The ICT Innovation for Manufacturing SMEs (I4MS) initiative was launched by the EC on July 2013 with an initial budget of 77 million Euro. During its first stage, I4MS has shown substantial success and contributed to the progressive development of European SMEs adopting advanced ICT solutions for manufacturing. The initiative has already achieved some of the main goals resulting from the interaction with SMEs through the successful launch of open calls that generated a high participation of SMEs, many of them newcomers to EU R&D funding programs. The actual stage of the projects involved in I4MS brings the need for enhanced support and specific actions towards their exploitation success and towards better leveraging the European Manufacturing Sector through the implementation of ICT solutions within the Manufacturing SMEs. Four additional projects have joined the initiative, these projects will need to integrate in the initiative and have same services of support as the projects included in the first phase of I4MS, such as open calls support, etc… For this purpose, I4MS-Growth has designed different strategies that will among others: • Renew the I4MS Portal with improved areas for providing information of interest to: regional entities, competence centers, SMEs, etc… • Enable the interchange of synergies between IPs and IAs involved in the initiative • Support the interaction with the I4MS Competence Centre Network; • Continue to promote and support the involvement of SMEs in the new launch of open calls for IAs; • Reinforce the brand and image of the Competence Centers Network of Excellence as well as their interaction with innovation hubs; • Facilitate the dissemination of the experiments for a future replication and implementation of the I4MS scheme within the regions; • Position the I4MS initiative as one of the key initiatives in Europe for the Manufacturing and ICT sector. • Administrative management of innovation hubs.

The current project addresses the problems of manufacturing SMEs’ managers, people employed in SMEs (technicians, administrative staff) as well as vocational students and trainers/consultants in terms of robotics and lack of training means to facilitated innovation technology introduction in SMEs belonging to the manufacturing sector. The main objective of the current project is to provide an interactive training in the field of robotics and to assist robotics introduction in manufacturing SMEs. Thus project realization would increase level of innovativeness of SMEs and finally result for them in a significantly higher competitiveness on the market. RoboMatic will be developed in close cooperation of 5 partners from 4 countries. The project partnership includes organisations with significant background in the field of Robotics. The applicant organisation CONSULTORES DE AUTOMATIZACION Y ROBOTICA S.A. (CARSA) is the Spain’s oldest existing innovation management consultancy firm, possessing over 25 years of tradition and experience in three main areas: innovation, technology and internationalization. PRZEMYSLOWY INSTYTUT AUTOMATYKI I POMIAROW (PIAP) is a research centre dealing with practical aspects of automation and robotisation as well as vocational training for enterprises in this area. Technical University of Gabrovo (TUGAB) is a public university providing degree courses for Bachelor, Master and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering, electronics, automation, computer science, mechanical engineering, management and social sciences. It coordinates and participates in various educational and scientific projects at national and European level. Tallinn Technical University (TUT) is a co-ordinator between different educational, training and professional establishments, has a good experience in the industry automation, robotics and electrical drives, which match the content of the current project. European Center for Quality Ltd. (ECQ) is a private organisation with good experience in the work with projects under different EU programmes and expertise in quality standards introduction in SMEs. All partners have the necessary experience not only in the respective professional area they occupy but also in transnational cooperation in different EU projects and programmes. This will contribute to the creation of a working and successful partnership within and after the project realization. Expected outputs: Report on manufacturing SMEs requirements and constraints with respect to introduction and training of innovation robotic solutions, RoboMatic Curricula, RoboMatic Methodology, RoboMatic Course and RoboMatic Handbook. All intellectual outputs will be hosted on an interactive web-based platform, including e-learning approach. The project will have a great impact on how innovation is managed in European manufacturing SMEs. The project’s impact on them will be in form of robotics training of their managers and employees. Increased innovativeness of their workers will be further impacts. In addition, increased competitiveness of their operations will increase the competitiveness level of European SMEs.

