“Industry 4.0. is the name given to the last industrial revolution, which is based in new ways of interaction among people, machines and data, combining the real world of production with the virtual world of information and communication technology. In order to establish industry 4.0. in a company, it is necessary to count with workers with the skills to meet the requirements of this new approach. In this context, the VET system should seek to provide a broader set of skills and job specific capabilities and close the existing IT skills gap. Industry 4.0. calls for a new approach of IT know-how, in combination with organizational and soft skills and therefore, vocational training needs to be structured in a different way and integrated in the industry 4.0. by cooperating with technological centres and companies, completing the triangle innovation-education-business.

Given this background, with LAIT 4.0. the partners want to contribute to the achievement of these objectives:

• Provide VET teachers with knowledge about industry 4.0. technologies and with the skills to transfer this knowledge to VET learners and to SMEs.
• Develop the technological and organizational skills of VET learners in order to give a better answer to the current demands of industrial companies, especially those involved in advanced manufacturing (CNC, virtual welding, robotics…).
• Improve the access of companies, specially SMEs, to the knowledge of research and innovation centres to apply it to their own economic activity.- Increase cooperation between VET centres, research and innovation centres and companies, enhancing the triangle education-innovation-business.
• Facilitate transparency among the different VET systems in the EU by the joint design of a course addressed to reduce the skills shortage related to industry 4.0. and the development of a memorandum of understanding among project partners to facilitate the exchange and mobility of VET teachers and learners.

During the project, 18 VET teachers will be intensively trained in industry 4.0. in IK4 Tekniker, a technological centre in the Basque Country which is a European reference in the field.

These 18 VET teachers will transfer this knowledge to other 50 teachers during a short course. Around 1200-1500 learners will benefit from the upgrade of skills of their teachers.

On the other hand, twenty companies will be involved in the project and will work with the 18 VET teachers to walk towards the implementation of industry 4.0. and become a factory of the future.”