In the near future the sector of heat-pump technology, refrigeration and air conditioning will be subject to a multitude of changes, both on national and on European level. These changes range from:
1. Market changes;
2. Changes in law & regulations;
3. Technical and technological developments;
4. Organizational and managerial changes;
5. European harmonization.
Furthermore, the sector struggles with a decrease of qualified craftsmen. The above mentioned changes cause the sector to initiate new developments. These developments are necessary for the sector in order to maintain and to enhance the sector’s use of renewable energy, employability and workability at a reliable and accepted level and to prevent the sector from losing its competitive capabilities. The sector therefore has an urgent need to develop ways of keeping its workforce active, up to date, in motion and at strength, to keep its activities and services at a reliable and accepted level, to increase the deployment of renewable energy, and to increase the transparency of relevant qualifications and competences on a European level, in order to ease and increase the mobility of the sector’s workforce.
The SPARK project will ensure that employers, skilled workers, trainers/teachers and students have good access to up-to date competence profiles, up-to-date training materials, methods and approaches to increase their knowledge about heatpump technology, refrigeration and air conditioning. The sector will benefit from all this because it will be able to cope with the deployment of energy from renewable sources, to cope with the contemporary and future market changes, the changes in law and regulations, the technical and technological developments.