We, the Board of Directors and the Team at KISMC, are extremely sad to announce to all club members, partners, friends and supporters that Marionela Simova is no longer among us. Following a brief period of illness she sadly left us. Marionela was a co-founder, project manager and a well-respected colleague at KISMC.

Marionela played a crucial part in the set up of the club back in 2012. She was extremely dedicated and with a very high level of professionalism she helped to get it off the ground successfully. She enthusiastically supported the foundations of KISMC and participated actively in the management of all projects - some have already been successfully completed, others are still in implementation. Marionela strongly believed in the mission of our organization and had always dedicated her time and experience voluntarily to achieve the goals of the club.

She will stay in our hearts forever!

​The picture is worth a thousand words - Fred R. Barnard.
​
The map of digital and smart disruptions provides an easy for understanding and learning overview and analysis of how digital and disruptive technologies (innovations) do shape the smart city concept. The map includes the results generated by the focus group and corrected later by the partners with the results from the research on the technologies advances, level of change and impact, performance, purpose, and fit.

The map is a two-dimensional cross factorial analysis matrix made with different instruments in diverse forms (Fig.1). 

Fig.1. Mapping the disruptive smart city technologies (the filled areas are only exemplary)
​

The process is placed in a focus group that is facilitated by the leader of the mapping process. A mapping process in a such group involves five steps that can take place in a period of time, planned for the output and depending on the project development situation.
​

1. The first step is preparation of the focus group. There are three things to be done here. The leader of the mapping process identifies who the participants will be in the focus group. It is a relatively small group of participants from the stakeholders involved (8-10 persons). Then, the leader works with the participants to develop the focus for the project. In this case, the group is focused on defining what the smart city disruption technologies are and on choosing what challenges (problems) areas to map (prognosis) in all of the outcomes (impacts) they might expect to be seen as a result.
   
   
2. In the second step (generation step) the participants in the focus group develop a large set of statements that address this focus. They generate statements that describe the advanced technologies that are currently used in smart city areas and mark what is their level of penetration. They also generate statements describing specific outcomes that might occur as a result of the implementation of these technologies. A wide variety of methods can be used to accomplish this including traditional brainstorming, and so on.
   
   The group will generate finally many and diverse statements for possible current and future applications of smart disruptive technologies in smart cities, answering the following questions:
   - What of the city’s challenges (problems) do you know as already resolved based on the defined in the first stage smart city disruptive technologies?
   - What other challenges (problems) could be resolved with the smart city disruptive technologies in the cities of future?
   
   
3. In the third, the structuring step, the participants select and sort the statements into groups (clusters) of similar ones, and every participant rate each of the statements on some scale for their relative importance and level of penetration of the technologies in the respective areas, from the 1-to-5 scale. In this stage, the group can use the results from facts finding and studies that are already in place done by the project partners. The participants in the group can receive, use, and interpret the gathered reports, analyses, and the open access papers on emerging & smart disruptive technologies and their use before the final evaluation (scoring).
   
   
4. The fourth, the representation stage is where the analysis is done - this is the process of taking the sort and rating input and “representing” it in a matrix form. Every group of similar statements and received scoring on the level of penetration will be located in a proper and logically defined field of the matrix. So, every area in the result will be filled or empty. The empty fields will have to be analysed in-depth and the marked field will have a group of statements that well describe the current and future situation of the smart city disruptive technologies and their possible impact.
   ​
5. Finally, the utilization and interpretation step involves the use of the map to help address the original focus. On the programme side, the maps can be used as a visual framework to prove the results of the analyses and the reports that the partners have generated or for their possible improvements. The map can be used for developing measures and displaying results and for further analyses and planning when a scenario approach is needed. The interpretation is easy. The empty or low-level evaluated areas, if they are not resulting in a lack of competences and information, will generate opportunities for the business to proactive product/services development, investing in R&D and for upskilling new talents.

​

The Article was first published on the Smart by Design website, blog content.

