A consortium formed by 9 partners from 8 different countries (Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Germany, France, Denmark and Italy) will work in the European project FIT4FoF: “Making our Workforce Fit for the Factory of the Future”, supported by European Commission(Horizon 2020 framework), in the next 3 years.

One of the most relevant aspects is that this consortium will identify at least 100 new profiles in the factory of the future in six technological areas: additive manufacturing, robotics (and cobots), mechatronics and machine automation, data analytics, cybersecurity and human machine interaction (HMI).

Europe faces considerable challenges in addressing future skills needs.The increased introduction of technologies and the digital transformation of industry is leading to rapid growth in automation. Increasing globalization in manufacturing also introduces requirements for workers' to acquire new skills in terms of teamwork, intercultural and linguistic skills, and the need to deal with shorter lead times and more complex problems.. Growing gaps in knowledge and experience make it increasingly difficult to adapt, work proactively and contribute to innovation. 

The main objective of the European FIT4FoF project is to analyze current skills initiatives to identify the needs of workers, examining technological trends in the six technological areas mentioned above to identify and define 100 new job profiles in the factory of the future to serve as the basis for education and training requirements. The project will develop a new education and training framework that places workers (women and men) at the center of a co-design and development process, recognizing and addressing skills needs. FIT4FoF will empower workers to be the driving force behind the design, development and delivery of their own development programmes, always from a European perspective.

The project also has other objectives such as:

• Identify emerging needs in terms of qualifications and professional profiles.
• Identify the technical and non-technical skills (communication, problem solving, etc.) needed for the factory workers of the future.
• Identify at least 100 new profiles, which do not exist today, in the factory of the future in the technological areas mentioned.
• Identify more than 50 regional, national or European initiatives working to improve workers' skills.
• Develop an interdisciplinary education and training framework to involve the industrial ecosystem, technologists and educators in co-designing education and training processes with the workforce. 
• To develop a series of training pilots in the participating countries to test, in real conditions, training programmes that increase the training of workers, with modular and reusable educational programmes that can be replicated in other European regions.  
• Build communities made up of industry, education providers, trade unions and governments at local and regional level and network them through a European alliance.

Supported by the European Commission's Horizon 2020 Programme (H2020), it will be the only project of its kind in Europe. The consortium is formed by Cork Institute of Technology (CIT, Ireland); Galician Automotive Cluster (CEAGA, Spain); Instituto Politecnico de Brangança (IPB, Portugal); Arctic (Romania); Boston Scientific (BSL, Ireland); Steinbeis 2i (Germany); L´École Conenectée au Futur de l´industrie (France), Universitu College of Northern Denmark (UCN, Denmark) and Mesap innovation Cluster (Italy).

The FIT4FoF project consortium brings together a combination of large industries, industrial clusters, educational and research organizations, from vocational training schools to university institutions. 

The educational institutions involved, CIT, IPB, UCN and CCI cover the education and training spectrum from vocational training to higher education and postgraduate degrees. The industrial organizations represent a number of key sectors of European industry, for example, Boston Scientific operates in the medical-technological space, CEAGA is an industrial cluster in the automotive sector, Arctic is the largest European manufacturer of household appliances and MESAP is an industrial cluster representing companies in the mechatronics and intelligent products sectors.

The Consortium will hold the first meeting of the project in Cork (Ireland), at the headquarters of the Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) in November.

More information about the consortium and partners:

The 9 FIT4FoF partners, coming from the 8 countries of the European Union (Germany, Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Denmark, Italy, France and Romania), also represent 61% of the industrial workers in the EU28 (17,365.591 employees), 56% of EU industrial enterprises 28 (1,176,816 enterprises), 68% of EU industrial turnover 28 (4,910,934.6 million euros) and 66% of the value of EU production 28 (4,370,835.4 million euros).

Cork Institute of Technology - CIT - Ireland: Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) is a publicly funded Higher Education Institution in the South of Ireland. CIT is the largest of Ireland’s Institutes of Technology outside Dublin with a total student enrolment of about 13,000 fulltime and part-time students and over 1200 academic, research and administration staff. CIT offers education programmes from vocational education of apprentices in construction related jobs to undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in applied science, engineering, business and some humanities subjects such as social science, sports, fine arts and music.

