Recent structural changes related to labor force such as demographic ageing, technological change, market globalisation, work reorganisation have led to a clear mismatch between the supply and demand of skills. Currently, one of the priority for the EU is the integration of young people into the labor market through the promotion of apprenticeships, stages or other work experience aimed at increasing job opportunities for young people by favouring mobility across the EU.

Through the activities implemented by the InnoApreNet project, the partnership aims to contribute:

• • to the development of common European and national apprenticeship strategies/policies and therefore to lead to a common understanding between main stakeholders;
  • to the development of common methodology for researching the good practices about the apprenticeship mechanisms, methods and techniques;
  • to improve the capacity of VET to provide high quality apprenticeship services to the young work force or to the ones who wish to upgrade their knowledge and skills in the Metal Construction Sector.

The development of an innovative apprenticeship system under European cooperation which will serve as a platform for the development of high quality apprenticeship systems within the EU is a necessity. The partners believe that project results and dissemination activities will promote the implementation of both European and national policies related to apprenticeship, the re-organisation of which is indispensable in EU countries where relative systems are either inadequately established or require reform, the latter necessitated by the ongoing changes in (green) technology, the present economic environment and the demands of the job market for skilled workers in the metal construction sector (hereafter MCS).