University and Industry together in the Teaching and Learning of Added-value Manufacturing Technologies
The introduction of new technologies in the manufacturing industry, such as hybrid materials and processes, cognitive automation or collaborative robotics, is contributing to accelerate the development and modernisation of the industry, making it more efficient, flexible and competitive. As a result, it also brings the need to adapt the teaching and learning of these technologies in order to better prepare the manufacturing stakeholders for this transformation and, in particular, for the current context of open innovation and open science.
Fostering the collaboration between companies, higher education and research institutions for the setup of advanced practice-oriented and industry-driven learning schemes, M-NEST-RIS project aims to implement the operational conditions that will help organisations and individual users to autonomously and intuitively explore, experience and become qualified to work with new manufacturing technologies in the most diverse production and innovation scenarios, in particular in those related to the automotive sector.
In Estonia, the Factory Unit of the M-NEST network will be implemented and tested in the facilities University of Tartu. “The M-NEST-RIS Tartu Factory Unit is part of the European M-NEST network and will support the training of students, teachers, researchers and industrial professionals, providing the necessary pedagogic materials and didactic tools to build the European industrial community of the future”, says Margarida Machado, INEGI researcher and coordinator of the project.
The M-NEST European network will provide a wide range of teaching and learning activities focused on the most advanced processes and ICT-enabled production technologies, and will support the academic education, advanced training, R&D, technology transfer and dissemination to different audiences and learning hubs (from classrooms to factory floors). This network will also provide access (virtual and face-to-face) to high quality and technology-specific learning materials, contributing to make education in Added-Value Manufacturing Technologies a stimulating experience for a wider audience.
“The M-NEST-RIS will run as a pilot-project of the network's activities; at this stage, the trainees will be selected by the project partners, but the ultimate goal is to have more people and companies benefiting from the innovative learning schemes as soon as possible”, explained Alvo Aabloo, Professor of Polymeric Materials.
This project is funded by the EIT-Manufacturing and joins INEGI - Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, INESC-TEC - Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science, and FEUP – Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto (Portugal), CTU – Czech Technical University (Czech Republic), LMS – Laboratory of Manufacturing Systems of University of Patras (Greece) and University of Tartu (Estonia).
More information about the project at m-nest-ris.eu
For further inquiries:
Alvo Aabloo, University of Tartu Institute of Technology, Professor of Polymeric Materials, alvo.aabloo [ät] ut.ee