Smacite project

30/05/2025

SMACITE Project Concludes, Delivering Innovative Training Solutions for Smart City Technicians and Engineers

• SMACITE ends setting a new benchmark in vocational education by combining technical training with green, entrepreneurial and soft skills for smart city development.
• The project has achieved its main outputs with a modular curriculum, open-access MOOC and Virtual Worlds to empower future Smart City Technicians and Engineers in Europe.

Athens, 30 May 2025 – The SMACITE project has successfully concluded, marking the end of a three-year European initiative to bridge the skills gap in the smart cities sector. Funded by the Erasmus+ program and coordinated by the University of Patras, SMACITE developed a novel vocational education and training program combining technical expertise with entrepreneurial, green and soft skills. Thanks to new job profiles, a flexible curriculum, digital platforms to deliver the educational content and various workshops and events carried out, SMACITE addressed the lack of skills and specialized training in the area of smart cities that ensures sustainable growth of cities.

Emerging Smart City Job Profiles
A key output of the project has been the creation of two new professional role profiles: the Smart Cities Technician and the Smart Cities Engineer profiles that provide a clear reference for employers, educators and policymakers on the technical and non-technical competencies required to deploy and maintain Smart Cities. To ensure relevance and alignment with EU labor classifications the roles have been formally mapped to the European ESCO and e-Competence Frameworks. The profiles have also been informed by a multilingual survey, interviews and experts input from 11 European countries, ensuring that they address real-world needs – for example, highlighting that smart city engineers should focus on designing and optimizing complex smart infrastructures, while smart city technicians should concentrate on installing and maintaining connected systems and assisting users.

SMACITE Curriculum and Learning experience
To support the training of these emerging professionals, SMACITE developed a comprehensive modular curriculum covering 13 courses for Smart City Engineers and Technicians—ten technical and three non-technical—tailored to smart city enabling technologies and key transversal skills. In addition to that, a diagnostic self-assessment tool was developed to personalize the learning paths through the curriculum, in order to better align the training with the learners’ needs.
The SMACITE MOOC (https://mooc.smacite.eu/) is the platform which offers free and open-access online courses, structured in a self-paced and modular format that spans topics from IoT and AI to communication and sustainability. It empowers individuals to upskill flexibly and aligns with the EU's emphasis on lifelong learning.

For the transversal competencies, in addition to the MOOC, SMACITE introduced immersive learning environments via a Virtual Worlds platform, where three dedicated “Virtual Worlds” were created, targeting soft, green and entrepreneurship skills. These environments simulate real-world collaboration, problem-solving and sustainability challenges reinforcing the curriculum through interactive and team-based training experiences. The integration of online modules and immersive training environments positions SMACITE as a pioneer in experiential vocational education for smart city professionals.

Workshops and Final Conference: Knowledge Sharing and Impact
SMACITE’s implementation has been shaped through continuous engagement with stakeholders via 8 national workshops and 3 European workshops, that brought together over 800 participants including students, HEIs, VET providers, municipal representatives, SMEs, researchers and EU institutions.
The project culminated with the Final Conference on May 8, 2025, held at the University of West Attica Conference Center in Athens. Organized with the support of the University of Patras and Universal Certification Solutions, the final event welcomed representatives from HEIs, VET providers, municipalities, educators and industry experts to showcase SMACITE main outcomes, the project’s curriculum and digital tools, including a keynote speech from a European official, presentation of projects on digital skills development for Smart Cities, and a panel discussion on AI-driven governance and talent development for Smart Cities.

Project Sustainability
As SMACITE wraps up, a suite of high-quality, adaptable resources will be available —MOOC content, virtual training environments and job profiles—aligned with the EU strategy and ready to be used across Europe. Thanks to a solid exploitation plan, the consortium will remain actively involved in sustaining and scaling up these outcomes. These tools are expected to serve as a foundation for future training initiatives, contribute to policy development and foster new partnerships that support the continued evolution of smart city talent across the continent.

15/05/2025

During the last Project Meeting, the consosrtium has agreed to take steps to join the , a flagship initiative of the European Commission launched under the European Skills Agenda. This Pact brings together industry, education and training providers and public authorities to support large-scale partnerships focused on reskilling and upskilling the European workforce.

