Tknika is the Institute for the Innovation of the Vocational and Educational Training System in the Basque Country (Spain). It was established by the Department of Education of the Basque Government in 2005 to promote innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship in VET centres of the Basque Country (Spain).

Through networking and direct involvement by the Basque Vocational Training teaching staff, the centre develops innovative projects in the areas of technology, education and management.

Tknika is certified with ISO 9001:2000 (Quality Management System) and UNE 166002 (Innovation in Management System). This ensures that our systematic work meets the highest standards of quality and facilitates innovation in all our projects.

Tknika’s mission is to make research and applied innovation core fundamental elements of Vocational Education and Training in Euskadi, to make progress in new learning settings and processes, and to reduce the skill gap from when an idea or technology comes about until society can take advantage of it. Tknika´s vision is to become a reference of innovation for education and LLL in Europe, and to reach such targets we have adopted a strategy of collaboration in network at two levels:

1. In the Basque Country (Spain), Tknika coordinates all the vocational training colleges (both public and private) in innovation projects and it also maintains a strategic monitoring service in contact with universities, companies and technology centres, allowing us to keep updated of the latest developments, ideas and approaches to innovation in the areas to which we refer later.

2. At an international level, membership in international networks of vocational training colleges, technology centres and associations as EFVET (European Forum of Vocational Education and Training), TA3 (Transatlantic Alliance) or WFCP (World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics) allows us to share tools and knowledge about the steps being taken in different countries in the field of innovation.

All projects to be developed in Tknika have to be both innovative and focused on the acquisition and transfer of knowledge. Usually, the project managers are trainers but sometimes, depending on the project, they are specialists from the industrial world. The transfer of the results of the innovation projects must take place in the shortest possible time and should affect the whole system: public and private centres, SMEs, learning communities, local agencies, etc.

Tknika operates in the following areas:

- The area of applied innovation

- The area of quality management

- The area of new teaching methodologies

- The area of entrepreneurship

- The area of internationalisation