This article is animated by the interim results of an ongoing Erasmus+ project named Smart technologies by design (Smart by Design).
​
The project is being carried out by the following partners:

• KISMC - an innovation management organization that is focused on developing competences in innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship
• GAIA - a cluster & BSO that unites companies from the knowledge and applied technologies industries and supports policy and deployment of ICT, Engineering and Electronics in Basque Country;
• DEUSTO - leading university in Spain specialized in educating & training in the innovation and entrepreneurship, design thinking and IoT& Smart city solutions through its Business School and the Faculty of Engineering;
• United Academics - a Foundation in the Netherlands that promotes, supports and maintains open-access library and publishing that results in faster scientific communication, wider influences of scientific knowledge on the industry, government, and education,
• ARIES - industrial cluster and BSO that contributes in designing & implementing the smart city strategy of Cluj in Romania, supports digital transformation and creates digital innovation hubs;
• ULSIT - Bulgarian state university of bibliography and information technology.    

In a number of articles the project partners of Smart by Design present their findings and deliverables generated and developed during the project execution. Our attention is focused on the gap between the citizen's (smart cities') needs, the technological solutions which can cover these needs, and the knowledge and skills of citizens, cities and service providers of using these technologies for a better life.

Disruptive technologies have the potential to transform the way cities currently operate and they are at the core of nearly all upcoming smart city’s solutions. After a decade of experimentation, smart cities are entering a new phase. Although digital solutions are only one of the tools needed to make a city great, they are the most powerful and cost-effective additions seen in many years. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, digital solutions could improve some quality-of-life indicators by as much as 30 per cent. Real-time crime mapping, for instance, utilizes statistical analysis to highlight patterns, while predictive policing goes a step further, anticipating crime to head off incidents before they occur. Another example of these solutions is the Internet of Things sensors on existing infrastructure systems which can help crews fix problems before they turn into breakdowns and delays.

If we examine our history, we realize that we live in constant change. Humans have faced all sorts of changes, economic, political, climatic, technological. In the different industrial revolutions seized, adaptations made by humans can be perceived, along with the 1st industrial revolution, the railway arrived with the steam engines which enabled transportation of goods causing all the farming, demographic and transport revolution.

Afterwards, the 2nd industrial revolution arrived, emerging new energy sources like oil and electricity, which with its utilization, first technological innovations took place. These technological innovations produced an improvement in the quality of life of people, first personal computers and the internet appeared which located us before a 3rd industrial revolution, not only in a technological one but in a scientific and a cultural one.

With this 3rd revolution, fast technological advances force humans to assimilate more concepts in a shorter time, information, productivity and everything reach scales not previously reached and under this context the 4th industrial revolution appeared, where we really perceived and realized that we live in a constant change, as mentioned at the beginning, achieving small or big progress which is changing the world.

The city of the future must meet the needs of its residents. Yet in surveying residents of 25 major cities, McKinsey found out that a fifth of those cities fall short of delivering satisfaction. Respondents cited numerous inadequacies: crime, congestion, fire emergency response, waste management, active mobility options, police security, lack of basic utilities, public transit, as well as poor quality of housing and government services. Given the fierce competition for talent across cities, dissatisfied urbanites are likely to vote with their feet and leave for more attractive environments. (Source: Thriving amid turbulence: Imagining the cities of the future; Capital Projects & Infrastructure, Public Sector October 2018, McKinsey & Company).

In order to not lag behind due to inactivity, the city leaders must know how to use the newest and most advanced technologies, which are progressing faster than expected.

As a result of the study and during the implementation of the project we have realized that the most important and those with enough predictive potential to transform the cities into smart cities are the following technologies (technology areas):

• Artificial Intelligence
• Data analytics
• Cloud Computing
• Internet of Things
• Cyber-physical systems
• Smart sensors
• Collaborative robotics
• Cybersecurity
• Blockchain
• Augmented reality
• Virtual reality

As one of the main technologies which will help to evolve our ways to work and interact with technology, the trend is that the AI will keep growing and becoming more normalized in our society. So, platforms, standards, and applications will keep incrementing. ​