By joining the Pact for Skills and its Digital Large-Scale Partnership, SMACITE strengthens its long-term impact on digital skills development, particularly in the field of smart cities and communities. This engagement positions SMACITE within a dynamic European ecosystem of actors dedicated to workforce transformation and continuous learning. It also ensures that the project’s training programs, competence frameworks, and innovative educational practices contribute meaningfully to the Pact’s long-term objectives.

Stay tuned for further updates, as the SMACITE consortium is planning to join a dedicated Smart Communities Working Group within the Digital Large-Scale Partnership. This working group will serve as a collaborative platform for stakeholders from municipalities, technology providers, educational institutions, and civil society to continue the co-creation and exchange initiated during the project.

Would you like to know more about the Pact for skills and become a member? Visit the Pact for skills website at this link!

https://pact-for-skills.ec.europa.eu/index_en

The code to Join the Digital-Large Scale Partnership is 905.

The European Commission has launched the Pact for Skills, a shared engagement model for skills development in Europe.

08/05/2025

𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄-𝗨𝗽 𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗠𝗔𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲!
Smacite project project has just celebrated its final follow-up meeting as the project reaches its conclusion in May 2025. The meeting took place in Athens on May 7, hosted by the Πανεπιστήμιο Δυτικής Αττικής / University of West Attica and Universal Certification Solutions - Unicert A.E.. This important milestone allowed us to finalize the remaining activities and ensure the successful closure of the project.

🌟 One of the standout aspects of the Smacite project has been the smooth cooperation and excellent collaboration among all partners. A special mention goes to University of Patras for their remarkable coordination throughout the project which played a key role in keeping everything on track!

Although the project is officially coming to an end, we are committed to maintaining its long-lasting impact through a sustainability and exploitation plan. This ensures that the valuable results and insights gained will continue to benefit the development of digital skills and smart city innovation.

🎉 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: 𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 - 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗴𝗲

We are also excited to share the closing conference on May 8, 2025, titled "Smart Skills: Empowering Cities for the Digital Age". The event took place at the University of West Attica Conference Center in Athens.

This event brought together experts, policymakers and industry professionals to discuss digital skills development for the cities of the future. Highlights include:
- Information about Digital Europe and programmes coming from the European Commission to support digital skills related projects.
- Smart city related initiatives being performed in Athens
- Key outcomes from the SMACITE project and other relevant projects such as hashtag , Digital Twin Project and SMARCO Project.
- Insights into smart city innovation and initiatives
- Roundtable discussions on AI-driven governance, public-private collaborations, and digital talent development

15/04/2025

SMACITE Project Empowers Smart Communities through 11 National and European Workshops

Patras, April 9th, 2025 – The European project SMACITE (Boosting the technical and non-technical skills and competences of Smart Cities technicians and engineers), co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, has successfully completed a series of 11 workshops across Europe to promote smart skills development and the adoption of emerging technologies in smart cities.

Over the past year, the consortium organized 8 national workshops in Greece, Spain, Italy and Bulgaria, and 3 high-level European workshops which merged online and in-person sessions, engaging key stakeholders including tech companies, public institutions, VET providers, students and policymakers.

These sessions proved to be highly effective in identifying skill gaps and testing the relevance of SMACITE’s learning resources, particularly in key areas such as IoT, AI, Cybersecurity andData analytics. Moreover, they addressed transversal needs like communication, entrepreneurship, and sustainability awareness. The interactive nature of the workshops enabled stakeholders — including educators, companies, local governments, and learners — to exchange ideas and co-create strategies that align with real-world challenges and opportunities for smart city development. The feedback gathered has contributed to refining the project’s training model and aligning it with both labor market needs and policy directions at EU level.

Furthermore, the initiative contributed to building a framework for upskilling Smart City professionals, highlighting the need for both technical and non-technical competences. The project aims to boost the skills of Smart Cities technicians and engineers by offering a novel and multidisciplinary vocational education and training program. This curriculum combines digital competencies in Smart Cities enabling technologies with soft, entrepreneurship, and green skills — equipping professionals with the knowledge and mindset required to support Europe’s transition toward more inclusive, sustainable, and technologically advanced urban environments.

