Smart Data, Smart Regions Erasmus Project

Project Title

Smart Data, Smart Regions

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 vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Regional dimension and cooperation; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Context/background of the project:
Smart Data, Smart Region (SDSR) worked to a clear objective: to improve the ability of entrepreneurship VET policy makers and practitioners to understand, teach and implement smart data within their institutions and to use smart data to adapt and optimise entrepreneurship development strategies at regional level. SDSR was developed as a lighthouse project, introducing the topic to the VET sector as a whole and integrating it to entrepreneurship education in a very practical way to reveal the scale of what can be achieved.

Objectives
a) Create and publish a STRATEGIC GUIDE TO SMART DATA IN YOUR REGION to make the case for an integrated, cross sector approach to smart data and facilitate the creation of Regional Partnerships.
)b Develop ESSENTIAL SMART DATA OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES: a curriculum, trainers’ guide and suite of interactive online learning materials for VET teachers and trainers in colleges, enterprise development centres, incubators, non-profits and public authorities.
c) Produce a SMART DATA ONLINE PLATFORM, a multilingual, interactive portal to maximize target group engagement and long-term impact of the educational resources

Number and profile of participating organisations;
A6 participating organisations in four countries – UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany with a cross sector expertise base
Omagh Enterprise Company Limited UK, NGO, enterprise stimulus organisation and VET body
CANICE CONSULTING LIMITED, UK, Small and medium sized enterprise, elearning company
LEITRIM COUNTY COUNCIL Ireland Regional Public body
TeleRegions Net aisbl Belgium , EU-wide network
STICHTING BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FRIESLAND Netherlands NGO, enterprise stimulus organisation and VET body
ZETIS GmbH Germany Small and medium sized enterprise, data specialist

Main activities undertaken:
Completion and successfully delivery of Smart Region Smart Data Strategic Guide (964 downloads) and six modules in a Smart Data Open Education Resources classroom course (1,024 downloads) and online course
Successfully reaching all target groups including stakeholders from VET, HE, enterprise, education and economic development sectors. From public, private and non-profit organisations
Successfully hosting 4 multiplier events in Northern Ireland, Ireland, Netherlands and Germany with 190 attendees
Strong dissemination actions including project showcase in European Parliament, hosted by MEP Martina Anderson

Long term impact
Data skills improve the entrepreneurial mind-set and employability of students and Smart Data improves our understanding of social/economic trends, enabling VET providers to tailor their service and entrepreneurship support to specific opportunities at regional level. Given our classroom course has been downloaded 1,024 times by the end of the project, this is a strong impact which will have ongoing reach. Students can also access the training materials directly through the project website and Slideshare. Our STRATEGIC GUIDE TO SMART DATA IN YOUR REGION was downloaded 964 times which greatly exceeds the project target of 250 downloads). Overall SDSR has produced high quality products and results that can be transferred across many sectors to target stakeholders from VET, HE, enterprise, education and economic development sectors. From public, private and non-profit organisations all will benefit from being data aware.

The ESSENTIAL SMART DATA OPEN RESOURCES curriculum, trainers’ guide and suite of interactive online learning materials for VET teachers and trainers in colleges, enterprise development centres, incubators, non-profits and public authorities will yield significant long-term strengthening of the competitiveness of the local economy and an inbuilt capacity to continue learning and adapting to new contexts. We feel that this has been achieved due to the interest in the project as there is a need for trainers to be trained in data skills to develop several sectors. This is proven through the huge interest in our classroom VET pack.

Results and impact attained;
• Strategic Guide (964 downloads passing target of 250 downloads and 380 copies circulated to our databases)
• Classroom course downloads:1,064
• Online course: 324 have completed the course and196 accessed the course on Slideshare
• Course pilot tested with 62 Participants in 4 partner countries: UK, Ireland, Germany and Netherlands with 91% of the participants likely/very likely to recommend the course
• Strong & consistent dissemination campaign and over 42,000 visitors to the project website.

Longer term benefits:
As a result of the project, we will see more and more VET institutions effectively wanting to integrate smart data skills into their curricula, this in turn means that thousands of students learning entrepreneurship at VET institutions and or start up entrepreneurs gaining assistance from business development service providers will being using smart data analysis for their own projects.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 211161,25 Eur

Project Coordinator

Omagh Enterprise Company Limited & Country: UK

Project Partners

• STICHTING BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FRIESLAND
• ZETIS GmbH
• LEITRIM COUNTY COUNCIL
• TeleRegions Net aisbl
• CANICE CONSULTING LIMITED