Chaise Newsletter #7

Discussions will address the needs of various markets, highlighting the project’s significance for EU countries, the skills market, and the future landscape of emerging technologies.

The collaborative format aims to gather insights that will shape the development of national curricula, educational strategies, and training plans related to blockchain and emerging technologies. By enhancing knowledge transfer from business to academia and creating a decentralised blockchain training and marketplace platform, the ultimate goal is to make blockchain accessible to all.

Participants will be able to engage in dynamic roundtable discussions, contributing to the advancement of digital skills, competencies, and empowerment in the digital economy.

As the CHAISE course includes many learning materials, the learners will “collect” badges and module certificates as they move through the course.

Once the learner has successfully obtained the theory and practical and badge for a module, they will be awarded with the Module certificate. After receiving the certification of each module, the learner will obtain the full course certification, which will be issued by CHAISE partner ECQA.

The CHAISE online course certification strategy is largely based on the principles of the International Standard ISO/IEC 17024:2012-07 Conformity assessment - General requirements.

CHAISE Trainer's Guide

The Trainer’s guide has been designed to provide trainers with guidelines and resources to deliver an optimised and impactful learning experience on Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies. It is available for all educators who wish to conduct in-person or online blockchain training and explains how ICT trainers can deliver the CHAISE course lectures in both informal and formal settings. For each learning unit, the guide provides trainers with access to a detailed lesson plan for classroom sessions and online use, a summary of the learning objectives and the expected knowledge and skills that the unit aims to impart, together with the prerequisites for participating in the session

Scholars/trainees will embark on a learning expedition, delving into foundational courses, specialised tracks in development, architecture, and management, and engaging in workshops that explore emerging trends and technologies.

Tailored to ICT professionals aspiring to become Blockchain specialists, this component offers a comprehensive 1-year scholarship in education and training institutions. The goal is to enhance skills, promote mobility, and make the Blockchain sector an attractive career choice throughout Europe.

The Blueprint will be published soon! Make sure to regularly check the CHAISE website and social media channels not to miss it!

Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, CHAISE will provide an in-depth forecasting analysis of blockchain skills demand and supply and document the current state of the diffusion of blockchain technology across Europe. CHAISE analyses how blockchain technology is being applied, the evolving nature of blockchain skill requirements, and assesses how education and training courses are consequently changing to meet dynamic skills demand.

CHAISE invites Blockchain stakeholders from across Europe to acknowledge the identified emerging occupational profiles in the Blockchain field and to contribute to the advancement of the project’s objectives to reinforce education in digital competences by signing a Statement of Support.

By recognising the results, stakeholders will contribute to providing a clearer description of the different blockchain roles and possible educational approach, thus contributing to a joint effort to fulfil the growing needs of the blockchain sector.

Within CHAISE, SAEK EGALEO participates in various work packages, especially contributing to the development of a Blueprint for the creation of national Blockchain scholarship and traineeship programs and drawing up national action plans  to share visibility and mainstream project results. 

Last year, SAEK EGALEO was leading the execution of one of CHAISE's onsite training pilots, aimed at testing  and promoting the developed CHAISE Blockchain skills online course.

Finally, SAEK EGALEO is co-organising the formation of a Greek Blockchain Skills Partnership in collaboration with EXELIA, which is also part of the CHAISE consortium, and contributing to amplify the project's dissemination and awareness-raising activities.

The members participating in the project are experienced in the field of blockchain technology, service science, interoperability, distributed architectures and databases, security systems, Artificial Intelligence, e-learning resources, web semantics, and cloud computing technologies.

UCBL oversees the project's technical coordination and financial management, including developing the quality assurance plan and semi-annual quality review reports. They chair meetings, prepare and submit progress reports, recruit external evaluators, and communicate with the EACEA. Additionally, UCBL contributes to skill intelligence gathering, curriculum design, and the creation of learning materials. They also participate in consultation meetings with national qualification bodies to plan the next steps for qualification accreditation / recognition. Finally, UCBL is in charge of the national action plan for rolling out project results and leads efforts to establish a National Blockchain Skills Partnership in France.

