June 2021 – Over the last months, the Malta Business Bureau, in collaboration with four other partner organisations based in Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany and Italy, have worked on the formulation of a ‘Learning Model’.  This Model will serve as a foundation for the set of Training Tools that will be developed by TAPROOM, a project co-funded by the EU’s Erasmus+ programme. These tools will focus on the production and marketing of organic and craft beer, going a step further to ensure that more is done in terms of promoting beer as part of the intangible cultural heritage of the European Union.

Between March and May 2021, all partner countries conducted an in-depth analysis of stakeholder learning needs. This was facilitated by means of desk-based research, the dissemination of an EU-wide survey and the hosting of national focus groups. Overall, stakeholders steered more towards the adoption of a blended learning approach, encouraging the creation and development of tools that are suitable for anyone who does not have the time or the possibility to attend formal academic courses, which are generally of a longer duration.

During the last partners’ meeting, MBB CEO Joe Tanti noted the crucial nature of the TAPROOM Learning Model in determining the creation of innovative tools that cater to the learning needs of Organic and Craft Beer Producers in the partner countries and beyond. He emphasised that this Model will serve as a steppingstone to the development of stakeholder capacities and the enhancement of the project’s resource repository.

TAPROOM Project Manager Marija Elena Borg then shed light on the importance of having established a solid level of communication between national and European stakeholders, enabling the creation of a community of practice that will promote long-term project sustainability. She highlighted the advantage of having a transnational partnership, promoting the development of a comprehensive product that is applicable to both current and aspiring brewers, on an EU-level.

For more information on TAPROOM, please contact Project Manager, Marija Elena Borg on mborg@mbb.org.mt or +356 21251719.

The TAPROOM Project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, is led by the Malta Business Bureau (Malta) in collaboration with Out of the Box International (Belgium), GAL Molise verso il 2000 (Italy), AVA Creations Foundation (Bulgaria) and Italienische Handelskammer München-Stuttgart Camera di Commercio Italo-Tedesca (Germany).