and technology.
PORTUGAL
UNINOVA
A Portuguese project, in partnership with French and German projects, is
assessing SME needs in the field of telematics and the resulting criteria for
the design of training programmes for entrepreneurs, managers and
operatives. It will identify company requirements, raise awareness, and
disseminate information in collaboration with appropriate national
organisations.
FINLAND
AMMATTI - INSTITUUTTI
A Finnish project will create new flexible, cost-effective and environmentally
friendly workplaces. Working in a partnership with Irish, Greek, Swedish,
French, Dutch, Belgian and German projects, it will establish a model for a
support centre which will be the hub of a network of SMEs interested in
changing the working environment of their staff. They will develop distance
learning courses, and the technology required for teleworking and flexible
working will be created and tested.
PROJECT OVERVIEW: Target groups
The majority of projects target one or more of:
employers, managers and/or workers in SMEs;
entrepreneurs;
women entrepreneurs, managers and workers;
trainers in both the public and the private sectors;
the social partners;
the unemployed, and those threatened by unemployment.
Most projects focus on more than one of these target groups ( e.g. for SMEs,
employees and managers are usually mentioned).
Other target groups mentioned include:
part-time workers
seasonal workers
workers aged 45+
the disadvantaged
workers in local administrations and structures
ethnic minorities
people with disabilities
young people.
SELECTING PROJECTS FOR THE SECOND PHASE
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19. Building on the experience of the first round of projects, the Member States will
launch a call for proposals for a new phase of ADAPT projects in early 1997. The
process of project selection will take place in four stages:
an awareness and information stage, during which all relevant actors will be
informed of the Initiative;
a call for proposals stage, during which potential promoters prepare and submit
applications setting out the innovative nature of their projects and either their
proposed transnational partners or a profile of desired partners;
an assessment stage, in which the national authorities draw up a pre-selection
list of those projects likely to have maximum impact on policy and practice in the
Member State;
the last stage, of development and confirmation , allows pre-selected projects
to develop their proposals and confirm their transnational partners, prior to final
approval by their Member State authorities.
The Member States have agreed to follow four different stages. The following points
should be kept in mind:
the call for proposals is launched and managed by Member State authorities.
Depending on the procedures in force, special selection committees will be set up
in each country at either regional or national level;
the National Support Structures (NSS) in each Member State can provide detailed
information on these procedures, as well as support to applicants in designing
and presenting their proposals.
projects funded under ADAPT form partnerships with projects from other Member
States. Finding partners and agreeing on a common work programme are pre-
requisites for the launching of project activity. Specific mechanisms have been
agreed between the Member States and the Commission to help promoters find
suitable partners.
the implementation of the ADAPT Initiative is overseen by a Monitoring
Committee, comprised of representatives of the Member State, the Commission
and other interested parties (Social Partners, NGOs, etc.).
To get an information pack on how to apply under the ADAPT Initiative, contact
the National Support Structure for your Member State.
ADAPT - The priorities
ADAPT has been designed to make a highly specific contribution to the drive to
modernise and update the capacity of European companies and workers in the
face of change. Its logic is that of the European marketplace, the radically
changed career structure of the vast majority of European workers, and the
complex realities of national, regional, local and sectoral training and
development policies and programmes. Only by being rooted in the labour
market, by being international, and by seeking to achieve an impact in both the
public and the private sectors can ADAPT affect the complex process of response
to change.
ADAPT projects must innovate
Innovation means making changes and introducing new practices in the face of
technological and other changes, and transforming the ability of workers
themselves to respond to them. Within European projects, innovation has in the
past more often been promised than delivered. It is most likely to be achieved
by those who take it seriously enough to specify how their work reflects its three
clear aspects:
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20. vision, or the move from old ideas or values to new ideas;
learning to change - establishing a plan of action - practical ideas, definition of
instruments;
change - making things happen, the idea in action.
European change - transnational partnerships
Every ADAPT project must have a link with at least one other relevant project in
another Member State, and many will have two or three transnational partners.
The content and form of transnational cooperation will inevitably vary from
project to project, depending on the context and the setting, but to be of
practical value it must:
be based on a clear written contract and work plan;
involve wide sharing of information and exchange of expertise and experience
of good practice;
result in common formulation of conclusions, products or future plans, and
joint use and
dissemination of the transferable results of each project.
The transnationality of ADAPT is what sets it apart from purely national efforts to
deal with the consequences of industrial change.
