Cloud computing is now defining the future in ICT, facilitating new corporate and entrepreneurship models at all levels. It is a breakthrough paradigm that, applied to companies, public administrations and Universities, can enhance their innovation, cost-effectiveness and competitiveness. The European Commission has evidenced the great value that cloud computing technologies can have for the development of the European Union both in terms of economical growth and employability opportunities, and therefore has recently set-up the European Cloud Computing Strategy in order to speed up and increase the use of cloud computing across all economic sectors. The IN-CLOUD proposal intends to operate pursuing the objectives of the European Cloud Computing Strategy, with the general objective of: - fostering a partnership between Higher Education and the corporate sector, in order to qualify new professionals able to boost the competitiveness and growth of European Companies and Universities, thanks to the advantages offered by the cloud computing technology. This objective is reached by pursuing the specific objectives of: - raising awareness among European Companies, Public Administrations and Universities regarding how cloud computing can boost economical growth and innovation - creating VET qualifications for professionals inside European Companies and Public Administrations, training them to introduce and manage cloud computing technologies and services inside their systems In order to realize these objectives, the IN-CLOUD partnership has been set-up. It involves 8 partners coming from 6 different countries (Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom). The partners are 3 HEIs, 1 SME, 1 Local Development Agency, 1 Technological Park, 1 Business Advisory/Incubator and 1 expert of VET qualifications. The partnership ensures a very good geographical coverage and puts together complementary competences. The project will be developed in 24 months. At first, after assessing the cloud computing actual uses and business potential, a training needs analysis will state the existing and ideal skills to be acquired, defining the tailor-made learning process. The main project outputs are a set of VET qualifications in the area of cloud computing, designed according to the European Lifelong Learning instruments (EQF, ECVET and EQAVET), in order to allow the IN-CLOUD users to acquire certifications that can be spent in the labour market. The qualifications will be at different levels (from EQF4 to EQF7) and will be awarded by the consortium after the successful attendance of training courses, what will be produced during the project. The target groups (company employees, public administration employees, researchers, students) will be able to access the training courses at distance by means of the project web-platform and also on the satellite tv. In addition to the training courses, the partners will record showcases and video interviews to experts in the sector of cloud computing, to be produced as short video and made available on the project web-site. The aim is to enrich the available didactic material with evidences of real application of the cloud computing technology. Finally, a virtual bootcamp will be set-up in order to concretely support companies and public administration interested to introduce different kinds of cloud computing in their systems. The virtual bootcamp will be an online application that, identifying the user’s characteristics and needs, will propose a customized guided path, including training activities, learning materials, showcases, hints for potential applications, supporting the customer to identify the specific needed applications/services and the procedures to introduce them in its infrastructure. The project will be realized thanks to an accurate planning of the activities, an accurate management and quality assurance and an high commitment of all the partners. The project foresees 4 transnational management meetings and at least 11 virtual meetings. The project will directly impact on the European companies and public administrations, in terms of staff members trained and qualified to use cloud computing technologies and services, of the European Universities, in terms of enhancement of the didactic offer on cloud computing in order to better meet the requests of the labour market, of the students and professionals, in terms of better employability chances. The IN-CLOUD qualifications, designed using the ECVET instrument, will allow the transnational recognition of the acquired competences and will enhance the employability of the qualified users at European level. The project long terms benefit will be to speed up and increase the use of cloud computing across all economic sectors, according to the European Cloud Computing Strategy, and to foster a close partnership between Universities and companies on the cloud computing.
Cloud computing is now defining the future in ICT, facilitating new corporate and entrepreneurship models at all levels. It is a breakthrough paradigm that, applied to companies, public administrations and Universities, can enhance their innovation, cost-effectiveness and competitiveness. The European Commission has evidenced the great value that cloud computing technologies can have for the development of the European Union both in terms of economical growth and employability opportunities, and therefore has recently set-up the European Cloud Computing Strategy in order to speed up and increase the use of cloud computing across all economic sectors. The IN-CLOUD project has operated pursuing the objectives of the European Cloud Computing Strategy, with the general objective of: - fostering a partnership between Higher Education and the corporate sector, in order to qualify new professionals able to boost the competitiveness and growth of European Companies and Universities, thanks to the advantages offered by the cloud computing technology. This objective has been reached by pursuing the specific objectives of: - raising awareness among European Companies, Public Administrations and Universities regarding how cloud computing can boost economical growth and innovation - creating VET qualifications for professionals inside European Companies and Public Administrations, training them to introduce and manage cloud computing technologies and services inside their systems In order to realize these objectives, the IN-CLOUD partnership has been set-up. It has involved 8 partners coming from 6 different countries (Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom). The partners are 3 HEIs, 1 SME, 1 Local Development Agency, 1 Technological Park, 1 Business Advisory/Incubator and 1 VET expert. The partnership ensures a very good geographical coverage and puts together complementary competences. The project has been developed in 24 months. At first, a training needs analysis has been performed in order to identify the real labour market needs related to the Cloud, defining the tailor-made learning process. The main project outputs have been a set of VET qualifications in the area of cloud computing, designed according to the European Lifelong Learning instruments (EQF, ECVET and EQAVET), in order to allow the IN-CLOUD learners to acquire certifications that can be recognized spent in the European labour market. The partnership has also produced all the contents of the training courses and delivered them through the project e-learning platform. Additionally, the partnership has collected 41 video interviews to experts and 17 showcases that have enriched the courses as proofs of real uses of cloud technologies. The qualifications have been awarded by the consortium after the successful attendance of training courses. At the end of the project more than 1100 registrations to the courses have been recorded and more than 300 certificates have been awarded, that is about twice as much as expected. Finally, the project has also developed a virtual bootcamp, an innovative online tool based on adaptive learning methodologies. It is able to identify the learners’ characteristics and needs and then propose a customized learning path to fulfil his expectations and didactic needs. The training courses contents, the virtual bootcamp, the project website and most of the project outcomes have been produced in the six languages of the partnership, in order to achieve an higher impact. A relevant number of members among the identified the target groups (company employees, public administration employees, teachers and trainers, researchers, students) has been reached through the 11 in-presence national stakeholders’ meeting and through a wide number of activities on the web. More than 15000 contacts have been recorded on the project website, more than 700 visualization on the project Youtube channel, more than 200 participants to the national stakeholders meetings proof the relevant impact of the project. The project has directly impacted on the European companies, public administrations and educational institutions, in terms of staff members trained and qualified to use cloud computing technologies and services. It has also an impact on European Universities, in terms of enhancement of the didactic offer on cloud computing in order to better meet the requests of the labour market, and on the students and professionals, in terms of better employability chances. The IN-CLOUD qualifications, designed using the ECVET instrument, allows the transnational recognition of the acquired competences and will enhance the employability of the qualified learners at European level. The project long terms benefit will be to speed up and increase the use of cloud computing across all economic sectors, according to the European Cloud Computing Strategy, and to foster a close partnership between HEIs and companies on the cloud computing.