Pioneers into Practice is an innovation in the EU' ideas on education and stimulating innovation. Instead of traditional educational courses, it entails three one-month placements and three so called crucibles, a two-day course into transition thinking and an Innovation Festival. Thus, it aims to contribute to building new networks, developing the participants' competences and increase their innovation capabilities.  

For the course in transition thinking trainers were recruited of the Knowledge Network for System Innovations and Innovations (KSI, a co-production of a huge number of Dutch knowledge institutions, universities, government, companies and intermediates.). The Pioneers programme made a take-off in October with about 60 pioneers in five major regions in the EU: Emilia Romagna in Italy, Hessen in Germany, Lower Silesia in Poland, Valencia in Spain and the West Midlands in the United Kingdom. Now we can look back on first experiences. They were that transition knowledge does provide people with useful perspectives. On the other hand it is clear that, to reach the practioners, the academic transition knowledge and language has to be translated (even more that the trainers already did) into more practical stories, tools and assignments for learning-by-doing, on participant's own projects.