A critical mass of Knowledge Workers (KWs) is required to fill the gap between the ever-increasing deficit between demand and offer in the field of Industrial Engineering and Management (IE&M) in Europe. This project aims at providing answers to the highlighted problem by combining organizational methodologies for the production of goods and services and new digital technologies in the implementation of the so-called Industry 4.0 paradigm. The main objective is to design and test innovative courses (both classes and e-learning modules) in IE&M, creating new curricula for university students and industry workforce and eventually contributing to reduce the shortage of KWs in the manufacturing sector. By introducing cutting-edge learning techniques and tools, the project will support the future generation of KWs, as the participants will learn how to face the emerging challenges of the job market, developing hard skills along with an entrepreneurial mindset. The project foresees to foster a new mind-set within IE&M students based on intrapreneurship, meaning a new “employee culture” marked by higher degrees of autonomy and responsibility for the sake of the hiring firms and the entire sector. Specific project objectives are:• To identify education and training convergences and divergences between IE&M courses, along with the training needs required by companies to IE&M students and collect these results in a Body of Knowledge (BoK), conceived as both theoretical framework and technical specifications for redesigning IE&M courses in HEIs. • To align knowledge, skills and competences with contents, learning–teaching methods and assessment of the educational activities offered by the different project partners to the BoK• To develop and test a 4 pilot IE&M courses based on the findings of the BoK• To develop and test 4 e-learning modules based on the revised courses• To reshape a whole IE&M Master Program building on the experience developed in the project

"How are digitisation and new technologies changing work processes in industries and the competences required of skilled workers? And what should a realignment of vocational education and training look like to ensure keeping abreast with social and technological developments in the future? Our ""DigiCon"" project will explore these questions and provide impulses for coping with digitisation in VET - exemplarily for the construction sector.""Digital construction"" and ""Construction site 4.0"" - these keywords highlight the current challenges the construction industry is facing, which also need to be met by vocational training. In the future, construction specialists will have to be able to handle digital technologies and applications - from digital communication and operating mobile devices to construction robotics.""DigiCon"" is our contribution to innovation excellence in VET. The aim is to enhance the job-related digital competences of trainees, to promote the digitisation of educational institutions and to strengthen cooperation with industry and research. This will make vocational education and training more attractive and forward-thinkingWith digital construction as a subject in VET, the European construction industry will have access to skilled workers with a broad understanding of ICT and precisely tailored digital skills. The young skilled workers will be innovation ambassadors in their companies. And digitisation is also changing the role of teachers - from knowledge mediators to facilitators of self-directed learning.Participants will comprise the trainees of the participating VET institutions (400, they acquire competences in digital construction) and the teachers (60, they can use models and materials for teaching), but also companies and branch associations, authorities and regulatory bodies (220, they make the regulatory decisions). Further target groups will be teachers and learners from educational institutions outside the project partnership (as users of the model) as well as actors from business, politics and administration (they use the results of the project to further shape digitisation in VET.„DigiCon“ will be implemented by six partners from three EU countries - under the leadership of BGZ. The three countries - Germany, Poland and Belgium - represent three typical VET systems in the EU - school-based, dual and a combination of both. This ensures that the project results will be designed for transferability in different systems across the EU.The VET institutions and the universities will bring in many years of training experience and extensive technical expertise in the construction sector. Associated partners from industry and science support the project and will add their perspectives.The project partners will jointly develop a model for teaching digital construction skills that is consistently geared to the requirements of the construction site 4.0. The model will comprise a set of process scenarios, learning scenarios based on those, as well as digital applications (such as augmented reality) and tools (such as the digital construction file). The learning tasks will be embedded in realistic construction processes - thus the trainees will develop a systemic understanding of the complexity of the processes and the interaction of digital and construction skills. The development of the learning scenarios and applications will take place in a participative process with learners and teachers. Interactive forms of teaching will support the trainees in shaping their learning process to a greater extent themselves. Digital communication is increasingly being used for peer-to-peer learning by working on learning tasks either as a team or with a division of labour.At the same time, we will support educational institutions in developing and implementing their digitisation strategies - with solutions for the various design fields - didactically, in terms of training organisation and regulatory policy. The project will produce a guideline for capacity building for the institutions as well as solutions for access to learning materials and the design of e-learning - using digital construction as an example.The main result of ""DigiCon"" will be a model for the consistent teaching of digital skills in the context of complex work processes, based on real work scenarios. This means that the trainees will have directly applicable skills and abilities. Further impacts will be improved teaching skills, closer cooperation with industry and with universities and research institutes and a stronger internationalisation of vocational training institutions.The long-term benefits will be economic, social and societal: attractive training opportunities for young people, secure employment and career opportunities for young skilled workers on the European labour market, strengthened role of VET institutions and the future orientation of vocational training, improved competitiveness of the construction indus"