The aims of innovation, technology transfer and investments in automation are important strategic issues. Several research studies indicate that, in the long term, SMEs adopting innovation strategies performed much better respect to not making ones. Several approaches for technology transfer exist, each focused on certain factors and objectives. Identifying the proper methods for their adoption is of great help for new entrepreneurs and for SMEs that plan to access manufacturing technologies to strengthen their competitiveness and R&D basis for further innovation in automation (Innovation Union Scoreboard of European Commission). “AuToMa - Automation, Technology transfer and Managerial practices for the growth of SMEs, a better employability and the promotion of the entrepreneurship” project can effectively contribute to the development of high professional skills with specific regard to the fields of automation, innovation and technology transfer, sharing them at national and European level. AuToMa developed an innovative and open training approach, including two specific learning paths, advanced learning tools and is really focused on the needs of specific target groups: future entrepreneurs and students who want to develop business in manufacturing sector, entrepreneurs and employees of SMEs who want to improve their qualification or re-qualify, as well as unemployed people who want to gain initial competences, Universities, Research centres and VET trainers that want to improve or update their learning curricula. The European countries involved in the project are: Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Bulgaria (all of 5 Partners have relevant experience in the sector and also in developing of transnational projects. In particular: 2 universities, 1 public research centre and 2 private consulting companies). The project provides 8 intellectual outputs:O1 “AuToMa Learning Methodology” that includes reports on the state-of-the-art on automation for SMEs in each Partner country; a context analysis of the innovation adoption in each Partner country related to the manufacturing SMEs; an in-depth analysis of project target groups features and needs in manufacturing sector; a best practices portfolio;O2 “Guidelines for the learning outputs” that provides advices for the preparation of the two specific learning paths that have been designed in the AuToMa project (one technical and one managerial);O3 “AuToMa Resources and Learning Integrated Area” that is an innovative ICT collaborative solution that provides updated documents and reports in the project fields;O4 “AuToMa Learning Contents” that includes the two specific learning paths (curricula) created to improve specific and transversal skills for the target users. One is technical and the other one is managerial. It includes also case studies and best practices;O5 “Handbook for AuToMa learners” that provides a summary of the available learning materials and also a guide on the fully use of the contents. The Handbook comprises most important tips based on the learning materials as well as some awareness raising texts;O6 “AuToMa website” that it is user-friendly and easy to navigate. The access to the developed e-learning materials supports the exchange of knowledge between all interested target groups and ensures the effective dissemination of the project results;O7 “Skills assessment tools” that includes two developed skills assessment tools, one for each developed learning path to evaluate the know-how acquired by the AuToMa course. They are available as multiple-choice test;O8 “AuToMa Certificate of Achievement” that is the final document that certifies the full completion of each learning path provided by the integrated online learning platform.The project provided tangible impacts at local, regional, national, European and international level. In particular entrepreneurs showed a great interest on the fields of innovation and technologies for automation. To increase experiences and skills of the employees have a strong impact at local, regional, national, European and international competitiveness levels. During and after the conclusion of the AuToMa project, HEIs improved also their teaching offer by the closer alignment with the R&D needs and market developments in the automation field. VET trainers' involvement in training on automation enabled them to incorporate more automation, technology transfer and managerial competences in their curricula and consulting activities. At national and European levels policy-makers in education obtained data and a best innovative training practice for promoting the project topics and its interactive training materials in Europe. Thanks to AuToMa a wider debate on the importance of project topics started also and the need to attract competences and knowledge to reinforce European competitiveness in science, research and production fields.

"<< Background >>Digital technologies are transforming people’s life, business and society. The lesson from the Covid-19 crisis is demonstrating that in Europe is essential that the real and the virtual business contexts will be seamlessly connected giving rise to what are known as digital integrated systems. It will be required the integration of devices and online working tools, the digitalization of workflows and several innovative production systems within a network of suppliers together the application of new operational activities and methods in various technical levels.The rapid development and spread of digital technologies are contributing to change in every aspect of people’s lives, business and society. Digital transformation is the result of digitization and digitalization of economies and societies (OECD, Going Digital: Shaping Policies, Improving Lives, 2019). We consider digital transformation as a more pervasive set of changes that digital technologies cause or affecting all aspects of human activities. The digital transformation is intrinsically connected to what has been defined as the fourth industrial revolution, a process through which digital technologies are shaping the future of society and economic development in a comparable manner to the case of steam power for the first industrial revolution.Digitalization influences mission-critical applications in B2B/B2C processes and it is expected a transformation also in organizations with long investment cycles, allowing decision makers about the new opportunities. DigiWork will give a contribution in researches, reports, sharing good practices, making sectoral analysis and defining the most innovative educational digital needs, working in close cooperation with the main