Following the national workshops on Spain & Bulgaria, the Greek workshop under the title: "Cities and communities ready for the future: Smart growth through new skills for Smart Cities engineers and technicians" is coming up on Thursday the 23rd of November at the University of Patras, Greece. With the kind contribution of experts and engineers in the smart cities field, it aims to present best practices of Greek Smart Cities of Trikala, Kalamata and Patras as well as the SMACITE's project training opportunities to boost the technical and non-technical skills and competences of Smart City...

The SMACITE project had a new face-to face meeting in Madrid (Spain). On October 18th and 19th we held a new face-to-face project meeting in Madrid (Spain). In this meeting we gathered all the partners of the project to follow up the main activities and commitments of the actions since the last face to face project meeting in Sofia. The main topics addressed were related to the methodology for the certification of the learners’ knowledge and skills and the learning resources for the upskilling and reskilling of Smart Cities technicians and engineers. The trainer handbook to be used in the...

València, with a population of almost 800,000 inhabitants, and one of the first Spanish cities to plan and deploy a smart city platform in 2013, VLCi, has recently been selected to host one of the three applied Artificial Intelligence superhubs to smart cities of the CitCom project. The experience gained along the way has enabled the city to obtain the ISO 37120 (Sustainable development of communities – Indicators of urban services and quality of life) certification at Platinum level, the highest possible, and ITU – U4SSC (Key Performance Indicators related to smart and sustainable cities to...

The field of online training has witnessed a remarkable transformation in recent years, with the advent of Virtual Worlds. Virtual worlds are computer-simulated environments where users can interact with each other and the environment. These digital landscapes can range from realistic, high-fidelity simulations to fantastical, imaginative realms. Virtual worlds offer a unique blend of interactivity, engagement, and experiential learning, making them a potent tool for online training across various industries. The key benefits of Virtual Worlds for online training include: Immersive Learning...

SMACITE’s first workshop Smart Development: Unleashing Skills for Future-Ready Cities & Communities held online on September 20th was a success! The event, organized by the project partner DIGITAL SME, gathered more than 60 stakeholders in the smart cities sector. Representatives of EU institutions, education providers, VET, public authorities and businesses (solutions' providers) joined the event and participated in the breakout sessions to facilitate connections among peers around Europe. SMACITE project's findings on technical and soft skills for smart cities engineers and technicians...

In the complex and interconnected world of Smart Cities, smart contracts are emerging as a groundbreaking solution. These digital agreements, built upon blockchain technology, offer enhanced security, transparency, and trust, all while eliminating the need for intermediaries and excessive paperwork, and allowing the automation for various processes in the Smart City environment. Smart Contracts 101 Smart contracts are computer-coded agreements between parties that are stored in the blockchain, making them immutable and their transactions irreversible. Their main purpose is to automate the...

During the first half of September 2023, members of the UniWA group of SMACITE had a round of communications with the Greek Computer Society (GCS/ΕΠΥ) related to the skills and competences required in the context of Smart Cities education.  GCS is well known to play an important role in the promotion and dissemination of the principals of Computer Science and Engineering across all age groups and genders in Greece.   GCS is closely watching the evolution of the work carried out by the SMACITE team regarding, among others, the educational material being developed for Smart Engineers and Smart...

For those who like to combine sport and environmental protection, there is a new discipline that has already won over millions of people: plogging! This new green trend consists of picking up litter you find on your path while jogging or doing other outdoor sports activities.  The idea behind it is to optimize the time you normally use for training, to also do something positive for the space you live in, be it a metropolis or a village in the countryside or mountains. Participants take to the streets equipped with gloves and rubbish bags to pick up the rubbish they encounter during their fitness...

We’ve achieved our next millstone of SMACITE project by designing a kind of Diagnostic Tool. This powerful tool helps SMACITE learners pinpoint their training course requirements and informs a tailored learning path based on their prior knowledge, skills, and competencies. The Diagnostic Tool aims to achieve two primary objectives. Firstly, it increases awareness of the Smart Cities Technicians and Engineers profiles by providing detailed descriptions of training program contents and granting access to the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) platform. Secondly, it suggests personalized learning...