<< Background >>Last year the entire world experienced how important health care is and what happens when other values replace the priority of safeguarding human lives. It became clear that Health Care must be inclusive, thus allowing everyone to be able to access medical cures, both in times of emergency or in the phase of prevention. Medical systems should take care of everybody, including people that are affected by different circumstances and in need of specialized assistance, also where modern technological solutions are needed. This covers also those medical problems that could be solved in whole or in part by the application of ergonomic and bioengineering innovations, which are the core topics of the project.People with disability have the same general healthcare needs and the right to be provided the highest standard of healthcare without discrimination according to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). However, the reality is that few countries provide adequate quality services for people with disability. According to the report of the Academic Network of European Disability Experts (ANED) it is needed to a) Provide those health services needed by persons with disabilities specifically because of their disabilities, including early identification and intervention as appropriate, and services designed to minimize and prevent further disabilities and b) Require health professionals to provide care of the same quality to persons with disabilities as to others. Unfortunately, this is not always happening, and the reason is mainly due to the scarce attention of medical and technical staff (in the case of medical implants), which could be increased thanks to a specific training.The ErgoDesign project aims at creating a new interdisciplinary Curriculum which covers different topics (from ergonomics to bioengineering), taking into consideration the requirements of people with special needs, to create a more inclusive care system. The project is going to increase the inclusion and diversity, as it will improve the competencies of designer and producer 3D implants for medical purposes. The project will thus contribute to create a more inclusive environment that is responsive to the needs of the wider community, including people with special needs.Also, the ergonomic and medical implants sector is experiencing a paradigm change, due to the introduction of advanced software for implants design and the possibility of printing them using 3D printers (additive manufacturing). The impact of 3D printing on the medical sector is revolutionary: digital skills are the main leverage for boosting innovation in the sector of medical implants. The project aims at transferring such knowledge and skills to both students (also to increase their employability) and to HE lecturers/academics (so to multiply the impact on the new generation of students from the Faculties of Medicine, Ergonomics and Industrial Design, Mechanical Engineering, Bioengineering, Materials Science and Engineering).The analysis on the actual needs of the MedTech and BioTech sector for new employees demonstrated that the most important hard skills refer to design experience and experience with relevant software. The ErgoDesign e-learning course aims also at filling this knowledge gap delivering a student-centred course mixing both theory and practical exercises for practicing digital skills and boosting students’ employability.<< Objectives >>Currently, the knowledge and skills for training students in all the different topics needed for allowing design and production of 3D designed medical plants are spread in different Faculties and taught in different curricula. This fragmentation is preventing the raise of a new professional figure that has theoretical knowledge coming from different fields, from ergonomics to bioengineering, and specific digital skills (for the use of advanced software and tool for design and production purposes). The project partners want to gather these competencies and bring them together into a new e-learning course, based on a student-centred approach and mixing both theory and practical exercises, to train a new generation of medical and technical staff able to boost the innovation in the medical plants sector. Also, partners feel the need of answering to an unsolved social issue related to the requirements of people with special needs (physical or mental diseases) that are prevented from accessing cures due to their disabilities (UN statistics). This aspect will be included as transversal priority in the development of the project training contents and addressed in a specific module included in the full curriculum.The general objective of the project is to support the introduction of ergonomic and bioengineering innovations in implantology and prosthetics by adopting new digital applications and training in their use. The specific objectives are: to increase the students’ knowledge in the field of ergonomics and bio-engineering and their digital skills for designing and producing related 3D printed medical products (dental and orthopedic implants, prostheses and