Apparently, the future of the AI resides on a deeper personalization, innovation in voice AI and a better view of the customer. Even if there are plenty of platforms for AI, not many of them are deploying voice interfaces. Some applications for mobile devices have already implemented it in daily life and it will offer opportunities for companies. The tendency will be to add voice control to their AI for a better experience with their customers. Some of the most famous firms (Google, Amazon...) are integrating voice assistants as part of their services.
​​
The AI will help for a bigger personalization of services. Customers will be able to express preferences to the biggest brands and acquire much more personalized services or products. So, future platforms will shift towards a new type of services. 
​

This strange but memorable pandemic year is coming to an end. Like any organization that has set clear goals and priorities, the Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club (KISMC) reports to its members with another successful year.
​
At the National Valorization Conference that took place in Sofiа on 18.12.2020, KISMC was awarded a certificate of quality for the successful implementation of the project Boost Aid for Social Entrepreneurship through Training (BASET). Such awards were given to only 40 projects out of 1500 projects in total from different categories, and this project is the only one to receive the award in the field Adult Education.

Since the very end of 2019 and in 2020, we've launched seven new projects under the Erasmus+ programme, remaining loyal to one of the most successful human resources development under EU programmes. Namely, these projects are:

1. Smart technologies by design thinking (SMART)
2. Transition to Industry 4.0 (TransIT)
3. Upskilling Lab 4.0 (4.0UP)
4. Impact Incubator for Nurturing Sustainability (i2 SustainIT)
5. Creative thinking for parents (Creative Parents)
6. Apprenticeship for the Development of Design Thinking (ADDET)
7. Collective Innovation to Fight Climate Change (Fight Climate Change)

In such a way for the last few years since its establishment, KISMC has joined as a partner or leading organization 15 projects in total under the Erasmus+ Programme, 6 of which are finalized successfully and 9 are undergoing.

​By joining these projects, we remain fully committed to the topics that we consider very important for the development of our country, namely knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurship and, of course, the impact of new technologies and methods in these areas.

Being also an active member of the Cluster Sofia Knowledge City, our organization KISMC supports with a part of its HR capacity three quite interesting and important projects that the cluster is realizing currently as a member of international partnerships, namely:

• Media Motor Europe (MME) - Horizon 2020
• European Technology for Sustainability (eT4S) - COSME-GA
• Smart Skills for Smarter Cities (Skills4Cities) - Erasmus+

​
As a result, KISMC expanded its international presence in cooperation with over 20 new organizations from Europe, enriched its knowledge and experience in the field of knowledge management and innovation in SMEs, and developed and disseminated new useful methodologies, tools and good practices in these areas for the benefit of the Bulgarian business and the non-governmental sector.

Internet of Things (IoT) is a term for physical devices connected to the internet which can collect and share data. Those devices can also include objects that have sensors allowing them to communicate in real time. Some examples: smart speakers, thermostats, lightbulbs, cars, fitness trackers, etc.

According to the Center for Internet Security (CIS) the IoT devices should have a connection to transmit the data as well as be uniquely identifiable, usually done through an IP address. There are multiple methods of communicating and transmitting data such as bluetooth connection, internet cloud-based service, wi-fi, etc. 

Nowadays, IoT devices are part of our daily lifestyles. It is estimated that by 2025, there will be over 20 billion IoT devices around the globe. Moreover, IoT is considered one of the 12 most important technological trends of the future.

The benefits of IoT are evident, however, we keep seeing high-profile attacks occurring which creates an additional barrier for many businesses to adopt this technology. A research on the consumer attitude towards Internet of Things in Australia, Canada, France, Japan, UK and US revealed that 63% of consumers find connected devices "creepy". 

According to EDUCBA the 5 top benefits of internet of things for businesses are:

1. Achieving customer-centricity - customer satisfaction is a crucial factor for any business, and using IoT technology could enhance the customer experience such as mobile card readers.
2. Gathering rich data - data is one of the most important 'weapons' in a company. Businesses are using the IoT models and methodologies for gathering a huge chunk of data about customers and company products.
3. Enhancing Security Measures - IoT enables the access control system to provide additional security to businesses. The use of IoT technology in surveillance can help to improve security standards and also track any suspicious activity. With the help of the internet, it can be controlled from anywhere. Using IoT technology in the business can boost the security standards and help to eliminate the risk of security concern. 
4. Reducing operations costs -  advancement of IoT technologies can benefit the organization to reduce their operational cost and other costs to earn maximum profit. Businesses can reduce their operational cost but those using IoT solutions for their purpose will be more successful.
5. Using smart devices - the use of smart devices has increased significantly and is accepted by businesses. There is an advancement in smart device applications and used in different sectors such as transportation, hospitality, healthcare, and education.

