On 6 April 2026, the InnovaTex consortium met online to advance the implementation of three core work packages dedicated to Smart Labs, capacity building, and training materials.

The InnovaTex project has entered a particularly intensive phase of implementation. With the second year of activities underway, the consortium is now working in parallel on several interconnected deliverables that will define the practical impact of the project across Ukraine and Moldova. To ensure full alignment among partners, an online organisational meeting was held on 6 April 2026, bringing together researchers and project officers from all partner institutions.

A consortium working in close coordination

The meeting was moderated by Raluca Maria Aileni, project coordinator from the National Research and Development Institute for Textiles and Leather (INCDTP, Romania), who guided the consortium through the priorities of the coming months. Participants included Kalyna Pashkevych and Olena Gerasymenko from the Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design (KNUTD), Olena Chepelyuk and Larysa Ponomarenko from Kherson National Technical University, Marcela Irovan from the Technical University of Moldova (TUM), Aleksandra Raetchi and Diana Tapuchevici from the Public Institution Center of Excellence in Light Industry in Chișinău, Ioannis Chronis from the University of West Attica (UNIWA), and Emy Tsakalou and Maya Dimitriadou from the Organisation Creative Thinking Development (CRE.THI.DEV.) in Greece.

This composition reflects one of the defining features of InnovaTex: a consortium that combines research institutions, universities, vocational education centres and civil society organisations across five countries, all contributing complementary expertise to the modernisation of textile VET.

Three work packages, one integrated vision

The meeting focused on the coordinated implementation of three central work packages:

• WP3 dedicated to the development of the innovative Smart Labs;
• WP4 focused on the design and production of the educational materials;
• WP5 addressing the placement of the learning content on the e-learning platform and the testing of the online courses.

These work packages do not operate in isolation. The Smart Labs being established in Ukraine and Moldova will host the practical activities of the training programme, while the e-learning platform will serve as the digital backbone for the blended learning experience. The educational materials, in turn, must be designed to function effectively across both environments.

A multilingual e-book to support textile VET

A significant portion of the discussion was dedicated to the development of the InnovaTex e-book, one of the project’s key intellectual outputs. The publication will be made available in three languages — English, Ukrainian and Romanian — to ensure full accessibility for teachers, trainers, students and professionals in all the regions targeted by the project.

The multilingual approach is a deliberate methodological choice. By translating the content into the working languages of the partner countries, InnovaTex aims to remove linguistic barriers and to support the direct integration of the materials into national VET systems, both in Moldova and in Ukraine.

Templates and pedagogical structure from UNIWA

During the meeting, Ioannis Chronis (UNIWA) presented the templates of the educational manual, presentations and supporting materials developed by the team at the University of West Attica. These templates establish a shared pedagogical and editorial framework for all partners contributing to the training content.

This standardisation step is essential to ensure that the materials produced by different institutions across five countries maintain a consistent quality, visual identity and pedagogical approach. It also facilitates the work of educators and learners, who will encounter a coherent learning experience regardless of the specific module they are accessing.

Hosting the learning content: choosing the right platform

The coordinator also opened a structured discussion on the digital platforms suitable for hosting the educational content. The choice of platform is a strategic decision: it will determine the accessibility, interactivity and long-term sustainability of the InnovaTex learning resources, which are expected to remain available for at least five years beyond the end of the project.

Partners reviewed the technical and functional requirements that the platform should fulfil, including support for multilingual content, evaluation tools, interactive features and compatibility with the blended learning methodology adopted by the project.

Deadlines, milestones and shared responsibility

A central part of the meeting was dedicated to reviewing the deadlines and milestones approaching in the coming months. The coordinator reminded partners of the key project commitments and confirmed the calendar for the next implementation steps, ensuring that each institution is fully aware of its tasks and contributions.

This level of operational discipline is a defining feature of the InnovaTex working method. Regular coordination meetings, clear timelines and transparent task allocation are the foundations on which the consortium is building the project’s results.

A platform for interim review and forward planning

Beyond its operational function, the 6 April online meeting served as a moment of collective reflection on the progress achieved so far and on the next stages of implementation. The discussion confirmed that the partnership is moving forward in a coordinated and well-paced manner, with all partners actively engaged in their respective work packages.

As the project advances, the consortium will continue to combine technical work on the Smart Labs and the training materials with structured communication and dissemination activities, ensuring that the results of InnovaTex reach the broadest possible audience of stakeholders in textile education and industry — and that the transformative impact of the project is fully realised across Ukraine, Moldova, and the wider Eastern European region.