AEBALL (Associació Empresarial de L’Hospitalet i el Baix Llobregat) represents more than 3,500 companies—many of them industrial—in one of Catalonia’s most dynamic economic areas. With a long-standing commitment to training, innovation, and business development, AEBALL plays a key role in supporting the competitiveness and adaptability of the industrial fabric in the region.
Within the framework of the INSET project, we recently had the opportunity to share the structure and purpose of our joint curriculum with AEBALL, including the two professional profiles we have developed: the Industrial Symbiosis (IS) Planner and the IS Project Manager. These profiles are the result of a competency-mapping process that identifies the skills and knowledge needed to implement industrial symbiosis at both strategic and operational levels.
These roles caught AEBALL’s attention as highly relevant for their current and future training actions. They align with their efforts to anticipate how sustainability policies and circular economy principles will affect industrial employment—and how to support companies in adapting their workforce accordingly.
AEBALL expressed interest in exploring how these profiles could be formally recognised through public training channels. Specifically, they are considering presenting the IS Planner and IS Project Manager profiles for potential inclusion in the training catalogue of the Public Employment Service of Catalonia (Servei Públic d’Ocupació de Catalunya). This would allow these new roles to be officially validated and possibly integrated into publicly funded upskilling programs—thus amplifying the reach and impact of the INSET curriculum.
In parallel, AEBALL is preparing a survey aimed at mapping how sustainability-related regulatory changes are expected to impact industrial job roles. As part of this effort, they are open to testing the relevance of the INSET profiles among their member companies by including targeted questions in the survey. This could serve as a first step in exploring industry interest and readiness for adopting these new competencies.
While our collaboration with AEBALL is still at an early stage, this exchange already highlights the potential of synergies between European training initiatives and regional business networks. By aligning innovative training solutions with the real-world needs of industry, we move one step closer to ensuring a fair and competence-driven transition towards circular and resource-efficient industry.
