The MODCLIM project focused its attention on the organization of activities in the field of applied mathematics for industry, developing, during 2015 and 2016 two training cycles in research and Problem Solving Workshops of mathematical problems in industry and applied sciences, addressed to postgraduate students from the nine European universities that formed the consortium and two universities in North Africa that participated as associated partners. The main objective of the project was to carry out these two training cycles by focusing on practical problems from the real world, which would represent a significant technological challenge, dealing with issues related to renewable energy solutions, environmental sustainability, ecology, health sciences, Civil security, etc. Each cycle consisted of a first module of four intensive training courses in mathematical research, a second module dedicated to mathematical modeling workshops, an intermediate period between both modules dedicated to the development of an online project and as the last phase of each cycle, a final project. The two modules, the intermediate project and the final project were duly coordinated, so that the training received in the intensive courses was necessary for the preparation of the intermediate project, for the mathematical modeling workshops associated with each intensive course and for the development of the final project. In each cycle a group of approximately 20 postgraduate students were trained. The conceptualization of the MODCLIM project has in itself been a novel approach to postgraduate training in the field of industrial mathematics. The project has assimilated and combined characteristics of previous experiences and models that have been successfully developed in Europe, such as the “Mathematical Study Groups with Industry” (University of Oxford), “Study Groups with Industry and Modeling Weeks” (ESGI and ECMI); Together with innovative and non-European successful models, as is the case provided by the “Research in Industrial Projects for Students” (RIPS) developed by the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (University of California). With it´s new approach, MODCLIM was able to interconnect several stages of research training and managed each cycle to form a much broader training period, approximately one semester, than that of the models that preceded it. In addition, it managed to extend its activities to the Sub-Mediterranean region. These advances place MODCLIM as a successful model that could serve as a reference for future similar initiatives, and represents a guarantee of sustainability of the results and intellectual outputs of the project. The most important intellectual outputs of the project are those related to the final MODCLIM Manual, in which each team described the methodology applied and the conclusions obtained. The recipients of these results are both institutions and professors and postgraduate students interested in activities related to mathematics and industry, and who may be interested either in the problems themselves or in organizing activities / initiatives similar to those developed during the MODCLIM project. Another outstanding intellectual result is an article that describes the MODCLIM project and its results, which have been admitted for publication in the Proceedings of the “19th European Conference on Mathematics for Industry – ECMI”, held in Santiago de Compostela from June 13 to 17, 2016, and published by the Springer Journal. On the other hand, the project website contains all the information about MODCLIM, including a private access forum which includes presentations of courses and workshops. Presentations made in the various forums that served as platforms for dissemination of MODCLIM, highlighting the presentations presented at the mini symposium organized by the project at the “19th European Conference on Mathematics for Industry” (ECMI) and presented at the MODCLIM International Dissemination Seminar organized at Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (Poland). Finally, we emphasize that the success achieved in the development and implementation of project activities is mainly due to the transnational collaboration of all MODCLIM partners. This has led, for example, to co-organizing with the “European Study Groups with Industry (ESGI 112)”, the "Workshop on Computational and Modeling Problems for Industry", in September 2015. All this required an intensive coordination, which is currently maintained and is in itself one of the main guarantees of sustainability of the results of the project.
"There is a very close link between higher education and development. Universities are key institutions that help to create new knowledge, to develop new skills, and in that respect contribute very directly to economic growth, and productivity. Apart from developing the skills and knowledge necessary for economic growth, they also play a key role in the building of democratic societies.”- Adriana Jaramillo, World Bank Senior Education Specialist. Progress of industry and novel engineering solutions are increasingly depending on computational approach, modelling and simulation. Mathematical technologies are needed to produce effective design processes, accelerate test cycles, spur innovation, support systems integration schemes and control the production models. Industrial mathematics is among the next generation methodologies in R&D and knowledge management. This presents a challenge for university education, curriculum development, training practices and research collaboration. With the main aim to contribute addressing these challenges, the project develops and integrates a research training course and a problem solving workshop, for the challenging mathematical and computational problems from industry and applied sciences, every year, during a period of two years. The strategic objective of the partnership is to make effective use of the pool of special expertise and experience in the network. Problems of industrial mathematics are multidisciplinary even within mathematics itself. Combining skills and interaction between groups is often a key to solutions. Our network has facilitated the exchange between the partners and set up a basis for sustained collaboration. The project concentrated on practical problems representing crucial technological challenge and dealt with questions like novel energy solutions, challenges having impact on environmental sustainability and employment. The purpose has been to train each year a group of 20 PhD and advanced undergraduate (MSc, BSc) level students, addressing four industrial problems from leading edge technological development. The topics addressed have been different every year, although all of them has been focused on mathematical modelling of industrial problems and the training of future researchers through intensive courses and problem solving. Focused on young people, the project has prepared them for professional life, through supervised real life problem solving and oriented academic environment. The project boosts professional skills of engineers and mathematicians and improves their employability in home countries. One of the outcomes is modernizing engineering higher education with novel training methods, i.e. modeling workshops for solving real life problems, led by expert young researchers in the chosen fields. The project concept is a novel approach that assimilates features from prior European experience and successful innovative models overseas, like RIPS's model from USA. It results in development of research capacity in applied mathematics, spur science and technology education and inspire curriculum updates. Moreover, these results contributed in promoting technological development in the participating countries and modernize the education and applied research agenda in the participating departments. For students, the project has opened open more career and employment perspectives. The project introduces into European higher education a novel concept in academic research training and education of industrial mathematics by combining elements from earlier successful ideas tested worldwide. The suggested strategic partnership has generated a model case and template for similar arrangements. There are many universities and hundreds of industries in Europe and neighbouring partner countries that could implement a similar configuration in order to establish a bridge between academic mathematics, computational technology and the real world R&D.