On March 15th and 16th we have held a new face-to-face project meeting in Sofia (Bulgaria). In this meeting we gathered all the partners of the project to follow up the main activities and commitments of the project. More specifically the main topics addressed were related to the designing of the learners’ training and assessment methodology and educational scenarios and the learning resources for the upskilling and reskilling of Smart Cities technicians and engineers. The creation of the MOOC and virtual worlds was also discussed among the project partners to develop the platform and all...

Professional training in the field of IT technologies is the main focus of BASSCOM member companies.In order to have qualified specialists, to develop digital solutions, smart cities, entrepreneurship and green skills, we need good professional education. These messages were presented in the BASSCOM Barometer. The research shows the development trends of the software sector in Bulgaria.As a partner in the SMACITE project BASSCOM will contribute to open 10 new technological schools in Bulgaria in the next years. Link to the English version of the survey (BASSCOM Barometer 2022):

More than 20 European entities are working on a project that will create Vocational Training content on sustainable energy to meet the needs of companies in the sector.University of West Attica, Cluster GAIA and Politeknika Txorierri are SMACITE project partners that are participating in this project. More than 20 business and training entities from Greece, Italy, Slovakia, Portugal and Spain have joined together in the SECOVE (Sustainable Energy Centres of Vocational Excellence) project, an initiative that aims to establish a cooperation network between centres of excellence in vocational...

How can technologies help manage multiple activities in a central urban environment? Apro Formazione tells us about DIGITAL and SUSTAINABLE HARBOUR 2030, an example of Smart Cities project being implemented in Genoa in which data will be used to provide services, improve safety and accessibility of spaces and communicate environmental and cultural information. DSH2030 is a project developed by ETT S.p.A., Marina Porto Antico SpA, Aitrust, BF Partners, Circle Garage, Colouree, Netalia in collaboration with (MaLGa - Machine Learning Genoa Center).The Porto Antico di Genova of Genoa, a marina...

If Europe is aiming at its own digital sovereignty, it should give a closer look at public procurement as a tool to support digital SMEs innovation ecosystem. As a matter of fact, the Public sector has a large purchasing power and it can act as first user of the innovation and pulling it to the market, by overcoming so called “market failures”. “GovTech”, “Regulatory sandboxes” and “Interoperability” are just a few of the elements to be introduced in the process of procuring digital innovations, to make sure the solutions are scalable, comply with the EU legislation and support European...

SMACITE project aims to foster Smart Cities in Europe by developing the skills of the relevant stakeholders. To achieve this goal, we will use Moodle as a Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) platform to deliver free, accessible training to all interested parties. The MOOC will cover various aspects of Smart City development, using a student-centered as well as a multidisciplinary approach combining an adaptive blend of both technical (for Smart Cities enabling technologies) and non-technical (soft, entrepreneurship, and green) skills and competences. With this comprehensive and easily...

The Smart Cities Marketplace offers a wealth of information on European projects supporting Smart City ambitions. The projects have tackled topics such as energy efficiency in buildings, digital infrastructure, positive energy districts, smart urban mobility, and a wide range of other topics of relevance for the sustainable urban transition. Supplemental and in support to the function of the Smart Cities Marketplace is the SMACITE project which suggests a combination of technical, green and soft skills training, to Smart cities technicians and engineers.  Where does your city stand in...

What the SMACITE project tells you about the recommended skills for IoT implementation in Smart Cities’ projects? Smart Cities’ projects usually have a strong presence of IoT implementation as part of their activities. The article "User and Professional Aspects for Sustainable Computing Based on the Internet of Things in Europe" in Sensors MDPI by Vera Pospelova, Ines Lopez Baldominos, Luis Fernández, Ana Castillo Martínez and Sanjay Misra analyses in detail which are the recommended skills and knowledge for Smart Cities engineers and technicians. Everything is mapped to the main...

Immersed in a constant technological change, the innovation rhythm keeps going even quicker. The latest tech developments have been creating new opportunities, and now, their impact is starting the next data centered revolution. Data will become one of the most precious assets of the world by far, even more important than gold.The race to dominate this new era increased the interest in data acquisition, protection, transference, and analysis. These principal data value chain parts can be upgraded due to 5G, Artificial Intelligence, quantum computing and cybersecurity technologies. With...