IoT is booming so is the number of attacks and security threats. It's immensely important to consider user safety and data confidentiality. 

The Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club, as part of the EU project - Internet of Things Security Nuggets (IoT Nuggets), co-funded by the European Union. along with its project partners from Bulgaria, Greece, Spain and Italy are developing a new methodology and framework with a model of digital competence for the Security of the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem including security and privacy to face the challenges that cybersecurity put in place.​
​
It is targeting VET providers and trainers in the ICT field, software engineers and programmers who want and need to update their competences, skills, and knowledge in cyber security of the ecosystem of IoT. And, ICT entrepreneurs who have, want, and/or would like to start a business in the IoT field.
​

According to Deloitte in their document "Preparing tomorrow’s workforce for the Fourth Industrial Revolution For business: A framework for action" many employers are currently struggling to find talent due to the mismatch between skills and employers' needs.

Technology has changed the way we work and live, and how businesses are operating. Automation and digitization greatly impact the skills required for specific jobs. 

But unfortunately a great number of organisations are not prepared for the transition to Industry 4.0, especially in terms of their workforce. This transformation in the new digital era brings in the creation of new jobs, but also the loss of many.

​Physically demanding, manual or routine jobs will decrease, and those that require problem-solving, flexible responses and customization will increase. In order to support this transition businesses will need to upskill and reskill their employees, and implement a culture of continous learning.

L.E.K Consulting's manufacturing survey revealed that automation is motivating decision-makers in manufacturing industries to actively invest in their workforce and four out of five say that they are preparing for an increase in automation technology. 

In their blog article 'The Smart Way to Prepare Your Workforce for Industry 4.0' L.E.K also suggests following the three Rs approach to preparing workforce of businesses for the transition to Industry 4.0:

• Retain - it's crucial to focus your resources on retaining your current employees, more particularly those who are older, more experienced, familiar with the factory and with deep knowledge of the company and its culture. 
• Retrain - invest in retraining and upgrading the skills of your current employees so they can manage automated processes and take on 'creative' jobs which are less likely to be replaced by automation. Train them in incremental skills needed for higher-level jobs such as data analysis, process improvement, etc.
• Recruit - retaining and retraining your workforce will not solve the challenges imposed by Industry 4.0. You will also need to focus your efforts on recruiting new more tech-savvy talent.

The TransIT project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, that the Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club is part of, is developing an 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.

The TransIT project is producing three main elements that together will form a complete training kit, whereas each element will offer strong capacity building and help to successfully adjust to the forthcoming challenges of Industry 4.0 standards regarding the future of work.

As part of the Training Kit we are preparing under the TransIT project, we synthesise good management practice enabling the transition to Industry 4.0 with three main overarching topics: innovation thinking, motivation management and technical cooperation. It also consists of the most relevant concepts relating to adaptive management. For more information on this kit - guidebook, read here. 

Hence, the TransIT project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, that the Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club is part of, is developing an 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 regarding the future of work.

The future of work will require two types of changes:

1. Upskilling
2. Reskilling

The analysis of McKinsey suggests that 39 to 58 percent of the worldwide work activities in operationally intensive sectors could be automated using currently demonstrated technologies.

Highlights from the McKinsey blog article "Building the vital skills for the future of work in operations"

• Operations-intensive sectors have 1.3 times the automation potential of other sectors.
• Automation will have a significant impact on skill requirements.
• Large-scale reskilling efforts must overcome significant barriers. 
• An end-to-end skill transformation follows a three-phase approach:
  1. Scout - analyse skill demand vs supply to deliver on strategic ambitions
  2. Shape - design programme architecture to close demand-supply gap
  3. Shift - stand up infrastructure and capabilities to reskill at scale
• Creating the right talent pool for a digital and analytics transformation combines in-house capability building and hiring for specific roles.

