 The TransIT project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, develops and provides innovative curricula, educational methods and training courses that guarantee an effective transition to Industry 4.0 standards.
The project will provide a solution for company leaders, industry executives, HR professionals, SMEs and VET centers. Partners in the project are: Trebag (Hungary), NUI Galway (Ireland), Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia - Institute for Business Education, Weople (Portugal), KISMC (Bulgaria), IDEC (Greece), ARTO (Hungary), Robot-X (Hungary). The TransIT project will produce three main elements that together will form a complete training kit, whereas each element will offer strong capacity building and help to successful adjust to the forthcoming challenges of Industry 4.0 standards.
For more information on the project read here.  Did you know that SMEs represent 99% of all businesses in the EU? Or that statistics from the European Commission (EC) outline that in the past five years SMEs have created around 85% of new jobs and have provided two-thirds of the total private sector employment in the EU? The availability of skilled labour is an important prerequisite to the SMEs’ prosperity, however, there is a mismatch between the skills the labour market demands and those that the education and training system provides. In order to tackle this mismatch, the EC has identified that quality work-based learning (WBL) and apprenticeships can be an efficient way of addressing labour market imbalances. What is work-based learning?“Acquisition of knowledge and skills through ‘carrying out – and reflecting on – tasks in a vocational context, either at the workplace (such as alternance training) or in a VET (vocational education and training) institution”. What is apprenticeship? “Systematic, long-term training alternating periods at the workplace and in an educational institution or training center. The apprentice is contractually linked to the employer and receives remuneration (wage or allowance). The employer assumes responsibility”.  In countries, where there is a well-established apprenticeship system, such as UK, Austria and Germany, SMEs contribute strongly to the training of the future workforce through their involvement in work-based learning and apprenticeship schemes. On the contrary, in countries with more school-based systems such as Slovakia, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Bulgaria, the engagement of SMEs in the supply of placements is more challenging as they lack the support systems and fail to realize both the financial and social benefits. Based on this need, the project - “Return on Investment of Work Based learning and apprenticeships” (project N°: 2017-1-SK01-KA202-035375) suggests the development of a return on investment (RoI) model and digital tool that will allow European SMEs to calculate and visualize how investment on WBL and apprenticeships can manifest to multiple benefits, especially economic benefits, which you can have a glimpse on below. 10 Economic benefits for SMEs
 ConclusionIn conclusion, there are a number of key benefits of work-based learning and apprenticeships for SMEs, which are not always considered by the companies. If you are leading one of the 99% of SMEs in the EU, wouldn't you want to increase your productivity and innovation capacity? Or strengthen your brand as an employer, develop your talent in-hose and increase your retention rate? Overall, wouldn't you want to decrease your talent acquisition costs? If every employer asks themselves these questions, it appears significantly evident how important it is to review their practices regarding work-based learning and apprenticeships and to better evaluate their future investment. However, more awareness needs to be raised about the benefits of WBL and apprenticeship among SMEs as well as support. “Return on Investment of Work Based learning and apprenticeships”, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union has developed a return on investment (RoI) model and digital tool that allows European SMEs to calculate and visualize how investment on WBL and apprenticeships can manifest to multiple benefits.
 The international conference "Digital Skills & Innovation @2030" that took place on 11 July 2018 in Sofia, Bulgaria was attended by more than 150 delegates from various countries. The event was organised by the two partners of the "Design Thinking for Digital Innovation' Project - DigiThink No. 2016-1-BG01-KA203-023719 - KISMC and ULSIT, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. The conference was organised to reveal the results of the 2-years DigiThink project, where 6 organisations were working together: KISMC - Bulgaria, State University of Library Studies and IT - Bulgaria, University of Deusto - Spain, Tecnalia - Spain, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra - Slovakia, Training 2000 - Italy. In addition to that, the international conference "Digital Skills & Innovation @2030" brought together innovation and digital experts, entrepreneurs, investors, academicians, professionals and stakeholders in the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. During the event like-minded people had the opportunity to exchange views on various topics in the digital, innovation and entrepreneurship space and discuss potential collaboration. After months of preparation and hard work during the conference all DigiThink project partners shared the results of the project, whereas the conference had amazing speakers from the UK, Spain, Italy, Romania, the Netherlands, Macedonia and Bulgaria. Moreover, the conference had a workshop panel during which all delegates had a chance to participate in a competition game for design thinking, focused on the digitization and transformation of Sofia into a smart city and during the process they had to generate and share ideas and solutions in this direction. The event was full of excitement, great networking over glasses of wine and plenty of follow ups bringing potential opportunities for everyone. If you didn't have a chance to join us at this illuminating event, we have recapped it in 13 interesting insights from the speakers, therefore please check them out below: 1. Design Thinking for DigiThinkAn approach based on Design Thinking was followed in the “Digithink” Project.