Maximum impact for the products and experience of ADAPT projects
The current generation of European Social Fund Initiatives is directed
simultaneously at sponsoring innovation where it is most needed, and also at
ensuring that the products and lessons of innovation are translated into practical
information and analysis capable of informing both policy and practice at all
levels. Previous experience shows that this happens only when both the means
to innovate, and the intention to relate the products of innovation to mainstream
practice are built into project plans from the start.
The products and experience of ADAPT projects will benefit a wide range of
institutions and organisations, including large and small companies, training
organisations, local labour market organisations, chambers of commerce, social
partners, and local authorities and
development agencies. A major effort will be made within ADAPT to ensure that
this information is spread through international, national, regional and sectoral
networks, as well as within the Initiative itself.
Problems and solutions defined from the bottom- up
The most effective way to identify what companies need, what insecure and anxious
groups of workers should do and are prepared to attempt in order to secure their
working futures, and what can be done to support and promote job creation is to
begin from their individual and local realities. The ADAPT idea and approach is to
provide the funds and the support to enable locally-defined problems and
opportunities to be tackled with the benefit of national and international know-how
and experience, and to ensure that the lessons locally learned are examined and
exploited for their national and international relevance.
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21. Complementing other programmes and initiatives
ADAPT has been designed to complement Objective 4 of the European Social Fund,
and to provide a sharp focus for innovative approaches to its priorities.
ADAPT is also closely linked with the EMPLOYMENT Initiative, especially with its NOW
(New Opportunities for Women) strand, with which it shares an explicit focus on
equality of opportunity for women. There are also strong links with the objectives
and policies articulated for the SME Initiative, and within the European Commission’s
vocational training programme, Leonardo.
ADAPT’S KEY GOALS
ADAPT was originally designed to concentrate attention and resources on four
goals accepted as key to living successfully with industrial change, and to
harnessing its impact to the advantage of Europe, its companies and its workers.
These original four goals - fundamental ADAPT objectives - are closely
interrelated:
1. Accelerating the adaptation of the work force to industrial
change
This objective is about improving employment and training strategy
and content.
2. Increasing the competitiveness of industry, services and
commerce
This objective is about how training is designed and delivered within
companies,
especially those where it is currently unavailable or its quality is poor;
3. Preventing unemployment by improving the qualifications of
the work force, increasing internal and external flexibility and
ensuring greater job mobility
This objective is about better guidance, counselling and training and
qualifications infrastructure and local provision, especially for those
who are currently poorly served, and for those whose skill needs are at
the most basic levels. It is also about the key role which more flexible
working methods and structures and arrangements of working time
will play in conserving employment and improving its quality;
4. Anticipating and accelerating the creation of new jobs and new
activities, particularly labour intensive ones; this includes
exploiting the potential of SMEs
This objective is about improving local and national infrastructure to
support entrepreneurship and the expansion of SMEs, and about
ensuring that good practice and good ideas are transmitted and
shared across national boundaries;
A NEW PRIORITY - ADAPT- BIS - industrial change and the
information society
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22. From 1997, when the second round of ADAPT projects are selected and financed,
there will be a fresh priority: building the information society. This will bring with it
an additional budget from the EU Structural Funds of ECU 162 million, and the
Member States have included their plans for it in their Operational Programmes in
time for the opening of the new ADAPT project round at the beginning of 1997.
This means that project promoters applying in the second phase of ADAPT, at the
beginning of 1997, will be able to submit proposals in the following additional areas:
evaluating and anticipating labour market developments related to
the Information Society (e.g. obsolescence of certain areas of skill and
facilitating the development of new competencies; the employment effects
of the Information Society within industrial sectors and on labour market
trends; attitudinal, social,
political and legal/regulatory barriers to the development of the
Information Society);
developing active strategies to help the labour force adapt to the
new demands of the Information Society and encouraging the
gearing of Information Technology (IT) products to the needs of
potential users (e.g. experimental pilot schemes to provide workplace-
based training and lifelong learning opportunities; new telematics-
based employment services which facilitate wider and more user-
friendly access by those requiring these services; helping local labour
market organisations to be more responsive and flexible in the context
of the Information Society);
developing and experimenting with policies and schemes which
will support the adaptation of work organisation and employment
practices to the Information Society and to identify ways to
improve both the quality of working life and business efficiency
(e.g. enhancing management skills in the introduction of new information
and communication technologies, especially in relation to SMEs; rapid
diffusion of best practice in applying these technologies in the workplace
through the support of information exchange networks between
enterprises, and between the public and private sectors; increasing the
ability of workers to participate in the re-design of work and organisational
structures in relation to Information Society; new institutional approaches
to the development of skills and competencies, such as private-public
cooperation in the design and delivery of new concepts for learning and
continuing education, including for instance, open and distance learning
and re-training
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