Lasting Impact:

The SMACITE workshops served as essential instruments for mapping the evolving skill needs of smart cities and regions, shedding light on the competencies most in demand — both technical and transversal ones. Through the direct engagement of educators, companies, policy-makers, and learners, the project was able to validate and refine its training platform and MOOC ensuring that the content was not only aligned with labor market expectations but also adaptable to different local and regional contexts.

Beyond the validation of learning materials, the workshops enabled the cooperation between key actors in the smart cities ecosystem including educational sector, industry and public authorities. They helped bridge gaps between training supply and employment demand by creating a shared understanding of the pathways needed to prepare a workforce ready for the digital and green transitions. These workshops also encouraged local and regional stakeholders to adopt a skills-first approach to smart city development, emphasizing the importance of lifelong learning and continuous upskilling to support a sustainable urban transformation.

By fostering open dialogue and co-creation across multiple sectors and regions, the workshops not only amplified the visibility of SMACITE’s results but also helped to establish the groundwork for their replication and long-term sustainability. They played a vital role in cultivating a European community of practice that recognizes the strategic importance of human capital in shaping the smart, connected and climate-resilient cities of the future.

SMACITE Final Conference – May 8th, 2025

SMACITE project will organize on the 8th of May its Final Conference, dedicated to advancing digital skills and smart city innovation. It will happen in the Conference Center of the University of West Attica in Athens.

This event, organized by the Πανεπιστήμιο Δυτικής Αττικής / University of West Attica in cooperation with the Πανεπιστήμιο Πατρών University of Patras and Universal Certification Solutions - Unicert A.E. and the participation of all SMACITE partners, will bring together leading experts, policymakers, and professionals to:

• Share insights and results from the SMACITE project
• Present relevant projects in the domain of Smart Cities
• Explore trends in AI-driven governance, public private partnerships, and digital talent development for Smart Cities
It is a free participation event, but pre-registration is required by April 30, 2025. Registration and information about the agenda can be found in the project website: https://smacite.eu/en/dissemination/final-conference

SMACITE project

At its core, SMACITE aims to boost the technical and non-technical skills and competences of Smart Cities technicians and engineers addressing the growing skills gap in this field. The project has designed and tested a vocational education and training program based on a novel, multidisciplinary curriculum. This approach combines digital skills related to Smart Cities enabling technologies with soft skills, entrepreneurship, and green skills, ensuring that professionals are equipped to build and maintain smart, inclusive, and sustainable urban environments.

SMACITE MOOC ( https://mooc.smacite.eu/ ) is now openly available to anyone interested in enhancing their skills in the smart city domain. The MOOC offers an opportunity to explore both technical and non-technical competencies through a modular and self-paced format. Professionals, students, public employees and lifelong learners alike are invited to access those free online courses and take an active step towards becoming part of the smart and sustainable cities of tomorrow.

For more information, visit: https://smacite.eu/en

02/04/2025

On February 18, the Spanish national workshop was held in Getafe (Madrid) as part of the SMACITE initiative. Experts from the Spanish chapter of the SMACITE project gathered to present the content and objectives to an audience interested in its practical applications and real-world impact.

Personnel from the CRN (National Reference Centre) Getafe and UAH (Universidad de Alcalá de Henares) delivered presentations covering key aspects of the SMACITE initiative, including its conception, employability focus, technical areas, deliverables, and current progress. While most of these topics have been addressed in previous posts, it is worth highlighting that SMACITE has helped several participating citizens from European cities develop both their technical and non-technical skills. You can access the online platform here: https://smacite.eu/. In this article, we will focus on additional insights shared during the national workshop.

The Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), with the representative of Madrid Municipality as speaker, presented several local government projects recently developed. They showcased mobile applications designed to facilitate citizens’ interactions with public administration, reducing paperwork and the need for physical visits. Among these apps are Madrid Mobility 360, Madrid Móvil, and Madrid Te Acompaña, all of which offer greater convenience than traditional web applications accessed via laptops or having to physically travel to public offices.

