Eco Circular AI Project Newsletter – September 2024

About Eco Circular AI
Eco Circular AI is an exciting European-funded project designed to promote sustainable, ethical, and entrepreneurial business practices among continuing education students across Europe. The project integrates Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a gamified learning tool to help VET-C (Continuous Vocational Education and Training) students in Finance and Management acquire essential data-driven knowledge. This knowledge will enable students to make informed decisions, apply sustainability principles, and adopt responsible entrepreneurship in their workplaces. The primary objective is to seamlessly incorporate AI into VET programs, enhancing students’ competencies and expanding their knowledge of the circular economy. Eco Circular AI aims to foster digital skills, technological adaptation, and employment sustainability. Co-funded by the Erasmus+ program, the project runs from April 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025.
Project Goals
● Create a free AI tool to promote sustainability and responsible business practices.
● Train students in resource efficiency, socio-environmental risk assessment, and the use of AI for responsible entrepreneurship.
● Increase awareness and engagement with circular economy principles in real-world business scenarios.
Key Outputs of the Project
● AI Tool: A customized educational AI tool to teach VET-C and VET-I students about the applications of AI in the circular economy.
● Platform: A digital platform hosting a gamified learning experience, easily accessible through our project website.
● Teacher’s Pack: A comprehensive guide to help educators understand and apply the game in their teaching environments.
Partners
Open University of Catalonia (UOC), Spain
Institute of Financial Studies (BFS-IEF), Spain
Innovade LI Leadership & Innovation, Cyprus

Together, these organizations bring expertise in finance, circular economy, AI, and vocational education, ensuring a strong foundation for the project.

Project Kick-off Meeting
In April 2024, the project officially launched with an exciting kick-off meeting in Barcelona. The consortium members—CARDET, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), and Institut d’Estudis Financers—came together to discuss the project’s vision and strategy. This event marked the beginning of a journey to blend AI with circular economy principles for VET students in finance and administration.
Ongoing Coordination online Meetings
The project consortium meets regularly to assess progress, ensuring the timely development of content, tools, and strategies. These monthly online meetings keep all partners aligned and focused on the project’s goals and deliverables.
Project Progress
As part of the development phase (WP2), the first activity of the project has yielded important results, including the well-structured competency matrix, ready to enhance the learning experience of participants. This matrix identifies the essential competencies that help participants deepen their knowledge, specifies the contents to be developed in each learning unit and establishes evaluation criteria with activities designed to assess the level of knowledge acquisition. The partners are currently working on the creation of the content materials for VET students as part of an upskilling pathway focused on the Circular Economy and AI. These materials aim to increase knowledge and awareness of circular economy principles, improve engagement, and foster collaboration between vocational teachers and industry experts. To ensure the most effective tools are developed, we are conducting a thorough needs analysis to identify the specific requirements of vocational teachers and students. This will guide the development of tools such as Learning Management Systems (LMS), AI-powered chatbots, and virtual assistants to enhance interaction with game materials. The project is progressing well, and we expect to see improved learning outcomes and enhanced collaboration as we move forward.

Outreach activities
The ECOcircular project has been presented among VET providers coming from the Western Balkans and other EU countries, during the mobility activities organized by the FRESS Association in Barcelona, held in early October. Most of the VET providers highlight the importance of having this innovative AI tool specific for circular economy and adapted to different challenges to improve their competences in this field.


Connect With Us
Follow Eco Circular AI on social media for the latest updates:
● LinkedIn
● Facebook
Project Website: https://ecocircular-ai.eu/