KIMET is based on three realities: the working population getting increasingly older, the difficulty in the transmission of professional knowledge and the continuous transformation of the companies:

- The general ageing of working population, together with the scarce qualified and experienced people is a brake for the companies’ development. It is estimated that by 2025, the people older than 60 years will provide about one third of the population in countries such as Spain 31.4%, Netherlands 29.4% and France 28.7% (Source: NN.UU., 2001). In Bulgaria, the population in the aged between 35 and 64 years exceeds the 40 per cent (2006). In the Metal Industry of Biscay this phenomenon is already a reality, as the average age of the work force, a group of more than 50,000 workers, is close to the 50 years.

- In addition, the experienced workers concentrate a great amount of both formal and informal (not officially recognised) knowledge, which represents “power” for them; this makes them often show “passive resistance” to transmit their knowledge, as they consider their knowledge as a way to keep and ensure their job.

- Finally, the economic globalisation processes make industry in Europe to place itself in the segments of the market with the highest added value, and therefore, innovation and the correct knowledge and experience transmission are basic inside the companies.

All this makes necessary to validate and identify this learning to make the oldest workers leave their defensive position and to favour their professional development, and therefore develop their employability encouraging the integration of the newly arrived person in the company. The knowledge transmission is an important question for the survival and development of companies in the present changing context and to reach a learning culture.