EPIC Project

The "PLAN-C" project starting from January 1st 2024 is planned for a period of 30 months with completion in June 2025.

The project consortium consisting of 14 partners from 9 countries aims to support the transformation of the plastics value chain in the Danube region towards circularity through transnational cooperation in the field of plastics (both converters and manufacturers) and the engineering industry.

For Slovakia, SPK and the Faculty of Production Technologies of TUKE Košice with seat in Prešov are included in the project as full partners. The project has also a Slovak associated partner represented by Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Plan-C project supports the transformation of the plastics value chain in the Danube region towards circularity through transnational cooperation in the plastics and engineering industry (both processors and manufacturers).

Based on technology transfer and a design thinking process, the project partners will jointly develop innovative prototype solutions for plastic products and machine concepts designed for circularity to demonstrate the benefits of recycling, reuse, or processing.

The Kick-off meeting took place on 27-28 February 2024 in Linz, Austria, in the country of the main partner.

After a welcome by an Austrian partner Biz-Up, a warm-up activity was organized in the form of a workshop focusing on design thinking methodology. Subsequently, the meeting continued with presentations of work packages 1 and 2 (WP1: Transformation of the PLASTICS INDUSTRY into a circular economy using the methodology of design thinking and WP2: Transformation of the ENGINEERING INDUSTRY into a circular economy using design thinking methodology).

The second day of the meeting was devoted to the topics of project management, finance, quality control, and communication activities.

The next meeting of the partnership in the format of a Steering Committee is scheduled for June 26-27, 2024 in Germany.

Would you care to share your opinion, to help us develop a new green innovation concept? It takes 3 minutes.

Green-on Needs Analysis Please, share your opinion with us. We would like to develop a training material for companies and organizations, enhancing organizational innovation with special focus on sustainability. This questionner is part of the need analysis, your answers will be treated confidentially. Your opinion and tim...

Green-on Needs Analysis Please, share your opinion with us. We would like to develop a training material for companies and organizations, enhancing organizational innovation with special focus on sustainability. This questionner is part of the need analysis, your answers will be treated confidentially. Your opinion and tim...

Funny Friday :)

This is how ENERGOM has chosen to end a rather complicated but still full of accomplishments year. Together, as a team wanting and working to be better !

Happy holidays !

Thanks for passing forward the EPIC innovation guide for future employees to come

It was a pleasure working together as he gave for the past 10+ years

Epic in Cascais regional news portal!
Seven faraway companies from seven countries in Europe had a vision in common, to make a difference by empowering companies to implement innovation with a growth mindset and motivating them to cherish and manage people's innovation potential efficiently.

The EPIC project was called to live to form a bridge between the actual reality and this dream. With the co-financing of the European Union, the project was launched in 2020 and now it is at its finish line. https://epic-project.net/

The outcome is a dynamic combo of 3 influential training tools, all serving a different purpose, with distinct methods and approaches. All these tools are free.

The EPIC innovation booster training comprises, firstly, a Guidebook, which shares theoretical knowledge and current scientific results about key areas of innovation, from a very practical and down-to-earth perspective. Besides the up-to-date theoretical knowledge and research results, the Guidebook also opens space for self-reflection and contains a lot of good examples. The Guide is completed with a separate training exercise collection, including 18 different exercises. This tool is recommended, primarily, for online or in-house training led by a facilitator, but it can be also used for individual learning.

The second element of the EPIC innovation combo is a self-diagnostic online tool, which enables companies to get a picture of their actual innovation capacity, strengths, and weaknesses. The self-assessment tool measures innovation readiness along 5 dimensions (gestão estratégico, gestão da criatividade, gestão da inovação, comunicação da inovação, e digitalização) and sends recommendations for development priorities, linked to the Guidebook and its chapters. http://epic.trebag.hu/pt

The third element of the innovation booster pack is a game-based training tool, the Innovation Wizard card game. It was developed by Weople Portugal, and it serves to enhance strategic thinking about innovation. It merges project management, organizational psychology, and team-leading considerations, and helps to improve typical communication and cooperation issues that most companies struggle with, not only relating to innovation.
This tool can be applied in any company, even without a facilitator.