institutions and associations. The urgent need is to learn more about the concepts of Digitalization and Industry 4.0, their implementations in several sectors, and what changes this will bring for the future. Digital industry central to the growth, the development and the competitiveness of the Europe. It generates turnover of more than 7 billion, accounts for 15.5% of the total added value, purchases more than €5,400 billion in goods and services each year, and still employs 14.2% of total workforce. So DigiWork will create an international synergy to integrate the actual EU limited open knowledge and experience, sharing it and creating effective results that will give a benefit for the employability of thousands and thousands of people in Europe. It is expected to create an impact on EU level to contribute to the industrial development of EU by sharing the results and each time adding on the previous studies to prepare the industry for future changes. The EU’s Future Government 2030+ “Accelerating the digital transformation of government"" and ""EU’s strategy for e-Skills in the 21st Century"" set an ambitious target for all Member States. By 2021, public institutions and private organizations should be efficient and inclusive, providing borderless, transparent, personalized, user-friendly digital services. But real innovative skills need to be acquired by students and workers to design products and deliver better services for the EU citizens, professionals and entrepreneurs.To bridge the gap between the labour market requirements of the digital industry and the skills that students entering the labour market acquire, universities should develop and implement appropriate curricula and/or course. This requires an emphasis on digital skills training adapted to different industries. Universities should therefore stimulate innovative learning and teaching practices as well as improve digital capabilities of the higher education sector.<< Objectives >>Good practices are scattered across the Europe, illustrating that digital technologies also provide new development opportunities in HEIs that do not operate in areas where digital technologies are common among local actors. In these cases, HEIs represent drivers of innovation and can improve the national and local existing ecosystems spreading the new process of digital transformation. HEIs and their competency centers/laboratories could be poles of excellence for enterprises to raise awareness of I4.0 by providing practical demonstrations of new technologies and best practices. Another important goal is to provide services to HEIs in order to strengthen their innovation by offering curricula and services linked to I4.0 opportunities. Universities, in partnerships with companies could provide services and guidance about the opportunities of digital transformation.The project will focus on the new digital working approaches that will be needed in Europe and that imply a real digital revolution in processes management and competences. Digitalization and Industry 4.0 imply also new working concepts based on the adoption of innovative digital ecosystems which will involve all the most recent digital factors and expertise. This new concept of advanced organization will require highly qualified profiles and more qualified workforce to cover the requirements of new digital jobs. Digitisation, smart working, job crafting, virtual teams, remote working empowerment, e-collaboration are having also a deep impact on business practices in companies and public institutions. So, there is the need in EU of a specific open curriculum to improve specific and transversal skills. The project can support actions to reduce the gap between the Partners European higher education (HE) systems and those in other European countries but also to foster and strengthen the role of HEIs as active players for a real impact of digitalization effects in Europe. It could also promote synergies among the different pillars of the digitalization of HEIs being:• the new digital teaching methods, training and development of digital skills;• the use of digital technologies to support the development of research and the contribution of research to investigate the new frontiers and challenges of digitalization;• the HEIs contribution of digital tools in the management of companies, business activities and support organizational change;• the role that digital technologies can have in the employability of students at Post graduate and Master levels.Collecting the Partners experience and including all specific analysis, DigiWork will produce innovative modules on topics as: disruptive technologies enabling digitization; managing digitalization; digital integration with physical production assets; rethinking the design of classical working-systems; analyze data; business data evaluation and big data management; e-procurement; e-health; Internet of things; document management systems and digitization of work-flows; human machine interaction; touch interfaces and accessible GUIs; advanced robotics and human-robot collaboration; virtual and augmented reality; blockchain; additive manufacturing; green production systems; smart factories, etc. The training curricula needs to adapt these requirements in effective changes to be able to train concretely the labour force. With DigiWork the determination of key competences required to create the qualified workforce that the Industry 4.0 demands in the advanced industrialization process of Europe and concretely contributing to train the workforce, with suitable skills and competences, is being targeted.<< Implementation >>Considering the large experience of V-s, LUISS and of each 4 other Partners, the project governance methodology and project management approach that will be adopted will combine related practices, methods and processes that will determine how to plan, develop, control and deliver in the better way the project goals throughout its implementation and successful completion. It will follow an evidenced, systematic and controlled approach, describing every step in depth, so that project team will know what to do to implement the work according to the schedule, budget and target groups specification. In particular: - The definition of the needs of target audience; - The establishing of a common “language”; - The activities management (complete, accurate and credible); - The adoption of a common methodological approach for the effective results delivery; - The resolution of conflicts in the easy and short way; - Fast implementation of experiences needed for the implementation of the activities, results and solutions. The DigiWork