In the framework of the ALLVIEW project, from CENFIM, we have organized a mobility for our partner ULUB that has gathered 8 professors of the wood and furniture sector from Slovenia aimed to inspire them with new teaching methodologies and practical application of the sectorial studies, research and experimentation.
We organized this 7-days inspirational tour on 15, 16, 17 and 21 September in Barcelona, on the 19 in Tortosa and Amposta (Tarragona province) and on the 20 in Lleida and Solsona (Lleida province). It focused on new ways of teaching and it involved eight Slovenian professors: two vocational training teachers and six Ljubljana university professors, all of them of the wood-furniture sector.
The tour was an activity framed in the European Erasmus+ ALLVIEW CoVE project, which aims to build a platform of ‘Centres of Vocational Excellence’ for the European wood and furniture industry.
We welcomed the tour participants on Thursday 15 of September in the WEcontract BCN space, a showroom shared between 15 companies associated to CENFIM for their promotion in the contract hospitality channel. In this session, the participants had the opportunity to introduce themselves, learn about the objectives and the visit plan of the tour, as well as to visit the WEcontract BCN space itself with its showroom manager and understand the concepts behind it. Moreover, some colleagues presented other two key CENFIM initiatives: interihotel, the Interior Design Event for Hotels & Restaurants, the largest fair in the South of Europe for the Hospitality Contract sector and HiContract, a new online platform where companies and prescriptors can meet and see the most interesting offers of products for the Hospitality Contract sector.
The following day (16/09) we visited three different entities in Barcelona. ELISAVA, a Barcelona school of Design and Engineering, where its Academic Director and the Head of Academia and Business Relations Department, gave detailed and interesting presentations on how the school is working and the training methodologies used in the different courses and masters. They guided all of us in visiting the ELISAVA key premises, including their laboratories.
Then we visited the IED, the European Design Institute in Barcelona. A school that offers courses and masters in different fields, with a strong specialization in the industrial and fashion design. IED Educational Policy Manager presented the idea and philosophy behind the school and the Design director presented in details the courses they offer and the training methodologies they use. Our host accompanied us along a detailed and interesting tour of the IED laboratories and the showrooms where the impressive design outputs of the students’ works were exposed.
Finally, we visited the Fab Lab BCN to learn about the operations of this open innovation space exclusively for students of the masters offered by the IAAC – Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia.
On Saturday 17 morning, we visited the Design Museum of Barcelona, where we enjoyed a very interesting guided tour of the museum, with interesting insights about the idea behind it and the different pieces exposed.
On Monday, September 19, we went to the south of Catalonia, to Terres de l’Ebre area. Precisely, we went to the Campus Terres de l’Ebre of the Rovira i Virgili University in Tortosa. There, we received a detailed and inspiring visit to the outstanding different premises of the CAMPUS. We visited two very innovative spaces for the training of future teachers of primary and pre-primary education: the laboratory of applications of technology to education and the IDEES classroom of pedagogical innovation to train future teachers.
In Amposta we visited the Fab Lab Terres de l’Ebre, a new and modern open innovation space available to the citizens and the industrial fabric of Terres de l’Ebre, able to support the creativeness and the technological development of the people living in that vast area.
On Tuesday, September 20, we went to the heart of Catalonia. In the town of Solsona we visited the Center for Forest Science and Technology of Catalonia – CTFC, one of the main applied research centres in this field in Spain. At the CTFC we learned first-hand about the different lines of research being carried out there (e.g. bioeconomy, forest fires or biodiversity). We made an interesting field visit to an experimental plantation of Pinus nigra, which is working on improving the productivity of this species in that region. In the afternoon we went to the West of Catalonia and visited the laboratory of mechanical tests for wood that the CTFC has in the Scientific Park of Lleida town. The laboratory technicians explained and showed us the tests that are usually carried out there, mainly for constructive wood.
The tour concluded on the 21 in the WEcontract BCN space, where a last presentation from another CENFIM colleague presented the aims and activities of the innovative Interiors Living Lab by CENFIM, supporting to analyse (and measure) the behaviour, emotions and perceptions of end-users due to the features of different interiors living environments through the latest technologies and methodologies. Moreover, the participants evaluated the tour and reflected on its effectiveness, in particular on: i) current individual shortcomings in training delivery and ii) possible improvements and best practices to be implemented. The evaluation of the tour was very positive and has managed to bring to the surface the need for improvement in the way training is delivered in each and every one of the tour participants.