This publication^[1] is the result of a team effort reflecting the work of Tina Bertzeletou, Cedefop senior expert who coordinated the project, and of the research consortium led by Wolfgang Schlegel of the Institute for Vocational Training, Labour Market and Social Policy (INBAS) and of Erwin Seyfried, professor at the Berlin School of Economics and Law, responsible for the research.

Special thanks are due to the team of national and sectoral experts who conducted the field research: Agnès Ammeux who drafted one French case study and, assisted by Sofia Reis, reported on the Portuguese case study; Giorgio Alluli who investigated the two Italian case studies and the sectoral case studies in the automotive industry and in design and industry-related services, Marian Hulshof and Eef Schapman who carried out the case study in the Netherlands; Maria Gutknecht-Gmeiner who conducted the case study in Austria; Katalin Molnar-Stadler who analysed the case study in Hungary; Erwin Seyfried and Anja Wachtel who drew up one French, two German and the Estonian and Scottish case studies as well as those on the maritime industry and social services. Birgit Rasehorn and Ulrike Wisser conducted the case study in Belgium, and finally Dana Stroie who drew up the case studies in Romania, Slovenia and Finland. The external research team’s efforts are highly acknowledged and appreciated as they provided the major input for this handbook.

Erwin Seyfried drafted this report, assisted by Maria Gutknecht-Gmeiner, who provided input for Chapter 5 and by Katalin Molnar-Stadler who contributed to Chapters 4 and 7. In addition, Elena Eybe provided technical support by drafting most of the diagrams while Agnès Ammeux took care of the administrative aspects all along the work process.

Thanks are also due to Alessia De Martino for her secretarial work and to Evangelia Bara and Yvonne Noutsia of Cedefop for their support.

However, it is almost impossible to acknowledge all discussion partners mentioned in the introduction above, who have shared their knowledge, experience and ideas with the research team during its site visits and have contributed with their support and advice to this handbook’s relevance.