The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Thessaly (E-CE/UTH) and the Institute of Bio-Economy and Agri-Technology of the National Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (IBO / CERTH) co-organize an event entitled “Developing Skills for Young Engineers in Flexible Design Processes with Applications in Industry “. The event will be held at the Xenia Hotel in Volos, on Friday 27 April 2018, 12:00 to 14:00.

The event is addressed to students of engineering schools as well as to companies and institutions active in the engineering field. The chairman of the Technical Chamber of Magnesia, Mrs. Nancy Kapoula will open the event.

The event takes place within the framework of the European Project LEAP: Lean and Agile Practices Linking Engineering Higher Education to Industry.

The research project aims to contribute to the harmonization of the skills and knowledge developed in higher education departments of polytechnic schools with the needs of industry, boosting the smooth transition of students from the academic to the professional environment.

Specifically, the research project aims to expose the students to industrial activities of agile and lean design. Agile design aims to better meet the needs and expectations of the recipients of a product or service. This is achieved by breaking the specifications into small targets, recognizing priorities in achieving these goals, and achieving the objectives in cycles, each of which begins with a redefinition of the specifications and ends with the implementation of part of the final functionality. Simple design refers to methods that simplify the production process to reduce cost.

The audience will have the opportunity to become familiar with concepts of flexible and simple design. In addition, it will be exposed to pedagogical methods based on learning with actions who offer significant benefits to higher education engineers by forming the ability of the students to transfer and use newly acquired knowledge in future professional activities. The audience will be offered a demonstration of digital learning tools developed within the framework of the research project. Digital tools are in the form of “serious” games and lead students to experiment with flexible and simple design procedures in a way that simulates the implementation of these processes in the industry.

The implementation of the research project is coordinated by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Thessaly. IBO / CERTH participates in the project as a partner together with universities from Portugal, Spain, Estonia and the United Kingdom.

The research project is being implemented from 2016 to 2018 and co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.

More information is available on the research project website at http://leapproject.eu.