In the CHAISE project, the University of Ljubljana played a key role in the development of the CHAISE training programme, contributing to the creation of content for several modules and lectures of the CHAISE Blockchain skills online course. Furthermore, the University piloted  the course with university students.

The university is also part of  ULTRA - University of Ljubljana for a Sustainable Society project, in which a new training program about decentralised solutions to address the skills gap in the field was developed and then accredited with micro-credentials.

In the first part of the event, the Digital LSP’s mission and the objectives were presented, along with its work plan for 2024. In the second part of the event, the participants had the opportunity to learn from the experience of some Erasmus+ Blueprint Projects, such as the ARISA project, the CHAISE project and the REWIRE project.

In particular, the CHAISE Coordinator, University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, provided an overview of the CHAISE project. The Coordinator explained the deliverables for 2024 and presented the CHAISE partners, the project timeline and, more specifically, delved into the CHAISE Blockchain Skills online course “Mastering Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies”, in order to create synergies with the work of the digital LSP and other partners.

In the last part of the event, a matchmaking session for Erasmus + Alliances for Innovation calls was carried out.

CHAISE partners had the honour of attending the INATBA Awards Gala ceremony, where the CHAISE project was awarded as Most Exciting Project for 2024 in the Learning and Awareness category. This achievement was very significant as it recognises the impact of our initiative in advancing education and awareness. This award inspires us to continue pushing the boundaries and striving for excellence in our mission.

On Tuesday, March 12, 2024, the University of Lille hosted an insightful international bilingual conference at the Lilliard Learning Center. The event provided a comprehensive exploration of Blockchain technology’s impact on different sector with particular focus on its evolution within higher education and research.

Through various workshops, the University of Lille showcased its involvement in advancements that indicate the emergence of a European digital heritage, valuable for youth, institutions and mobility.

On 20 March 2024, CHAISE's Austrian partner ECQA GmbH, together with DLT Austria, organised an event with the aim of exploring new blockchain-related job roles and explaining the CHAISE Blockchain Skills online course in Mastering Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies.

This online course was developed by CHAISE in response to the growing demand for blockchain experts in Europe. It aims to address blockchain skills gaps and train specialised professional profiles, such as Blockchain Developer, Blockchain Manager and Blockchain Architect.

During this event, a CHAISE special session organised by CHAISE partners Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1 and the University of Ljubljana will take place. The CHAISE session “Future of Decentralized Systems, European Partnership” will focus on the connection of emerging AI approaches into the Blockchain system and provides a possibility to present the recent research and educational activities to create Future European Partnerships in this field. Moreover, interested participants will also have the opportunity to become CHAISE Associated partners by joining its Alliance.

For this session, participants had the opportunity to submit papers focusing on key topics related to Blockchain via a call for papers.

The forum convenes global experts to present and discuss the latest DLT research. It aims to formulate an actionable strategy and recommendations for advancing sustainable global adoption and real-world impact in various sectors. Simultaneously, it promotes collaboration between researchers and businesses, facilitating the practical application of the latest research.

Additional activities benefiting the members of this Focus Group include raising awareness, providing education and practical tools on how to best adopt new solutions, as well as encouraging the debate on blockchain standardisation.  

A good example of these activities is the workshop on the Environmental Sustainability of Blockchain recently organised by the Focus Group to discuss how blockchain & DLTs can positively contribute to sustainable development.

In the framework of the Focus Group Blockchain & DLT, a Catalogue of Blockchain Solutions has been launched with the aim of gathering solutions developed by the Members of the Focus Group Blockchain & DLT across different sectors.

The EU Blockchain Observatory & Forum held its Conclusion workshop on the 8th on May, in Brussels.

The event featured distinguished speakers such as Mariana de la Roche (Director of Validvent), Almudena de la Mata (from the Blockchain Intelligence Division at AirCity), and Daniel Szego (from the EUBOF Expert Panel).

At the event, the main achievements of the EU Blockchain Observatory & Forum since 2020 were presented, followed by a discussion on the future trends for the technology.

The creation of these resources has been funded by the ERASMUS+ program of the European Union under grant no. 621646-EPP-1-2020-1-FR-EPPKA2-SSA-B.