There is a critical need for educating millions of new "ICT engineers of the 21st century" throughout the EU because they will be one of the crucial parts of the companies in the Industry 4.0 era which is ahead of us. Surely, such highly skilled professionals will be equally important for both multinational companies consisting of hundreds of thousands of employees as well as for establishing hundreds of thousands of new start-up companies. The "The ICT Engineer of the 21st Century: Mastering Technical Competencies, Management Skills, and Societal Responsibilities (TEAMSOC21)" project is a step forward in that direction, taken by consortium of 12 universities from 8 EU countries. The main objective of the TEAMSOC21 project is to set up a transnational multidisciplinary intensive study program in the field of ICT-based entrepreneurship. The TEAMSOC21 curricula, which will be available as an open educational resource (OER), consists of four main topic groups: - "entrepreneurship" as a core topic; - intercultural topics, with focus on "multicultural teams"; - ICT topics, with focus on "entrepreneurship based on ICT"; - student start-up projects, with focus on "entrepreneurial cases on how ICT can contribute to innovative societal development". „Entrepreneurship“ as a core topic of the INNOSOC curricula follows a multidisciplinary approach that includes technology innovation processes, business and management development, intellectual property, as well as technology policy issues. Intercultural part of curriculum uses interactive approach and focuses on multicultural team building through exchange of practices from different cultures and by analysing societal challenges from local, regional and global perspectives. ICT part explains why ICT is one of Key Enabling Technologies. It includes practical examples tailored specifically for TEAMSOC21 providing knowledge/insights into hot ICT topics – “entrepreneurship in ICT” and especially “entrepreneurship with ICT” – which offer potential solutions for some of the biggest societal challenges. Student "start-up projects" elaborate entrepreneurial cases related to the role of ICT in responding to societal challenges defined by "Europe 2020" and "Horizon 2020" programs. Entrepreneurial projects will be based on the “blended” mobility approach and organized in two phases: (i) preparatory (virtual mobility); and (ii) execution phase (physical mobility). Physical mobility will be implemented through three two-week Workshops hosted by partner universities in 2018 (Zagreb), 2019 (Leipzig) and 2020 (Valencia). Workshop participants will be students and professors from partner universities as well as industry/start-up experts from the hosting country. The TEAMSOC21 project aims to achieve the following Erasmus+ program objectives: - enhance relevance of student knowledge, skills and competences (especially in fields of transversal skills and entrepreneurial experiences for engineering students); - open and innovative practices for digital era (ICT is one of the central pillars of the project); - support the production and adoption of open educational resources (OER); - pursues priorities enlisted in general EU strategies ("Europa 2020, Innovation Union" - "smart, through more effective investments in education, research and innovation"), as well as specific EU strategies ("Horizon 2020" - "all societal challenges will be covered in TEAMSOC21 entrepreneurial cases" and "Education and Training 2020" - "enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship" and "making lifelong learning and mobility a reality"). Additionally, the TEAMSOC21 project aims to achieve the specific Croatian higher education objectives as well: - internationalization of higher education; - enhance mobility rates; - better link of education with the labour market. The first two specific objectives are achieved through enabling Croatian students to participate in Erasmus+ "blended mobility" as well by hosting TEAMSOC21 Intensive Program Workshop 2018 in Zagreb, while the third specific objective is targeted through the entrepreneurial-oriented cases. Implementation of the project will have positive effects on needs of participating organisations, target groups and relevant stakeholders that will be affected by the project: - Participating organisations – "TEAMSOC21 universities" – popularization of entrepreneurship among students; - Target groups – "students (and professors) at TEAMSOC 21 universities" – enhance relevance of student (and professor) knowledge, skills and competences; "high-school students from TEAMSOC21 Workshop hosting countries" – popularization of STEM studies through Multiplier Events; - Relevant stakeholders – "TEAMSOC21 countries" – better link of education with the labour market.
Europe must educate millions of new ICT engineers because they will be one of the crucial parts of the AI/ML-driven companies in the Industry 4.0 era, which is ahead of us. Surely, such highly skilled professionals will be equally crucial for both multinational companies consisting of hundreds of thousands of employees as well as for establishing hundreds of thousands of new start-up companies. The "The ICT Engineer of the 21st Century: Mastering Technical Competencies, Management Skills, and Societal Responsibilities (TEAMSOC21)" project is a step forward in that direction, taken by a consortium of 12 universities from 8 EU countries. The main objective of the TEAMSOC21 project is to set up a transnational multidisciplinary intensive study program in the field of ICT-based entrepreneurship. The TEAMSOC21 curricula, which is freely available as an open educational resource (OER), consists of four main topic groups: - "entrepreneurship" as a core topic; - intercultural topics, with focus on "multicultural teams"; - ICT topics, with focus on “entrepreneurship in ICT” and especially “entrepreneurship with ICT”; - student start-up projects, with focus on "entrepreneurial cases on how ICT can contribute to innovative societal development", related to the role of ICT in responding to societal challenges defined by "Europe 2020" and "Horizon 2020" programs. The TEAMSOC21 project successfully targeted the following Erasmus+ program objectives: - enhancing the relevance of student knowledge, skills and competences (especially in fields of transversal skills and entrepreneurial experiences for engineering students) – more than 75 students from 8 EU countries impacted; - operationalising open and innovative practices for the digital era – more than 75 students and 50 lecturers from 8 EU countries impacted; - supporting the production and adoption of open educational resources (OER) – 11 entrepreneurial cases and 30 lectures created and made freely available as OER; - pursuing priorities enlisted in general EU strategies ("Europa 2020, Innovation Union"), as well as specific EU strategies ("Horizon 2020", "Education and Training 2020") – 2 iterations of a transnational multidisciplinary intensive study program in the field of ICT-based entrepreneurship organised, involving more than 125 students and lecturers and covering all Horizon H2020 pillars. In addition to core participants (students and lecturers from the TeamSoc21 consortium), more than 250 primary school pupils and high school students, as well as their teachers, from Croatia and Spain participated in the multiplier events targeted at raising awareness and popularising STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) among potential future university students. As a result, TeamSoc21 students increased skills and knowledge related to entrepreneurship in and with ICT as well as they increased teamwork and experience working in an international and intercultural project environment. TeamSoc21 lecturers increased competencies in the use of ICT tools in educations, increased experience of teaching in the international environment, as well as increased experience in creating education materials which consider not only technical but also business and societal aspects. TeamSoc21 universities increased the internationalization of higher education and enhanced mobility rates, increased probability of new students in the area of ICT and improved links between education and labour market. Also, they enriched their curricula with open course materials on innovation and entrepreneurship as many TeamSoc21 universities are already using (or plan to use) the developed materials for existing or new subjects in their traditional study programs. Finally, high school students increased understanding of the importance of skills and knowledge needed to become a successful entrepreneur in the field of ICT, as well as they increased understanding of the importance of STEM-related studies. The TeamSoc21 consortium manages to maintain its sustainability for more than 15 years. It started as the ESM with a smaller scope of activities, built up through the SUSCOMTEC Erasmus Intensive program and continued through the INNOSOC and TeamSoc21 ERASMUS+ KA2 activities. The consortium will continue its operations within the new Erasmus+ KA2 Strategic Partnership project "Education of Future ICT Experts Based on Smart Society Needs (SmartSoc)", what will ensure the sustainability of the consortium and results created in the TeamSoc21 project because the SmartSoc project builds upon the TeamSoc21 platform both from perspectives of methodology as well as produced OER.