In recent years, EU policies have given greater attention to ICT skills, and in particular to the employment of ICT specialists. The recently updated Digital Single Market strategy emphasises the need for policies designed to boost stability in European labour markets and improve the EU’s competitive position. Monitoring the employment of ICT specialists has therefore become increasingly important. This applies not only to students with ICT background, but also others coming from Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) such as psychology, communication, business and fine arts or languages backgrounds that can find solutions to problems facing humanity, whether these can be solved by technology or not. The final aim is to upskill creative thinkers to lead digital strategies of the companies. These strategies will be implemented by ICT experts who will be able to develop tools and solutions using Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence or Blockchain. The IoToAI project will also promote complementary skills such as: Quality, risk and safety; Management, leadership and entrepreneurial; Communication; Innovation; Emotional intelligence and the ability to consider ethical implications. This is in alignment with the report of the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) “Skills for Smart Industrial Specialisation and Digital Transformation” and with the European Vision for high-tech T-shaped skills for 2030. IoToAI project has the following specific objectives: • Analyse national VET curricula related to ICT to see how they can be updated with digital skills that are in demand (especially those related with AI, IoT, Cloud and blockchain) , by different business sectors • Analyse SSH higher education curricula that could be empowered by the knowledge of non high technical skills in AI and big data analysis. • Upskill non-technical highly qualified workers to deliver digital strategies in businesses related to their background • Upskill technical workers (especially in the field of VET) to undertake digital strategies in a broad range of business. • Provide the VET teachers with the right tools to identify the pedagogical model for the teacher training IoToAI comprises of 5 partners from 3 different countries (UK, Italy and Spain). The consortium is led by the biggest VET college in Northern Ireland (Belfast Metropolitan College), one higher education technical institution (UPCT), one VET provider of digital strategies for company leaders (IONOLOGY), one VET institution that focuses on delivering training related to ICT (SKILLSDIVERS) and one NGO (CEIPES) specializing in improving methodologies and technologies in the field of education, developing innovative strategies and participatory tools in the work with youth and adult. In order to achieve our objectives, three intellectual outputs will be developed: - A skills needs report to be delivered to VET authorities in order to show training gaps in ICT and SSH degrees in relation to digitization in businesses. - An academic curriculum will be designed and developed. It will include topics such as Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Blockchain, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence at technical and business levels. - A Toolkit for teachers will also be developed for Blended Learning in VET and will incorporate IoToAI topics. To enhance the impact of the project, 4 dissemination events (three local and one international) will be organized to reach more than 180 stakeholders, including VET teachers, researchers and education authorities. With these results, we aim to develop a specific and innovative training for modernizing workers' and students' profiles. The industry will be also benefit if technicians have the opportunity to apply the knowledge acquired in the training course within their factories or sectors, as they could be working within the ICT departments that are in charge. At the same time, young employees with a completely different professional background but with high IT affinity will be attracted to be part of the relevant department. This project will contribute to a higher quality of education and training offering by developing different training paths for VET students and attracting HE graduates to an innovative VET. As a medium/long term strategy, the digital transformation cannot be ignored as it is essential to improve the competitiveness of the EU industry. In order to do so, there is utmost need to update the skills of European workers and provide recommendations at training level.
The IoToAI project has 5 specific objectives. Firstly, it was to analyse the national VET curricula related to ICT to see how they could be updated with digital skills that are in demand and are specifically related to Artificial Intelligence, IOT and Cloud in different business sectors. The second objective is to examine the SSH (Social Sciences Humanities) HE that could be improved by the knowledge of non-high technical skills in AI and Big Data Analysis. Thirdly is to upskill non technical highly qualified workers so that they are able to deliver digital strategies in businesses that relate to their background. Another objective is to upskill technical workers to look into and develop digital strategies in a range of businesses. Lastly, VET tutors are an important part of the bigger picture so a pedagogical model for teacher training has been identified and a handbook was produced to support them. As this project started before we knew about the pandemic, it actually became even more important to develop such materials as they provide support across the VET strata for tutors in terms of Output 2 and output 3 and for learners to access the online learning materials in the safety of their homes.
This project was applied for to be in-line with and to support the recent EU policies that are giving greater attention to ICT skills, especially the employment of ICT specialists. In order to boost the stability in the European labour markets and to improve the EU’s competitive position, it is important to monitor the employment of ICT specialists, not just those with ICT background but also those with Social Sciences and Humanities specialities. The importance of this has been reflected in the recently updated Digital Single Market strategy. The needs addressed are the upskilling of EU workers to acquire higher end skills to prevent the loss of key ICT jobs to other regions of the world. This is achieved by targeting groups of relevant audience such as initial VET students, current/continuing VET students, VET authorities, teachers, VET schools and Industries. The final aim is to tutor and upskill a creative thinker to lead digital strategies in companies. These strategies were implemented by ICT experts who developed tools and solutions using the Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence or Blockchain. We therefore applied for this project with four specific objectives to achieve and three intellectual outputs to develop to ensure that the objectives were met and the needs were addressed. We had also been mindful in the selection of partners. Partners were selected for their strengths and the contributions they could bring to make this project a success .