exoskeletons, etc.) (SO1); to increase the knowledge necessary for the design of healthcare implants for people with special needs (physical and mental) (SO2); to extend the trainers’ knowledge of software/digital tools and their possibilities of use and adaptation for training (SO3); to increase the employability of the students in the medical implants sector (SO4); to create a community of practice around the topics of ergonomics and bioengineering (SO5)<< Implementation >>ErgoDesign proposal aims at developing a multi-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary e-learning course aimed at training HE students to become future designers and producers of implants for health care with special attention to the requirements of people with special needs. The course will encompass both theory and practical activities, with the primary scope of developing students and HE lecturers/Academics digital skills, crucial for design and production tasks in the medical sector.The project aims also at creating a community of practice around the topics of ergonomics and bioengineering that could communicate on a collaborative platform, fed with training contents, but also with information and knowledge from the stakeholders.In order to reach the project objectives, the partners will follow a development path: creation of a selection of software and digital tools aimed at extending the knowledge and the digital skills of students and EU lecturers; definition of the main elements on which to build the training courses; creation of supporting materials (Handbook and e-learning course) for easing the replication of ErgoDesign-like courses by other stakeholders.In detail: the first step of the project implementation consists of conducting extensive analysis on software and digital tools that are currently used for the design and production of medical implants (SO1, SO4). The identified digital tools will be analysed jointly by the partners to create an online toolkit with searchable items to extend the knowledge of HE lecturers and students (SO1, SO3).Once the Digital Toolkit will be completed, the partners will define the Design Principles for the course that will be the starting point for the definition of the ErgoDesign Curriculum (SO4). This will be the cornerstone on which to build the training materials (PR4) that are aimed at filling the knowledge gap identified in the need analysis conducted prior to the start of the project. During both the phases of curriculum design and training materials preparation, the partners will take into consideration (transversal approach) the requirements of the people with special needs (SO2). All training materials will be uploaded on the Collaborative Platform, that will become also the focal point for the stakeholders’ collaboration and the place where the partners will build the community of practice on the topics of ergonomics and bioengineering for giving sustainability to the project results (SO5). When all the courses will be piloted and the training materials raised according to the participants' feedback, the partners will create a package of materials (Handbook, webinars, e-learning courses) aimed at increasing the competencies of HE lecturers and Academics for organizing ErgoDesign-like courses and giving sustainability to the project results (SO5).For ensuring a qualitative and effective implementation of project activities, the partners’ approach will include first the design of the proposed results, then the discussion, a piloting phase and, finally, validation and release. The pilot phase is the most strategic, as it will allow the partners to test the prototype of the results with a sample of internal and external testers.<< Results >>The project aims to increase the digital skills of Universities for boosting the capacity of HE lecturers/Academics in supporting students’ innovative skills, taking also into account the requirements of people with special needs. All expected outcomes, such as project Results (PR1-PR5), will produce effects during the life of the project and at its conclusion.The partners will develop 5 project results: PR1 – A Specialized software for design in the Health Care sector dynamic toolkit aimed at presenting several software/digital tools for booting digital competencies of HE lecturers/Academics and students. PR2 – Course Design Principles and ErgoDesign Curriculum aimed at defining the principles on which to build the multidisciplinary curriculum (topics, learning outcomes, duration, etc.).PR3 – A Collaborative Platform. aimed at creating a space for discussion and training for stakeholders, hosting the virtual community of practices. PR4 - ErgoDesign Training Materials, aimed at filling the knowledge and skill gaps of the students, by providing them with theoretical formation and practical exercises. PR5 - Handbook and e-learning course, aimed at creating resources to ease the replication of the ErgoDesign course by other organizations.An Exploitation Plan (§ Sustainability section) will detail the Exploitation strategy (capitalization, follow up, etc.) of the project results in the long term .The project expected outcomes are: increasing the pedagogical digital skills of HE lecturers in the fields of 3D design and production of healthcare implants (linked to PR1, PR4); increasing the number of HE lecturers taking into consideration the requirements of people with special needs when delivering their training in the fields of ergonomics and bioengineering (linked to PR2, PR4); - increasing HE students’ digital skills (linked PR1, PR4); increasing HE students’ employability in the healthcare sector (linked PR4); - promoting the exchange of good practices, open discussion among HE lecturers/Academics, students, other stakeholder in the fields of ergonomic and bioengineering through the community of practice hosted on the collaborative platform (linked to PR3); - promoting the topics of the project and training other HE lecturers/Academics in how to replicate the ErgoDesign course (linked to PR5).