project is structured in 4 results, each one has a leader responsible for the result planning and execution. The detailed plan of each of them will be discussed and approved by the Partners in the transnational meetings. Also the evaluation and dissemination/exploitation activities, for each result will be structured by the Partners considering the activities in detail and their discussion/joint approval by the Partners. For the implementation of each result all Partners will participate actively in the result development and undertake the task envisaged and approved by the partnership to deliver the results foreseen. Each lead Partner will be responsible for accompanying the work development in order to guarantee the fulfilment of the task according with the planned timetable approved by the National Agency.The project will be managed following a specific planning that will includes 9 macro-Activities (A), each of that is important for the achievement of the DigiWork project goals: A1 Project management and coordination (Months: M1-M36) including 5 transnational project meetings in Slovakia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Spain and Italy and supplemented by online meetingsA2 Analysis of the impact and diffusion of digitalization gaps within RES1 (M2-M7) Starting from preliminary experiences of the 6 Partners it will provide detailed advices for the preparation of the DigiWork specific learning path and the evaluation tools.A3 Report on innovative skills to enhance HE students employability and develop effective work-based approaches (M5-M7) A specific report will be produced to analyse the needed specific and transversal skills. A4 Online training curriculum: methodology of development and delivering (M8-M14), focusing on the way to develop learning contents, knowledge and skills assessment tools. A5 Learning contents, knowledge and skills assessment tools (M15-M26) The main aim is related to DigiWork training modules and the implemented multimedia products. A6 DigiWork integrated platform implementation (M27-M36) including the website, the knowledge sharing area and the learning management solutions; it will be composed of almost 18 training modules including text, images, cooperation and resources sharing, video and interactive materials. A7 System implementation and contents validation (M31-M36) - learning products will be released. A8 Dissemination and exploitation (M1-M36) It includes the activities of Partners to reach the main stakeholders and target groups like five national and the final conference in Italy. A9 Quality and risk management (M1-M36) in order to guarantee the quality of the activities and of the expected results of DigiWork.<< Results >>COVID-19 will have far-reaching impacts on labour market outcomes. Beyond the urgent concerns about the health of workers, the virus and the subsequent economic shocks will impact the world of work across three key dimensions: the quantity of jobs (both unemployment and underemployment); the quality of work (e.g. wages and access to social protection); and effects on specific groups who are more vulnerable to adverse labour market outcomes. Digitalization, computing capabilities, smart working, workforce flexibility, job crafting, virtual agile teams, remote working empowerment, e-collaboration, new manufacturing devices, social media, artificial intelligence, addictive manufacturing, block-chain and big data analytics, are enabling, improving and transforming current public and private organizations. Digital technologies are becoming very relevant at the EU level for the workers employability; they are disrupting industries, re-shaping the organizations’ boundaries and changing the nature of business exposing people and entities to new competitive logics and threats. Underemployment is also expected to increase on a large scale. As witnessed in previous crises, the shock to labour demand is likely to translate into significant downward adjustments to wages and working hours. While self-employment does not typically react to economic downturns, it acts as a “default” option for survival or maintaining income-often in the informal economy. For this reason, informal employment tends to increase during crises. However, the current limitations on the movement of people and goods may restrict this type of mechanism. For this reason, in DigiWork project a detailed multi-sectoral analysis report will be prepared in 6 countries indicating the comparison of current situation of digitalization and Industry 4.0 pillars in Partners' countries, together a transversal needs' analysis that will be also included. These in-depth multi-countries researches will be carried out for the precise determination of the changes in the future of the vocations focused by Industry 4.0, the common grounds (e.g. smart factory, lean production and digital manufacturing) and newly emerging requirements especially for different vocational levels in European High education and training institutions. Detailed reports for educational requirements will be also produced, monitoring digital transformation and providing cutting-edge tools to foster innovation and value creation. A study will be carried out for determination of new educational requirements for digitalization and Industry 4.0, determining new key and transversal competences for various professional qualifications and levels, reflecting them to concrete and open educational programs (common and field specific programmes), arrangement and procurement of the required equipment infrastructure, human resources, etc.Specific events and meeting with HE institutions, SMEs associations, employees trade unions will be held for this purpose. An innovative curriculum model by the most advanced educational design techniques will be created for competences development. This also thanks an advanced and complete e-learning platform, integrated in DigiWork website, that will be produced by experts in the project fields. Innovative multimedia e-modules and e-exams will be prepared, permitting effective learning activities and the sharing of best practices of each Partners' country. It will gain the necessary knowledge to give the possibility students to increase their competences and give more opportunities to find new working positions or a new well-payed job. The project activities will be always shared with local target groups and stakeholders in each country. All the intellectual results will be translated into the languages of the partner countries. All the involved Partner organisations will increase also their capabilities on the project fields and in the European projects experience."