 Source: University of Deusto
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1. Innovation for collaboration needs a structured process
Innovation plays a focal role in the university and business collaboration BUT this role needs to be structured the same way innovation is a systematic process. Therefore, after trials and erros for 2 years the APInno project established an innovation management methodology which is based on expriential learning in order to bridge the large gap between what workforce universities 'produce' and what companies actually need. The methodology shows us that from the messy idea generation moment through concept development and pipeline management, execution and implementation have to follow.
2. The university model requires a fundamental change
The public is already beginning to question the value higher education provides to society. It is obvious that things need to change as we can all observe how students have troubles finding appropriate jobs after graduating and trying to settle their debts which they took to be able to study at a university. Therefore, instead of making money and contributing to the economy, students waste time and incur expenses. Yes, the university model needs to be fundamentally altered so they could feed businesses with the energy and enthusiasm of skillful employees ready to 'fight' in a competitive world where innovation is not only a buzz word but reality.
3. Innovation is not about technology at all
We see new mindsets, new generations, new organisations appearing on the horizon. We also see new markets emerging. The world has moved from having thousands of businesses each with millions of customers to millions of businesses with hundreds of thousands of customers. This is a result from shifting to technology-supported industries. However, innovation is not about technology at all, it is about how we efficiently and effectively use what we have in order to produce value for ourselves and others.
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4. Design thinking - a buzz word for business success?
Perhaps most people have already observed that creativity and innovation have become buzzwords for business success, followed by terms such as ‘Design Thinking’ creeping into business education. However, some research shows us that there is around 20% decline in creative capacity of learners in the past 20 years. In an era when creativity is in demand, we need to first understand the creative thinking process and the difference between implementation (doing things that are determined by others and matching against their expectations) and innovation (producing multiple and varied solutions that respond to change and often surprise).
5. Entrepreneurs have to focus on designing
The entrepreneurial journey is simple: starts from an idea, right through a business model to the business plan. However, entrepreneurs need to take into consideration the market desirability, financial viability and technical feasibility of the business they are trying to establish. Therefore, designing a business model is the essence of a business opportunity, whether it is to be pursued in a start-up, corporate venturing or social entrepreneurial setting.
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6. Balance the academic and commercial interests
Universities are a great source for technological opportunities for creating high-technology ventures. Despite that, universities are generally characterized as having weak capabilities for the development of commercial applications. The academic culture values getting its hands on research, but the commercial and entrepreneurial aspect comes right outside it and this is a sensitive issue. Academia has to develop not only creative and confident minds but commercially oriented graduates prepared for the business challenges they will come across.
7. Internships and real work for students is a must
The APInno project has proven once again the importance of business and academia partnership. But the collaboration focuses on the topic of innovation and this has brought new amazing ideas for future work on assisting the two parties. The project sets out important points to look at, for example, how such collaboration can accelerate the university-work transition for students through internships and how setting real innovation challenges to be solved by students could be a real asset for businesses. Indeed, it's a win-win for everyone.
Don’t miss out on a conference programme featuring speakers from the UK, Spain, South Africa, Romania and Bulgaria who have international exprience in various industries in the area of innovation, entrepreneurship and education.
The event is almost fully booked and we don’t want you to miss out on this opportunity where you have the chance to not only get into great discussions Innovation in Education & Education in Innovation, but play games and network with over 150 guests from 15+ countries.
The event is almost fully booked and we don’t want you to miss out on this opportunity where you have the chance to not only get into great discussions Innovation in Education & Education in Innovation, but play games and network with over 150 guests from 15+ countries.
