MAESTRO - MAnufacturing Education for a Sustainable fourth IndusTRial RevolutiOn
MAESTRO project brings together excellences in manufacturing research in order to define and deliver the new competences required by future engineers working in the context of the fourth industrial revolution. In doing so particular emphasis is given to the aspect related with a sustainable transition to the digital era.
Background
The fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0, is emerging from the introduction of several technological advancements in the way we design and engineer enterprises and their manufacturing and support systems.
For the first time technology is not seen simply as a new mean to promote economic growth but also as pivotal element that will enable a greener future. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, suggested by the UN, promotes the goal towards sustainable industrialization and foster innovation. This includes a specific requirement to harmonize the technological development and the future of environment and society.
Higher education must keep the pace of this process by ensuring that incumbent as well as newly graduated engineers have no gaps or mismatch between their skills and what is required by the labour
Aim and objectives
The aim of this initiative is to bring together excellences in manufacturing research in order to define and deliver the new competences required by future engineers working in the context of the fourth industrial revolution. In particular:
- New contents and models will be developed with particular emphasis given to the aspect related with a sustainable transition to the digital era.
- New educational units will be formulated in term of independent learning blocks which can be easily integrated in existing mainstream programs in the domain of industrial, mechanical, production and electrical engineering.
Outcomes
The main outcomes of the project can be summarized as follow:
- Map of the relevant industrial and research contributions in the domain of the Industry 4.0, presenting all the eligible innovative topics and the rationale for include them in undergraduate education.
- Identify relevant and updated skills and competences in the Industry 4.0 domain with focus on sustainability issues for different engineering profiles
- Define Constructively Aligned educational units, moving towards a student centred learning process
- Implementthe proposed courses, running a first set of pilot courses which includes the whole spectrum of technologies coming out of Industry 4.0
