A group of leading companies and organizations from the horticultural cluster recognize that this requires new perspectives on horticulture with technical innovations that go hand in hand with social innovations. This group also wants to work on strengthening skills within the cluster that combine strategic thinking, sustainability skills and technical skills. This creates great openness to enter into cooperation with partners who want to work on similar issues.

At the same time, educational institutions in South Holland are looking for ways to equip their pupils and students with those same skills. They too are experiencing the need to innovate, to train young people for work that makes a difference in pressing social and climate issues. Many good examples can already be found in the region of education aligned with sustainability transitions. Taking learning for sustainable development to the next level in the region requires more structural - yet flexible - collaboration among educational institutions and between education and practice.

Purpose of the project.
In this project, we are making a concerted effort to develop circular, sustainable skills in horticulture. To do this, we are mapping what skills/competencies/knowledge entrepreneurs need to work on the accelerated transition to a circular economy. How do we ensure those skills and knowledge flow throughout the region? And in what ways do we learn so that it matches the complexity and urgency of the learning processes? Based on this, we want to set up a learning environment for the development of sustainability skills in greenhouse horticulture.

Approach
Between December 2022 and March 2023, we are shaping such a learning environment from practice demand with potential partners by:

• Secure the willingness of entrepreneurs to experiment with developing sustainability skills.
• Secure the willingness of educational institutions to weave sustainability skills into their curriculum in relation to greenhouse horticulture.
• Bring these parties together in sprint sessions to design the program (content and form).