The EPIC theoretical training materials and practical tools are downloadable, and available online in six languages (Portuguese, English, Greek, Hungarian, Romanian, and Slovakian) from the project's website, or through Epic’s Portuguese representative, Weople Portugal. Weople also provides EPIC facilitator training, and innovation training applying the EPIC methods, among others.

We are happy to spread the news and invite everyone to take advantage of the possibility, check it out, and use it. For more information about the project, the tools, or training facilitating the introduction of these methods and tools, get in touch Us.

A Gamificação passou para o mundo profissional – ferramentas de inovação gratuitas - Notícias de Cascais O ano de 2020 ficou marcado mundialmente pelo surgimento e efeitos da pandemia, o que precipitou uma rutura enorme no funcionamento das sociedades contemporâneas. Mas também contou com a visão de futuro e de compromisso partilhada por um conjunto de pessoas de 7 empresas parceiras de diversos pa....

Article about Epic and game based learning in the Portuguese press 🙂

A Inovação baseada nos jogos já chegou às empresas – ferramentas gratuitas “O uso de mecânicas e características de jogos são fórmulas que ganham mais espaço no mundo profissional – o que até há pouco tempo era uma tendência, agora é uma realidade!”

Article about the importance of psychological safety in innovation work, related to the internationally conducted qualitative research results of Epic Project, in the Portuguese HealthNews Journal 🙂
In the framework of a Research&Innovation project financed by the EU, EPIC Partnership conducted joint qualitative research in 2020/21. We interviewed HR professionals and innovation managers about their work-health-related problems. The in-depth interviews revealed common patterns, which not only dropped back the performance and the innovation capacity, but also undermined psychological wellbeing.

As revealed, a healthy workplace atmosphere, work-life balance, and employee´s long-term
bio-psycho-mental wellbeing roots, among others, in guaranteeing psychological safety at the organizational level. In the case of an innovation-intensive environment, this is even more important, since innovation workers have to deal with a high amount of uncertainty, elevated risks, constant changes, and stress. It requires complex, multilevel cooperation, and co-creation. In such an environment it´s essential that employees/stakeholders feel safe enough to have open communication, reveal doubts, ask questions, give frank critics, question decisions, make mistakes and admit failures, when necessary.

This might sound evident, but according to the above-mentioned research, only a few companies manage to find a way to ensure it. Either by systematic planning and follow-up or by orientation to an organic, constant development planted into the organization's culture.

Psychological safety has an important impact both on individuals and on organizations. It affects communication efficiency, information flow, workplace atmosphere, fluctuation, collaboration quality, and indirectly, also on productivity, loyalty, fluctuation, and innovation capacity. In terms of mental health, it can be considered one of the most important guardians at the door of anxiety, burnout, and other health issues, at the organizational level.

Open and assertive communication is a primal key to psychological safety, but how can one communicate well with the external world, without being aware of what is going on inside? Too many conflicts reach back here.

So far we have been speaking about the healthy work environment in the innovation context, but honestly, in the midst of a transition to the digital era, the demand for constant adaptation, agile change management, and the management of accelerated work-life rhythm, is affecting each of us. The digital transition, with all its growth potential and positive impacts, has brought new problems too.

Organizations and individuals have to deal with new challenges, let us mention as examples, boundary management in distance working (isolating the work life from the private life), constant information overload and “mental noise/fragmented attention”, big scale social comparison and compliance expectations induced by the social media. In order to counterbalance, mindfulness and integrity are needed more than ever, as well as reconnection with oneself and others in an organic, authentic, responsible, and conscious way.

As Carl Rogers wrote, “...Good life is not, I am convinced, a life for the faint-hearted. It involves the stretching and growing of becoming more and more of one's potentialities. It involves the courage to be. It means launching oneself fully into the stream of life.” (Rogers, 1961, On becoming a person)

In this view, EPIC project offers practical support and free tools for organizations to understand more about psychological safety, open communication, innovative thinking, mindfulness, and supportive management, among other topics. The consortium developed a Guidebook with theory, best practices, an Exercise Collection, and a Digital Self-Assessment tool, as well as an interactive card game (Innovation Wizard), enhancing open communication, team cohesion, psychological safety, and innovative thinking at the organizational level.