With only a few days until the "INNOVATION - Creating the Future" conference opens its doors on 21 November 2016 in Sofia, Bulgaria, there are still 18 places left (at the time of speaking). Of course, if these are taken up fast, then you would get on our reserve list and wait until someone already registered drops out. Therefore, you could still have a chance to make the most of such an event and network with all the international delegates on coffee, lunch and a glass of wine by REGISTERING NOW.
Having in mind that the conference does not have a registration fee, all you need to do is hurry up and go to the event page, review the information and register as soon as possible in order to secure your spot at the conference.
REMINDER: The conference registration is by 17 November 2016
The focus of "Innovation - Creating the Future" would be on opportunities and challenges businesses and universities face in working together for mutual benefits. It will give you the opportunity be to contribute to a positive change in the business-university collaboration through innovation.
In this blog publication we are presenting the discussion panels speakers of the international conference "INNOVATION - Creating the Future" which will take place on 21 November 2016 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
We have experts and professionals with experience in the field of innovation, entrepreneurship, new business model generation, knowledge management, open innovation and social innovation, design thinking, R&D, business development, startups, NGOs, etc. In the meantime, if you are also curious to review the experience of our keynote speakers, you can find more information here.
With the event approaching in less than a week and registration closing on 17 November, you can review the speakers at the two discussion panels Innovation in Education & Education in Innovation below and decide if you would like to come and meet all the speakers and international guests from over 15 countries (the number keeps growing with every post we write).
We have experts and professionals with experience in the field of innovation, entrepreneurship, new business model generation, knowledge management, open innovation and social innovation, design thinking, R&D, business development, startups, NGOs, etc. In the meantime, if you are also curious to review the experience of our keynote speakers, you can find more information here.
With the event approaching in less than a week and registration closing on 17 November, you can review the speakers at the two discussion panels Innovation in Education & Education in Innovation below and decide if you would like to come and meet all the speakers and international guests from over 15 countries (the number keeps growing with every post we write).
- Innovation in Education - best innovation practices in education and the contribution of businesses to the business-university collaboration
- Education in Innovation - best practices of education contributing to the business innovation and collaboration of academia with organisations
Innovation in Education
Estíbaliz Hernandez is a researcher at Mondragon Innovation & Knowledge (MIK), the research center for organizational management of Mondragon Corporation and is also the Director of the Degree in Business Administration at the Faculty of Business of Mondragon University (Basque Country, Spain), where she is a lecturer too. Both MIK and the University of Mondragon are part of the Mondragon Corporation, a leading Spanish business group, integrated by 250 business cooperatives with presence in 41 countries that employs more than 80 000 people. Her research has been mainly conducted in the field of innovation, entrepreneurship, new business model generation and knowledge management. She is a PhDc in the domain of User Driven Innovation in Service Industries, and holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Deusto (Spain) and the Hoge Hotelschool Maastricht (Holland) and an MBA Master from the University of Mondragon (Spain).
Pilar Tovar is a Social Educator and Educational Psychologist who works at Fondo Formación Euskadi (Trápaga, Basque Country). She holds a Master Degree on Human Resources and a Master Degree (with Honours) on Social Innovation and Culture Industries and is also an expert on Community Correct Process (PROCC Methodology). For several years, she has jointly been leading Demola Basque Country node as part of the Demola network: a co-creation and open innovation project. Pilar, along with her team, guides companies and students by giving them the opportunity to work together, learn from each other and develop new joint solutions (DEMOS) in a highly innovative environment. As a coach, mentor and facilitator of these projects, she designs her own tools and methodology in social business (Value creation proposition) and open innovation ("Design Thinking", "Thinking out of the box", "learning by doing and solving problems"). Pilar is also a social entrepreneur. For years she has been leading projects with schools, Public Care centers and the Community in healthy diet, launching building relationship promoting social Cohesion, networks, etc.