From an institutional perspective, a key focus was placed on 5G network coverage, as many high-bandwidth Smart Cities applications rely on it. Local governments are at the forefront of providing this type of connectivity. One particularly noteworthy initiative was https://iotmadlab.es/, which includes several gadgets and libraries related to IoT interconnectivity and linked to the Open Mobile Alliance.

Another highlighted project was Urban Interconnected Spaces, an initiative involving cities such as Madrid, Dresden, Espoo, Gdańsk, Sarajevo, Trenčín, and Ioánina. This initiative focuses on integrating smart technologies into essential facilities such as MercaMadrid and Valdemingómez, which have undergone significant digital transformation in recent years thanks to European, national, and regional public investments. Additionally, topics such as digital twin design and GovTech initiatives were discussed.
A short speech in robotization and process automation followed these presentations with the future of Smart Cities as the main focus, particularly in relation to AI and the evolving role of smart technologies. One of the key points was the growing synergies between SLM (Small Language Models) implementations and Edge Computing. The future appears to be shifting toward "last-mile" SLM/LLM interactions within cities—an approach that surprisingly resembles what we have seen in sci-fi movies over the past 30 years: Generative IAs interacting with everyday citizens in their common activities.

This shift also implies an increasing reliance on cloud providers, which are becoming more accessible due to their high-level APIs, low-code platforms, and pay-as-you-go models that align well with realistic ROI strategies.

To conclude, the audience was invited to ask questions about the presentations, with particular emphasis on employability opportunities through the SMACITE portfolio of courses. A crucial takeaway was the distinction between simply accumulating online courses and undertaking training with real practical value. The SMACITE initiative stands out for its modern content and hands-on approach, which includes final projects evaluated by instructors and practical exercises related to electronics and cloud-based software among many others.
As the SMACITE initiative nears its conclusion, the event also served as a moment of celebration and reunion. Many participants had not seen each other in person for months making this gathering a special occasion. Willing to continue with SMACITE in the future, both instructors and students have gained valuable insights into the present and future of Smart Cities and the outlook is promising.

26/03/2025

🚀 On February 20th,the SMACITE European Workshop – SMARt COmmunities’ Skills Development in Europe workshop brought together 52 participants both in-person at Comet Meetings in Brussels and online.

This 1.5-hour panel explored how public authorities can lead the way by equipping their teams with the digital and transversal competences needed to build, implement, and sustain smart, inclusive, and green local development.

🔍 The session tackled three key themes:

✔️ Core competencies needed for the digital and green transitions
✔️Strategies to bridge skills gaps across urban and rural areas
✔️Best practices in upskilling and workforce development for public procurers and smart engineers

💬 We were honoured to hear from experts and practitioners leading this transformation:

🔵Marek Bobis (European Committee of the Regions)
🔵Oscar Huerta Melchor (OECD)
🔵Martina Desole (ENoLL - Living-in.EU)
🔵Anabel Menica (Politeknika Txorierri – SMACITE Project)
🔵Silvia Assalin (ICLEI – Covenant of Mayors)
🔵Sophie Meszaros (OASC – DS4SSCC)
🔵Justina Bieliauskaite (European DIGITAL SME Alliance – SMARCO Project)

🎤 Moderated by Caterina Bortolaso, Project Manager at European DIGITAL SME Alliance and partner of the SMACITE project, the workshop opened up meaningful discussions and set the stage for collaborative skills development across Europe.

Let’s continue empowering local authorities to not just participate, but to lead the smart communities and cities revolution. 🌍💡

10/03/2025

On February 25, 2025, the BASSCOM AI Unconference successfully convened over 80 stakeholders from member companies, VET providers, academia, and NGOs, underscoring our commitment to driving within Bulgaria's software sector. This event aimed to foster knowledge exchange and practical application of technologies among our community.

The Unconference featured seven expert speakers from our network, who shared insights on a range of technical and business topics, including:

Rapid prototyping of LLM solutions
Practical tips for coding with Cursor
Two-year review of Copilot in IntelliJ
AI's impact on the economic paradigm
AI-driven DevOps & SRE in Google Cloud
Local offline LLM models
Transforming risk management with AI

This initiative aligns with the European Union's objectives to promote transformation and enhance through . By facilitating such events, we are contributing to the development of a workforce and fostering a culture of .