REMODEL will enable new production environments, where the manufacturing of complex products composed of multiple wires and cables by means of dual-arm robots is not only possible, but fully integrated with the product design chain. This result will be achieved by exploiting the result of a previous project called WIRES, were basic tools for the manipulation of electric wires have been developed. Moreover, new perception and interaction capabilities will be embedded into the robot to be effective in the industrial manufacturing scenario. REMODEL will bring new opportunities to human-intensive labor manufacturing processes like the one dealing with cables and wires, where the routing and fitting tasks are calling for advanced handling techniques. The REMODEL robotic ability will impact several production scenarios in which human work is widely adopted due to the complexity in the objects, materials and manipulation tasks, characterized unpredictable initial configuration as well as large deformability and plasticity. Activities involving mass production, such as wiring harness manufacturing for automotive and appliances, are moving outside Europe due to the high labour cost and to the repetitiveness of the tasks that produces high psychophysical stress in the workers. In other cases, such as the switchgear wiring and the wiring harness manufacturing for the aerospace sector, the need of increasing production flexibility, reliability and traceability of the product as well as reduce costs and time to market implies the adoption of innovative tools to maintain proper competitiveness and answer the market requests. To proof the effectiveness of the REMODEL outcomes, four industrial manufacturing use cases provided by the industrial partners and covering five different domains, i.e. the production and assembly of wiring harnesses in the automotive and the aerospace field, the switchgear wiring and the manufacturing of medical consumables, will be developed.

After the primary intervention, most of cancer patients are managed at home, facing long-term treatments or sequelae, making the disease comparable to a chronic condition. Despite their benefit, strong therapeutic regimens often cause toxicity, severely impairing quality of life. This may decrease adherence to treatment, thus compromising therapeutic efficacy. Also due to age-related multimorbidity, patients and their caregivers develop emotional, educational and social needs. CAPABLE will develop a cancer patient coaching system with the objective of facing these needs/issues. The time is right to fully exploit Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data potentialities for cancer care and bring them to patients’ home. CAPABLE will rely on predictive models based on both retrospective and prospective data (clinical data, data from unobtrusive environmental and wearable sensors, data from social media and questionnaires). Models will be integrated with existing clinical practice guidelines and made available to oncologists. Thanks to the mobile coaching system for patients, CAPABLE will allow identifying unexpected needs, and providing patient-specific decision support. This feature, together with the chance of discovering unknown adverse effects of new treatments, makes CAPABLE more than a personalised tool for improving life quality, an advance for the whole research community. Our team includes complementary partners with experience in data- and knowledge-driven AI, data integration, telemedicine, decision support. In addition, the involved patients’ association gives a unique opportunity to access thousands of questionnaires on patients’ needs, which will inform the system design. The project addresses EU priorities such as shifting care from hospitals to home to face scarcity of healthcare resources, facilitating patients’ re-integration in the society and in the labour market, and ensuring all EU citizens to benefit from an effective, novel cancer care model.