Summary
IoT4SMEs aims to facilitate the exploitation and diffusion of the IoT at European level. IoT not only has a huge social impact, but can also support the employability and boost the competitiveness of European companies. The European Commission has recognized the importance of the IoT technology for the competitiveness and modernization of the European enterprises, for the economical growth and employability in the European area. The IoT4SMEs proposal addresses the objectives of the European Commission on this topic, in the exact moment when the technology is spreading and the demand of professionals is rising. It aims to build-up the competences required for a broad adoption of the IoT technologies, qualifying new professionals to be able to support the digital transformation of the European companies exploiting the advantages offered by the IoT technology.Description
Internet of Things (IoT) is widely considered as the next step towards of the digital society, where objects and people are interconnected and interact through communication networks. IoT not only has a huge social impact, but can also support the employability and boost the competitiveness of European companies.
First, the project will analyze the state of the art of IoT applications at national, European and worldwide level. The aim is to define the target groups’ training needs, by identifying their existing and ideal technical and management skills.In order to adopt a learning methodology that can be certified and recognized, a set of VET Qualifications will be designed, based on the European lifelong learning instruments (EQF, ECVET and EQAVET). For a proper training on IoT applications, both theoretical and practical activities will be organized. For the theoretical ones, a distance learning methodology will be adopted. For the practical activities, remote labs will be implemented. The laboratories, being remotely controllable, will allow the students to make practice of programming, use and management of IoTs applications.
Furthermore, the didactic courses leading to the IoT4SMEs qualifications will be designed. The didactic courses will consist of a proper mix original materials (video lectures, texts, exercises and other OERs), of the collected interviews and showcases and of other valuable didactic material already existing in the web. Also, a handbook with showcases and best practices on the adoption of IoT solutions will be designed, tested and finally released. This will be a useful additional tool for the certified trainees, to simplify the adoption of IoT technologies. In addition to the previously listed results, the project will also produce as outputs several dissemination materials such as the project website, a promo, leaflets, brochures, posters, conference papers, newsletters, etc. that will be fundamental to reach the widest audience and to properly exploit the project results.
Objectives
The IoT4SMEs proposal intends to operate pursuing the European policies on IoT and according to the Digital Single Market pillars, with the main objective of:
- qualifying new professionals able to support the digital transformation of the European companies exploiting to the advantages offered by the IoT technology.
This objective is reached by pursuing the specifically objectives of:
- raising awareness among European Small and Medium Enterprises of the IoT technologies and applications and of the potential benefits for their competitiveness and economical growth;
- creating VET qualifications for professionals inside European Companies, enhancing their digital competences and training them to introduce and manage IoT technologies and applications.
UNINETTUNO Role
UNINETTUNO, being the applicant organization will be responsible for the project management and will set up a system of participated decision making process between partners in order to:
- underwrite information exchange and sharing
- elaborate a common implementation method related to managerial, administrative and financial issues
- overcome issues and problem related to external variables and internal dynamics
- IoT4SMEs objectives achievement: guarantee that the quality of the project processes and results meet predetermined standards and that the project planning and implementation are effective.
Partners, under coordination of UNINETTUNO, will set-up the following coordination policy:
- Steering Committee (SC): composed by 9 managers appointed by each partner, will represent the higher reference for IoT4SMEs and will be empowered to take binding decisions;
- Quality Assurance Committee (QAC), composed by UNINETTUNO, EVM and FHM, responsible for performing the periodical assessment of the activities and evaluation of the outcomes and impact;
- Dissemination and Exploitation Committee (DEC) composed by Madan Parque, Kaunas STP and UNS, responsible for defining the dissemination and exploitation strategy and coordinate the related activities;
- Project Management Handbook (PMH): resource set up in 3 months from project start. PMH will provide details for the management of administrative, financial and technical aspects of the project. The document will include a section for the project
Quality Assurance, including the risk analysis and the mitigation plan, and a section regarding the project evaluation and instruments for the assessment of the impact.
Furthermore, UNINETTUNO will be in charge of ensuring the operability of the project website and the availability of the IoT4SMEs OERs on its learning platform for at least 3 years after the end of the project, covering with internal resources the minimal maintenance costs.