Industry 4.0 and technologies related with this concept are rapidly developing and beginning to have real impact on lives of EU citizens. In order to prepare for what seems to be inevitable we need to increase the awareness of this new concept and its implications at various levels. Problems identified by project partners, in their countries, but also through wide-scale international research indicate a huge gap between provision and demand for skills related to new technologies such as robotics, 3D printing, cloud computing, VR/AR and cyber safety. Through DIRECTION 4.0 project we aim to promote these new technologies among secondary school students and motivate them to choose technical majors. DIRECTION 4.0 hence is focused on raising awareness of Industry 4.0 and developing skills that will soon be in great demand on EU labour market. Within the project several outputs will be developed, that are our response for identified problems and limitation. The project is directed at STEM teachers and their students, but other stakeholders, such as career councillors, educators or policy makers, will also benefit from the developed outputs. Even though, there is a growing number of information on technologies related to Industry 4.0, it is neither organised nor adopted to the capabilities and needs of secondary level students. The project consortium will solve this issue by designing and developing Compendium 4.0, a resource set for STEM teachers, that will incorporate comprehensive point of reference on the concept, along with ready-made programmes for extracurricular activities and methodological recommendations for implementation. This will also be supplemented by E-course and tests for students on the related subjects. Second output- 4.0 Career Roadmap, will be updated report, concerning present state of readiness for new industrial revolution, and the analysis of skills on demand. The key element of this IO is 4.0 Model Skills Set. Third output that will be developed in the projects is Space 4.0 – a toolbox for teachers, that will serve as a repository of all developed results, with supplementary materials in a form of E-course and Skills verification set. It will also be a place where teachers can exchange their ideas on implementing elements of Industry 4.0 in education and upload/download related didactic materials. The partners in the project are: 1. ECAM-EPMI (France) – project coordinator, expert in the Smart factories , 2. MECB (Malta) – expert in AR/VR 3. Danmar Computers LLC (Poland) – expert in cyber safety 4. COIN (Greece) – expert on cloud computing 5. Ludor (Romania) – expert in 3D printing 6. Stucom (Spain) – expert in robotics 7. Mattei (Italy) – secondary school, responsible for methodological support and pilot testing of Space 4.0 The consortium is constructed from partners specialising in particular fields of Industry 4.0, that will develop the didactic materials and digital tools. All the results will be produced in close cooperation with school, that will help to evaluate and fine-tune the outputs in the process of pilot testing.
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.)