In 2013 the partnership project ‘E-Bike inventory’ was launched under the assignment of the European Union based on the Life Long Learning Program. This project is co-ordinated by Innovam and called the Two Wheeler Innovation Network (TWIN). With TWIN we investigated the needs of the European bicycle market regarding E-bike education and training programs.

How

Our first objective was to develop a European competence profile, online self-assessment tool and a set of courseware materials including trainer manuals, student materials and practical worksheets, as well as a state of the art Virtual Reality animation. The overall objective for this project is a better understanding and improvement of maintenance and diagnoses knowlegde, skills and competences regarding the technical components as a part of a complete E-Bike.
The second objective of the TWIN project was the creation of a European certification standard for the E-Bike Mechanic, Sales person and Dealer manager as well as the development of an outline for a non-profit business case regarding a European platform where the developed of European harmonized competence profiles via a network organization can be showed and exchanged between countries.
Innovam provided a dedicated team that exists of an international project manager, dedicated e-bike trainers, assessors and a team of training, examination & certification content developers specialised in designing online training aids for technical E-bike training. This team used existing source information mainly provided by Innovam, supported by information provided by the two project partners (CELF and Syntra West) in order to develop the related set of competence profiles, online self-assessment tools and training, examination and certification materials. Furthermore, Innovam supported the project in designing an outline for the business cases around the launch of an European network organization.

Results

By implementing the TWIN project deliverables, local education and training institutes from 12 different European Union member countries joined a central event where the self-assessment, training, examination and certification programs for the bicycle industry and its retailers (dealers) were developed and can be exchanged to enhance the quality of e-bike training, examination and certification in every local market.  It allows training and education institutes all over Europe to easily implement existing knowledge and best practice, instead of having to “reinvent the wheel” when in need of a training and examination program to fulfil local training needs. The bicycle manufacturers and suppliers can select and work with European certified dealers exclusively. The consumers can recognise the European certified bicycle retailers (dealers) easily via a licensed logo.