All materials are available in digital form, free of charge, in 6 languages (PT, EN, GR, HU,
SK, RO). For more information and access visit the project´s website https://epic-project.net

Segurança Psicológica no Trabalho com ferramentas e materiais gratuitos do Projeto EPIC No âmbito do projeto de Investigação & Inovação EPIC financiado pela União Europeia, em 2020 foi levado a cabo um abrangente estudo qualitativo por uma parceria de sete empresas europeias. Com este propósito, foram recolhidas diversas entrevistas a profissionais de RH e a gestores que partici...

Multiplyer event Energom 2022 - part 2 (uncut, 1st take :) )

EPIC - mutiplyer event Energom - Romania 2022 - partea 2 (uncut) multiplyer event organizat de Energom pentru prezentarea livrabilelor proiectului EPIC - Educational package for SMEs to increase their innovation capabiliti...

EPIC Multiplyer event Energom - Romania - 2022- partea 1 Educational package for SMEs to increase their innovation capabilities and productivity - 2020-1-HU01-KA202-078669

📢The last meeting of the EPIC project was held in Piraeus, Greece, and hosted by IDEC SA. During the last meeting, the partners discussed the final steps of the project and the exploitation of the qualitative results. On the top of the agenda was also your feedback that we obtained through the pilots and the improvement of the results according to your needs!

Seven faraway companies from seven countries in Europe had a vision in common, to make a difference by empowering companies to implement innovation with a growth mindset and motivating them to cherish and manage people's innovation potential efficiently.

The EPIC project was called to live to form a bridge between the actual reality and this dream. With the co-financing of the European Union, the project was launched in 2020 and now it is at its finish line. https://epic-project.net/

The outcome is a dynamic combo of 3 influential training tools, all serving a different purpose, with distinct methods and approaches. All these tools are free.

The EPIC innovation booster training comprises, firstly, a Guidebook, which shares theoretical knowledge and current scientific results about key areas of innovation, from a very practical and down-to-earth perspective. Besides the up-to-date theoretical knowledge and research results, the Guidebook also opens space for self-reflection and contains a lot of good examples. This tool is recommended, primarily, for online or in-house trainings led by a facilitator, but it can be also used for individual learning.

The second element of the EPIC innovation combo is a self-diagnostic online tool, which enables companies to get a picture of their actual innovation capacity, strengths, and weaknesses. The self-assessment tool measures innovation readiness along 5 dimensions (gestão estratégico, gestão da criatividade, gestão da inovação, comunicação da inovação, e digitalização) and sends recommendations for development priorities, linked to the Guidebook and its chapters. http://epic.trebag.hu/pt

The third element of the innovation booster pack is a game-based training tool, the Innovation Wizard card game. It serves to enhance strategic thinking about innovation. It merges project management, organizational psychology, and team-leading considerations, and helps to improve typical communication and cooperation issues that most companies struggle with, not only relating innovation.
This tool can be applied in any company, even without a facilitator.

The EPIC theoretical training materials and practical tools are downloadable, and available online in six languages (Portuguese, English, Greek, Hungarian, Romanian, and Slovakian) from the project's website, or through Epic’s local representatives in the seven countries.

We are happy to spread the news and invite everyone to take advantage of the possibility, check it out, and use it. For more information about the project, the tools, or training facilitating the introduction of these methods and tools, get in touch with Us.

https://www.facebook.com/100063652024558/posts/516412793823784/?sfnsn=scwspmo

In our next best practice, you can read an interesting story about a student and her achievements:https://epic-project.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/3_best_practice_promos_3.pdf

EPIC conference in Portugal

Guess where? 🙂
Our last meeting is just about to start!

The project EPIC was presented to more than 35 conference participants in Nitra, Slovakia! Slovak Plastic cluster representatives shared the project´s main goals, initiatives and activities realized, including the testing of a complex Innovation Educational package! The audience loved it! Excellent feedback! Many interested companies to learn more about this initiative!