DIRECTION 4.0 – promotion and development of Industry 4.0 related skills Erasmus Project

Project Title

DIRECTION 4.0 – promotion and development of Industry 4.0 related skills

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

The problem
Industry 4.0 was a hot topic already in 2018 when this project was at the application phase, and it is even more the case today in 2021. The need for robotics and computerization is growing. While this will reduce the number of jobs in assembly and production, a significant number of jobs particularly in IT and data science will be created. However, children have less and less interest in such engineering or technical careers as they believe these subjects are too difficult for them to succeed and not suitable for women.

The target groups
Main target: STEM teachers
Sub target: their students (secondary level)
Others: relevant stakeholders, among which career counsellors, educators, trainers, policy makers, representatives of business sector.

The solution
The DIRECTION 4.0 (D4.0) project has developed a set of didactic materials that will help STEM teachers to introduce and promote the concept of Industry 4.0 among students through a Compendium. A 4.0 Career Roadmap serves as a professional career roadmap, encouraging students to choose more technical fields of study. The project also facilitates the building of a network of teachers through Space 4.0 – toolbox for teachers which contains all deliverables built during the project and helps teachers to meet and share experiences.

Main objectives
D4.0 aims at promoting the concept of Industry 4.0 and related technologies among secondary school students and encouraging them to choose technical careers. This is achieved by providing teachers with updated didactic materials, researching the 4.0 skills profile and giving the target groups a better understanding of the concept.

The partners
The partnership comprises 7 partners from 7 countries: a higher education institution focused on training operational engineers, a secondary school, a higher education institution providing courses on robotics, an expert in new technologies related to Industry 4.0, a consulting bureau dedicated to promotion of cutting-edge technological solutions, a consultancy offering services ranging from business development and public funding acquisition to custom implementation, an IT training provider and e-learning solutions developer.

Methodology
Thorough research has been done by all partners on selected topics of Industry 4.0 in order to prepare the Compendium which gives a good idea of the state of implementation especially in Europe, the economic and social factors, expected trends and challenges. The topics were: Smart Factories, Augmented and Virtual Reality, Cloud Computing, 3D printing, Robotics, Cyber security. For each topic the subjects required for a career in the area have been added (general science, ICT, mathematics, physics, biology and chemistry). An annex was also developed with the methodology to create a workshop. A job market analysis has been conducted next with a field research to determine the Model Skills Set that would be developed. After a skills verification done with students, the 4.0 Career Roadmap report has been prepared. Meanwhile, all deliverables were uploaded in Space 4.0 – toolbox for teachers with the Compendium transformed as e-courses, the Skills verification tool set and pilot testing done to validate all developed content in the project for it to be finalised.

Results
The outcomes of D4.0 comprise the:
– Compendium 4.0
– 4.0 Career Roadmap Report
– Skills Verification Tool
– Space 4.0 – toolbox for teachers

Long-term benefits

With the support of the Space 4.0 – toolbox for teachers, a virtual space developed for sustainability of the e-course and deliverables, teachers will be in position to present their students updated content and tools about Industry 4.0 to ensure young people are better aware of what Industry 4.0 is, what kind of skills are needed to work in the fields described, and encourage them to choose technical and engineering careers to be part of Europe’s workforce to build the future.

(Even though the course of the project has been affected by the Covid-19 sanitary crisis, partners ensured the high quality of the project, as planned in the application.)

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 232915 Eur

Project Coordinator

ECAM-EPMI & Country: FR

Project Partners

• DANMAR COMPUTERS SP ZOO
• Istituto Superiore E. Mattei
• M.K. INNOVATIONS LTD
• Stucom SA
• MACDAC ENGINEERING CONSULTANCY BUREAU LTD – MECB
• SC Ludor Engineering SRL
• HEARTHANDS SOLUTIONS LIMITED