Magda Ropotan is an Innovation Consultant and Design Thinking Facilitator from Romania. After 13 years of working in human resources for large corporations, such as Honeywell, Genpact and IKEA, both in Romania and internationally, Magda moved into consultancy, supporting companies to innovate organically through the creativity and involvement of their own employees. Her clients range throughout Europe for whom she facilitates innovation projects, training, coaching and consultancy for their innovation strategy. She is also teaching innovation classes within several entrepreneurship education programs in Romania. Magda holds a degree in Robotics Engineering and studied about innovation, foresight, design thinking and trends in Silicon Valley, Denmark and Netherlands.
Watch the conference video now!
Education in Innovation
Ruslan Papazyan is the Regional Managing Director of Trelleborg Sealing Solutions responsible for Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Serbia, Belarus, Ukraine and is also Head of Trelleborg’s Export Markets in South-East Europe, Middle East and Africa. Before joining Trelleborg he held various positions in ABB Sweden such as manager business development, group manager R&D and R&D project manager. He graduated the Electrical Engineering Department of the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden as a Doctor of Science. Ruslan also won a prize for best R&D in the field of maintenance techniques for the electric power industry from the Swedish Electrical Utilities' R&D Company - ELFORSK. He holds an MBA from the University of Sheffield and had been rewarded “Next Generation Manager” amongst 54 Bulgarian managers.
Steve Stott is an experienced offline and online multi-channel retailer with a passion for helping people succeed with over 20 years multi-level retail experience providing support, training and motivation to start-ups and growth companies. Having set up and ran a successful online business he understands the unpredictable world of running your own business. Steve is currently offering business consultation in collaboration with DEW (Developing Entrepreneurial Winners).
Svetlana Lomeva was appointed Director of the Sofia Development Association by the Sofia Municipal Council. She holds an MA degree in Political Science from Sofia University. She has been Deputy Minister of Education, Youth, and Science (2009 – 2010). Mrs. Lomeva is one of the founders and Director of the Bulgarian School of Politics (2001 – 2009) and the Political Academy for Central and Southeastern Europe. Svetlana has had several specialisations at Robert Schumann Institute, Budapest; the American University in Bulgaria; the Council of Europe.
On 25 October 2016 the Sofia City of Knowledge Cluster (SCKC) was established where the Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club is one of the 26 founding members.
The initiative of founding the cluster is a common endeavor of a group of entitites located in Sofia such as science, education and business representatives which are all supported by the Sofia Municipality in response to the need of creating conditions for the implementation of the Strategy for Smart Specialisation of Sofia.
The SCKC aims at transforming the city into a national and regional centre for education, advanced research, innovation and entrepreneurship based on information and communication technologies.
The initiative of founding the cluster is a common endeavor of a group of entitites located in Sofia such as science, education and business representatives which are all supported by the Sofia Municipality in response to the need of creating conditions for the implementation of the Strategy for Smart Specialisation of Sofia.
The SCKC aims at transforming the city into a national and regional centre for education, advanced research, innovation and entrepreneurship based on information and communication technologies.
On 7 May 2015 an interactive workshop was held at Middlesex University where the draft methodology based on initial research under the Erasmus + Project - Action Project for Innovation (APInno) was presented and discussed. Feedback from delegates was gathered and reflected in the revised methodology and final outcomes. The presentation was followed by a practical workshop where delegates were given the opportunity to experience the proposed learning methodology through real business challenges.
Action Programme for Innovation (APInno) involves partners from across the EU to develop a methodology to facilitate the transfer of innovation skills from Higher Education Institutes (HEI) to business. The project aims to develop an experiential learning programme (at degree and/or masters level) as part of the HE curriculum.
This will integrate the critical fundamentals of business, innovation management, growth, competitive dynamics and market simulation. The planned outcome will be the development of innovative course materials, online tools and a platform enabling idea generation and capture; including team work and analysis at successive stages of the curriculum, through to the final presentations.
Participants from academia and business had the opportunity to network and discuss the draft methodology to date and played interactive games where the entrepreneurs and business delegates had to solve specific challenges.
Action Programme for Innovation (APInno) involves partners from across the EU to develop a methodology to facilitate the transfer of innovation skills from Higher Education Institutes (HEI) to business. The project aims to develop an experiential learning programme (at degree and/or masters level) as part of the HE curriculum.