10/03/2025

On March 5, 2025, over 200 people gathered in Alba for "Smart Cities in Azione – Innovazione per un futuro sostenibile", Italian National workshop of the SMACITE project. The event, organized by Apro Formazione, was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the results of SMACITE and explore how innovation is shaping the sustainable cities of tomorrow.

In the event, SMACITE project results were presented, and the following top experts participated in the roundtable discussion that followed:
• Luca Mercalli – President of the Italian Meteorological Society & Scientific Journalist
• Franco Borgogno – Environmental Science Journalist & Nature Guide
• Roberto Cavallo – Agronomist, Author & Environment Assessor in the Municipality of Alba

The roundtable discussion was moderated by Giancarlo Scarzello, Renewable Energy Entrepreneur (Gemini Project).

We would like to thank all the speakers, participants, and organizers who contributed to making this event such a success! Your insights and enthusiasm are driving the future of smart cities, sustainability, and innovation.

Visit www.smacite.eu to stay updated!

28/02/2025

The Smart Cities Marketplace, an initiative by the European Commission, is dedicated to helping cities and towns create sustainable urban environments. It provides resources to explore innovative solutions, develop sustainable projects, and secure financing. Services include free technical assistance, personalised consultancy for city-led consortia nearing the financing stage, and specialised matchmaking to connect projects with investors. The Marketplace has supported many investment proposals. Additionally, it fosters a community through focus and discussion groups, promoting collaboration among , , , investors, and researchers.

For more information or involvement, visit the Smart Cities Marketplace website:

Investing in a sustainable and green urban future

26/02/2025

On February 18th, Madrid hosted one of SMACITE’s national workshops, a key event addressing the challenges and opportunities in the evolution of .

During the session, participants discussed how emerging technologies, such as , , and , are transforming urban planning and public services. The workshop also addressed the most in-demand professional profiles and training strategies to bridge the skills gap in the sector.

The key highlights of the event were the following:

✅ Presentation of the SMACITE project, emphasizing its impact on developing talent for Smart Cities.
✅ Exploration of professional profiles and key competencies required for urban digitalization.
✅ Panel on innovative experiences in Spain, showcasing successful case studies in implementing smart city technologies.
✅ Introduction of the SMACITE MOOC, designed to equip professionals with essential digital transformation skills.
✅ Discussion on challenges posed by emerging technologies, analyzing the obstacles faced by professionals and public administrations.

In a nutshell, the transformation of cities does not depend solely on technology, but on the talent capable of implementing it with vision and efficiency. SMACITE is a key step in training the professionals who will lead this evolution.

What skills do you think are essential to drive Smart Cities? Share your thoughts and let’s keep working on Smart City development! 🚀🏙️

26/02/2025

In October 2025, Bilbao will become the epicenter of urban innovation as it hosts the 5th Edition of the Congress of the Spanish Network of Smart Cities (RECI). This event will bring together more than 144 municipalities committed to technological advancement and urban sustainability, positioning Bilbao as a benchmark for smart city development.

At the same time, the European project SMACITE, in which Politeknika Txorierri is actively involved, plays a crucial role in addressing the skills gap among technicians and engineers working in smart city infrastructures and services. SMACITE focuses on designing and testing a professional training program that combines digital competencies in enabling technologies with soft, entrepreneurial, and green skills.

By participating in SMACITE, Politeknika Txorierri reinforces its commitment to high-quality vocational education and training (VET), equipping professionals with the necessary skills to drive innovation in smart cities. The combination of initiatives like SMACITE and events like the RECI Congress highlights the importance of collaboration and specialized training in shaping the cities of the future.

As Bilbao prepares to host this major event, Politeknika Txorierri continues to contribute to the development of cutting-edge educational programs that support the transition towards more sustainable, connected, and intelligent urban environments.

To learn more about SMACITE and its initiatives, visit the official website: https://smacite.eu/en/

17/02/2025

🚀🎥 New SMACITE Project Video! 🌆💡 Gain Cutting-Edge Skills for Smart Cities – Join Us! 👩‍💻🏙️✨