Overall, companies have a number of approaches to address the skills gap created by Industry 4.0:

• search for talent outside the organisation/ hire new staff with the right skills
• build skills internally
• retrain their existing workforce to prepare employees for the new role
• have a blended approach - have a skilled contract workforces to fill in short-term needs while developing the necessary skills internally. 

​

The fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) is the ongoing automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices, using modern smart technology. It is the altering of the way products are created by spreading digitized manufacturing/processing and automation.

The goal of Industry 4.0 is to increase the amount of usable data and improve decision making. Nowadays many organisations still don't understand how Industry 4.0 could impact their business as well as are struggling to find the know-how or workforce to support their transition. 

The Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club is part of the TransIT project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. We are aiming to develop and provide innovative curricula, educational methods and training courses that guarantee an effective transition to Industry 4.0 standards. Moreover, the project is developing work-based competences necessary for managing the transition to Industry 4.0. Read more about the TransIT project's objectives here.

The project will provide a solution for company leaders, industry executives, HR professionals, SMEs and VET centers. We strive to inspire these groups to innovate and optimise their potential in the times of transitioning to Industry 4.0.

According to Worximity, more and more technologies will be implanted in factories, there will be increase in the human-machine interactions and new jobs will be created, whilst employers will look for a variety of skills related to the transition to 4.0. 

In one of their blog articles, Worximity suggests a number of tips to address the changes impacting the workforce in the era of Industry 4.0.

1. Train and develop talents - make sure you provide training and introduce programmes for skills development to ensure a smoother transition to Industry 4.0 and consider augmented reality or online learning.
2. Deliver HR flexibility - if your business is hiring R&D specialists, software engineers, data scientists you are competing with various technology companies, which are attracting talent with numerous 'hard to refuse' perks. Therefore, it is of high importance to innovate in this space and be more flexible in your offer to new employees.
3. Delegate decision-making - considering you are developing your employees to perform more complex tasks, this would mean that you need to give them more autonomy in decision-making. Do consider flattening the hierarchical structures.
4. Make employees responsible for innovation - after training your employees and you have granted them with autonomy, the next step is to let them be responsible for innovation and understand the entire process. 
5. Recruit based on abilities - the outdated way of recruiting based on experience and diploma will not work towards the demands of Industry 4.0. Having versatile employees in the manufacturing industry will be key, as well as their ability to learn quickly and work on various projects at the same time.  
6. Strategically plan industry-related HR activities - make a list with all significant information about your workforce such as parental leave, subcontractors, temporary contracts, retirement, etc. with focus on their training needs and your recruitment needs. 

​

Cyber security is crucial for preventing harm to the integrity of the electronic devices and services that individuals and businesses use daily, as well as ensuring the confidentiality of the data stored and transmitted.

Cyber security involves the use of processes, technologies and controls for the protection of devices, systems, networks and data from cyber attacks and the ability to recover from these attacks.

According to CENSIS the difference between IoT cyber security and IT cyber security is that IoT devices are connected to the physical world. The environments that IoT devices operate in are more diverse than traditional IT systems.

Those who commit IoT cyber attacks range from hackers who work alone, small criminal groups, nation states involved in wider espionage, etc.

Overall, awareness of IoT security is growing quickly. Kudelski reveal that management has begun to understand that in order to create a sustainable and competitive connected business security plays a key strategic role.

Hence, Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club, as part of the EU project - Internet of Things Security Nuggets (IoT Nuggets), co-funded by the European Union, together with its project partners from Bulgaria, Greece, Spain and Italy, is developing a new methodology and framework with a model of digital competence for the Security of the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem including security and privacy to face the challenges that cybersecurity put in place.​
​
The IoT Nuggets project is targeting VET providers and trainers in the ICT field, software engineers and programmers who want and need to update their competences, skills, and knowledge in cyber security of the ecosystem of IoT. And, ICT entrepreneurs who have, want, and/or would like to start a business in the IoT field.

​To find out more about the project, read here.

​For additional information about the TransIT project, read here.