This will integrate the critical fundamentals of business, innovation management, growth, competitive dynamics and market simulation. The planned outcome will be the development of innovative course materials, online tools and a platform enabling idea generation and capture; including team work and analysis at successive stages of the curriculum, through to the final presentations.
Participants from academia and business had the opportunity to network and discuss the draft methodology to date and played interactive games where the entrepreneurs and business delegates had to solve specific challenges.
‘Action Project for Innovation’ (APInno) is an exciting project aiming at fostering the collaboration between businesses and universities by developing an innovative approach and methodology for teaching Innovation Management. APInno is co-funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus + Programme 2014-2020 (the EU Programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport, Key Action 2 - Cooperation for innovation and exchange of good practices) after submitting an application in April 2014 and being successfully approved to work on tackling the future challenges that higher education and business organisations are facing and ways in which innovation management can help mitigate the effects of the rapidly changing world.
The project will be executed in 2015-2016 by a balanced partnership which includes two HEIs (Higher Educational Institutions), two SMEs, a Research Centre and an NGO active in HEI-business collaboration and adult training from four different countries - Bulgaria, Italy, Spain and the UK - KISMC, University of Library Studies and Information Technologies, Anfi Ventures, Tecnalia, JODA Training and Middlesex University.
The project will be executed in 2015-2016 by a balanced partnership which includes two HEIs (Higher Educational Institutions), two SMEs, a Research Centre and an NGO active in HEI-business collaboration and adult training from four different countries - Bulgaria, Italy, Spain and the UK - KISMC, University of Library Studies and Information Technologies, Anfi Ventures, Tecnalia, JODA Training and Middlesex University.
Innovation + Education
On the one hand, innovation - the ability to reap the rewards of scientific achievements - requires much more than the ability to turn a new idea into a working product. It requires the systematic and holistic approach of innovation management. On the other hand, education is on the dynamic path of change and modernisation where it becomes necessary to embrace new innovative cross-functional and cross-disciplinary approaches, to engage business, external stakeholders, the public, researchers and other third parties.
As most of us are aware, the Europe 2020 strategy, its Flagship Initiatives and the Modernisation Agenda of European universities put knowledge at the heart of the Union’s efforts for achieving smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. It is crucial to include practical experience in courses which will help attune curricula to current and emerging labour market needs and foster employability and entrepreneurship (Agenda for the modernisation of Europe's higher education systems, 2011).
As most of us are aware, the Europe 2020 strategy, its Flagship Initiatives and the Modernisation Agenda of European universities put knowledge at the heart of the Union’s efforts for achieving smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. It is crucial to include practical experience in courses which will help attune curricula to current and emerging labour market needs and foster employability and entrepreneurship (Agenda for the modernisation of Europe's higher education systems, 2011).
APInno Outputs
The main output of the APInno project, which is entirely focused on developing an Innovation Management methodology and an Innovation Management course, specialised training materials and most importantly a guide for business-academia collaboration, is to contribute to the future approaches of engaging all parties such as academia, businesses, researchers. These will help HEIs and SMEs to develop new practices to systematically manage their potential for innovation and identify the best ways for triggering creativity.
Most importantly, looking at the longterm benefits of this project, SMEs will gain higher awareness of the role Innovation Management plays in shaping their future so they can compete in the business environment by using creative approaches and encouraging innovation via engaging with young people eager to work with businesses. Also, academic institutions and researchers will be able to build models and identify upcoming challenges in the above mentioned field as well as provide ready solutions; the Guide for business-academia collaboration will then be easily replicated along with the APInno experiential model.
KISMC and the other partners in the project will be keeping you posted about the thrilling activities of APInno in the KISMC social media channels as well as on the project website: www.apinno.eu
Most importantly, looking at the longterm benefits of this project, SMEs will gain higher awareness of the role Innovation Management plays in shaping their future so they can compete in the business environment by using creative approaches and encouraging innovation via engaging with young people eager to work with businesses. Also, academic institutions and researchers will be able to build models and identify upcoming challenges in the above mentioned field as well as provide ready solutions; the Guide for business-academia collaboration will then be easily replicated along with the APInno experiential model.
KISMC and the other partners in the project will be keeping you posted about the thrilling activities of APInno in the KISMC social media channels as well as on the project website: www.apinno.eu
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