Alliance for Fostering Business and Education Innovation through Digital Supply Chains

The concept of Digital Supply Chains (SCs) fosters the use of disruptive technological interventions, such as: (1) Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs), (2) Internet of Things (IoT), (3) Data Analytics and Big Data (including Blockchain), and (4) Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR). Notably, the European Commission reports that existing jobs are likely to change due to the Information Technology advancements. In this context, the European higher education students and new generation workforce should get accustomed to the new digital landscape. The BE-Digital project aims at identifying the digital needs and opportunities within the SC ecosystem to develop an innovative higher education and VET programme that provides students with digital competences and skills through the collaboration of educational and corporate organizations. The BE-Digital consortium will focus on the development of specialized courses in the four abovementioned thematic areas to promote: (i) the integration of disruptive technologies for Digital SCs in the higher education and VET curricula to tackle skill mismatches, and (ii) the transformation of the traditional SC business models to digital and sustainable ones. Each thematic area will comprise two courses for the students (i.e. introductory and advanced-level courses). The courses will be designed to include innovative teaching methodologies and interactive learning tools (i.e. a Serious game, a virtual scenarios for showcasing the integration of the proposed courses in the digital SC context), up-to-date material for in-class and e-learning courses, academic and company staff lectures. The suitability and quality of the developed coursed will be tested and evaluated by launching intensive pilot courses for students in the four participating countries (Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Portugal) of the BE-Digital project, further including mobility activities to support transnational and multidisciplinary collaboration in the field of Digital SCs