At the 34th EfVET Annual Conference, the roundtable on PoVE Water Scale-up brought the water sector’s future into sharp focus. Against the broader conference theme — building a human-centred VET ecosystem in an increasingly digital world — the session positioned water excellence as a strategic lever for Europe’s competitiveness and sustainability.
The project teams presented the latest progress, outputs, and long-term sustainability plans of the PoVE Water initiative, showcasing how Centres of Vocational Excellence and a dedicated virtual platform are reshaping skills development for the industry. Participants explored the sector’s growing relevance, the structural challenges ahead, and the critical need to future-proof VET pathways for emerging water-related professions.
The discussion was highly interactive, drawing strong engagement from teachers, principals, and stakeholders. Feedback underscored both the urgency of addressing current bottlenecks and the opportunity to scale innovative approaches across borders. New networking avenues and potential collaborations emerged throughout the session, reinforcing the momentum behind water-sector excellence.
This roundtable demonstrated once again why the EfVET Conference remains a strategic space for exchange: a platform where best practices meet visionary thinking to accelerate the future of VET — and, in this case, the future of water management across Europe.