The “Industry 4.0” paradigm have generated new opportunities and new challenges for companies. In order to increase their competitiveness and efficiency, companies have to face the digital transformation of the production and logistics chains (smart manufacturing) and of products (smart interconnected objects). The impact of the forth industrial revolution is huge in terms of involved stakeholders and in potential economic growth. The forth industrial revolution have also triggered a huge educational challenge, bringing the need to re-train millions of employees to models and technologies unknown even ten years ago. The European Commission, in the Digital Single Market framework, has launched in 2016 the first Industry-related initiatives. However, most have been done in this year by means of single national initiatives. This approach has produced the creation of different training activities in the different countries, that lacks of a unified approach. The need to support the digital transformation of EU Industrial sector and to support the recognition of competences in this sector are the rationale behind the I4EU project. In line with the national and European policies the main objective is: - qualifying new professionals able to support the digital transformation of the European companies in the industrial sector, according to the Industry 4.0 paradigm. This objective is reached by pursuing the specifically objectives of: - sharing good practices and new business models and raising awareness about new technologies supporting the digital transformations of the industrial companies at European level; - creating VET qualifications for professionals inside European companies, enhancing their digital competences and up/re-skill them to Industry 4.0 key competences. In order to realize these objectives, the I4EU partnership has been set-up. It involves 8 partners coming from 6 different countries (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain). The partners are 3 HEIs, 1 University spin-off, 1 technological park, 2 network of companies and 1 consultancy company. The partnership ensures a very good geographical coverage and brings into the project complementary competences. The project will be realized in 36 month. A first review of the state of adoption of the Industry 4.0 model at national and European level and an assessment of the existing supporting policies will be the basis to design a Handbook, a practical guideline including examples, best practice, scenarios and suggestions for the implementations of Industry 4.0 model. Then, a competence meter will be implemented, being an online tool able to assess the level of maturity of companies and professionals towards the Industry 4.0 paradigm, while a smart industry observatory will monitor the evolution of the implementation of the Industry 4.0 model, extracting case studies and best-practices. This will lead to the design of VET qualification related to Industry 4.0, designed according to the European Lifelong Learning instruments (EQF, ECVET and EQAVET). Therefore, all the next training activities will be enclosed in framework that will allow the transparent recognition and transferability of the competences at European level. Then, in order to allow the student to acquire also practical competences, highly innovative didactic labs on Industry 4.0 will be developed. The instruments, working as virtual or remote labs, will allow the learners to make practical experiences with Industry 4.0 technologies. Finally, the target groups (companies, professionals, developers and users, researchers, learners) will be able to access the training courses at distance by means of the project web-platform. A detailed planning of the activities, accurate management and quality assurance procedures and a high commitment of all the partners are the basis for the successful implementation of the project. The project foresees 6 transnational management meetings and at least 13 virtual meetings. The project will directly impact on the European companies, in terms of staff members trained and qualified to support the digital transformation to Industry 4.0 model, on the professionals that will improve their skills and their employability, on the European Universities and VET providers, in terms of enhanced didactic offer in the Industry 4.0 sector. The project will also pay attention to ensure the involvement of an adequate percentage of women in the training activities. The I4EU 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 the transition to the Industry 4.0 models across all economic sectors, fostering the European economy grow thanks to the digital transformation of the corporate sector. This perfectly match a pillar of the European Digital Single Market strategy.