Galician Automotive Cluster - CEAGA – Spain: The Galician Automotive Cluster (CEAGA) formed by Groupe PSA Center of Vigo, the Technological Centre (CTAG) and 118 automotive suppliers (big and smes). CEAGA has a Corporate University (UCC) and an entrepreneurship center (Business Factory Auto). The figures underline the fact that the Galician Automotive Sector is the main driving force behind the Galician economy, with a turnover accounting equivalent to 14% of the regional GDP (8.680 million euros), and more than 20.800 employees, which accounts for a 12% of the total industrial employment in the region. CEAGA has the Gold label in excellent management by ESCA (European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis).

Instituto Politécnico de Bragança – IPB – Portugal: IPB is a Portuguese Polytechnic Higher Education institution that offers over 100 short-first cycle courses, bachelor programmes and master programmes, all according to the Bologna Declaration. Since these areas of teaching and research have been strongly developed over the last years, the Institute has witnessed a parallel growth of its student population, reaching the number of 7,000 with 12% of international students. As a result of a strategy to encourage further advanced studies undertaken by its members, IPB has currently the most qualified academic staff of the Portuguese polytechnic system and an external recognition of its research activities. 

Arctic – Romania: Arctic is the leader of the Romanian household appliances market and owner of the biggest household appliances factory in Continental Europe, in Găești, Dâmbovița County. With a history of almost half a century in the Romanian market and a total production of over 31 million refrigerators until now, Arctic is a company strongly tied to the national identity of Romania, being one of the most reputable companies in the local landscape. Furthermore, Arctic is one of the most important companies in Romania, with a turnover of 2 billion lei in 2016 and over 3,600 employees. 

Boston Scientific –BSL – Ireland: Boston Scientific’s Mission is to transform lives through innovative medical solutions that improve the health of patients around the world. As a global medical technology leader, we advance science for life by providing a broad range of high performance solutions that address unmet patient needs and reduce the cost of healthcare on 4 key areas: Cancer Solution Products, Automation Centre of Excellence, Atherectomy Devices (treatment of calcified lesions) and Acquisitions (new businesses purchased by Boston Scientific). Boston Scientific in Cork will produce 6.2m Medical Devices in 2018 impacting 7 lives per minute. 

Steinbeis 2i – Germany: Steinbeis 2i (S2i) was founded in 2016 as a 100 % spin-off of Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum (SEZ). The core activities of S2i are to manage and support international research and innovation projects, to assist organisations in European project management and implementation at any stage, to support the exploitation of research results, to promote transnational technology transfer, and to stimulate and support innovation processes in both small and large companies. S2i is a member of the Baden-Württemberg Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) consortium and is closely intertwined with the network of more than 1.000 Technology Transfer Centres of the Steinbeis Foundation for Economic Promotion. 

L’École Connectée au Future de l’Industrie - CFI – France: CFI, l’École Connectée au Future de l’Industrie, is a new school, created in January 2017 by mergering two until then distinct schools: the Centre of the Industrial Trainings and IFA Robert Delorozoy. CFI depends on the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Region Paris Ile-de-France (CCI PIDF). CFI is located on two places near Paris (Orly and Montigny-le-Bretonneux) and offers 25 sandwich courses from the CAP (NVQ) to the BAC + 5 level in 4 areas: car and truck maintenance, energy and home automation, electronics and robotics and networks and computer engineering. CFI trains every year nearly 900 apprentices as well as adults, as CFI is also involved in continuing education. 

University College of Northern Denmark – UCN – Denmark: UCN provides education as well as research, development and innovation within four areas: business, education/social studies, health and technology. UCN became the first Danish university college to offer in-depth research and education competences within business-oriented fields in addition to education and research within education/social studies, health and technology. UCN has around 10,000 students and around 1,000 employees and offers close to 40 different study programs. UCN’s research activities originate in four primary subject areas of health, education/social studies, technology and business. 

MESAP Innovation Cluster for Smart Products and Manufacturing – Italy: MESAP is the Innovation Cluster of Piedmont Region in the fields of Mechatronics and Systems for Advanced Production with 253 Members, including 210 SMEs, 33 Large Companies, 2 Universities and 8 Research Centers. MESAP Companies show top level of specialization in integration of mechanics, electronics and control science and advanced mechanics. MESAP Members are located in all phases of the supply chain with different levels of integration. MESAP main goals and activities are knowledge development and transfer from research centers to companies, cross transfer and spread of sectorial competences into new application fields, international cooperation for R&D European/international projects, new end markets identification at European and world level. 

For more information:

Kieran Delaney Project Manager kieran.Delaney [at] cit.ie

Dr. Borja Dapena Communication and Dissemination Manager Borja.dapena [at] ceaga.copm