In line with the national and European policies the main objective of the I4EU project is to qualify new professionals able to support the digital transformation of the European companies in the industrial sector, according to the Industry 4.0 paradigm. This objective is reached by pursuing the specific objectives of: - sharing good practices and new business models in Industry 4.0; - raising awareness about new technologies supporting the digital transformations of the industrial companies at European level; and - creating VET qualifications for professionals inside European companies, enhancing their digital competences and up/re-skill them to Industry 4.0 key competences. The I4EU partnership, involving 8 partners coming from 6 different countries (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain), gathers 3 HEIs, 1 University spin-off, 1 technological park, 2 network of companies and 1 consultancy company. Therefore, it ensures a very good geographical coverage, which is key to a transnational approach, and brings into the project complementary competences. To realize the project objectives, an ambitious and structured set of outputs have been implemented. First, a review of the state of adoption of the Industry 4.0 model at national and European level and an assessment of the existing supporting policies provided the basis to design a Handbook, a practical guideline including examples, best practice, scenarios and suggestions for the implementations of Industry 4.0 model. Then, the implementation of a Competence Meter produced an online tool able to assess the level of maturity of companies and professionals towards the Industry 4.0 paradigm, while the building of a Smart Industry Observatory allows monitoring the evolution of the Industry 4.0 model, extracting case studies and best-practices. The design of VET Qualifications related to Industry 4.0, according to the ECVET European Lifelong Learning instruments, provided the framework that encloses all training activities and the transparent recognition and transferability of the competences at European level. The theoretical training activities are made possible through distance learning, with core Short Learning Programs and their validation instruments designed and implemented as a proper mix of original materials (video lectures, texts, and exercises) produced in several languages and deployed as Open Educational Resources (OERs). The development of highly innovative didactic labs on Industry 4.0, working as Virtual Labs, allows learners to acquire also practical competences through remote experiences with Industry 4.0 technologies. Finally, the target groups, i.e., professionals working in the European companies, including both developers and users, as well as teachers and researchers working in educational institutions, are able to access the training courses at distance by means of the project Website, which hosts a customized e-learning environment, the tool for the digital skills’ assessment, a tool for managing the virtual labs, and a private area for the internal project management. In the long-term, the project will directly impact on the European companies, in terms of staff members trained and qualified to support the digital transformation to Industry 4.0 model, and on the professionals that will improve their skills and their employability, while businesses will adopt innovative organisational structures. A special attention is paid to the involvement of an adequate percentage of women in the training activities. The I4EU qualifications, designed using the ECVET instrument, are meant to allow the transnational recognition of the acquired competences and to enhance the employability of the qualified users at European level. The produced didactic materials are also expected to have a positive effect on Universities inside the partnership (in a short term) and outside the partnership (in a longer term), by producing an update of their academic curricula, introducing in the academic offers specific courses on Industry 4.0 in order to fill the gap of skills that actually exists. The project long terms benefit will be to speed up the transition to the Industry 4.0 models across all economic sectors, fostering the European economy grow thanks to the digital transformation of the corporate sector. This perfectly match a pillar of the European Digital Single Market strategy.
The need to support the digital transformation of the EU Industrial sector and to support the recognition of competences in this sector are the rationale behind the I4EU project. As a result of the “Industry 4.0” paradigm (the so-called fourth industrial revolution), companies now face both new opportunities and new challenges due to the need for them to adapt to the digital transformation of the production and logistics chains (towards smart manufacturing) and of products (towards smart interconnected objects), in order to boost their competitiveness and efficiency. This transformation has been possible due to the simultaneous development of new technologies such as Big Data, Internet of Things, Augmented Reality, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Twin, and the impact of Industry 4.0 is huge in terms of involved stakeholders and in potential economic growth. Estimations consider that Industry 4.0 can deliver estimated annual efficiency gains in manufacturing of between 6% and 8%. The Boston Consulting Group predicts that in Germany alone, Industry 4.0 will contribute 1% per year to GDP over ten years, creating up to 390 000 jobs. The fourth industrial revolution have also triggered a huge educational challenge, with the necessity to retrain millions of workers in models and technologies that weren’t even available ten years ago. Additionally, being relatively young technologies, every year updates arises, in a continuous stream of innovation. This implies the need to re-upskill employees in a sector that involves more than 2 million companies and 33 million jobs at European level. The European Commission has adopted roadmaps in order to ensure an evolutionary perspective: in the last five years we had the “Factories of the Future 2020': Roadmap 2014-2020” (2013), the “European Roadmap for Industrial Process Automation” (2013), the “CyPhERS - Cyber-Physical European Roadmap & Strategy” (2015) and the “Strategic Research Agenda of the European Technology Platform on Smart Systems Integration” (2017). Additionally, the Digital Single Market framework, has launched in 2016 a set of Industry-related supporting initiatives. However, most have been done in this year by means of single national initiatives (e.g. “Industrie du futur” in France, “Piano Nazionale Industria 4.0” in Italy, “Industrie 4.0” in Germany, “Industria Conectada 4.0” in Spain). This approach has produced the creation of different training activities in the different countries, that lacks of a unified approach and of a methodology for the transnational recognition of competences. In order to sustain and enhance at European level these initiatives, the I4EU partnership believes that some additional actions are needed: - the adoption of common European VET frameworks for the transnational recognition of competences; - the definition of common training programs on Industry 4.0 at European level; - the sharing of good practices at European level; - the continuous update of theoretical and practical skills and competences.