Chaise Newsletter #6

CHAISE Trainer's Guide

The Trainer’s guide has been designed to provide trainers with guidelines and resources to deliver an optimized 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

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 recognizing the results, stakeholders will contribute to providing 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.

In the CHAISE project, Netcompany-Intrasoft plays a pivotal role in driving the development and implementation of blockchain-based solutions for enhancing skills certification and validation within the European education and workforce ecosystem. Leveraging its expertise in blockchain technology, Netcompany-Intrasoft contributes to the project's mission of fostering transparency and trust in skills validation processes. By collaborating with other project partners, Netcompany-Intrasoft aims to create a secure and decentralized platform that empowers individuals to showcase their skills and qualifications while facilitating seamless cross-border recognition of credentials in the European Union.

The primary objective of IOTA is to offer a scalable and sustainable DLT solution for applications and digital economies, ultimately empowering digital autonomy for individuals and entities. Within CHAISE, IOTA actively participates in various work packages, that include tasks such as contributing to the assessment and prediction of the supply and demand for blockchain skills, as well as contributing to the development of the CHAISE Blockchain skills digital course. This year, IOTA was leading the execution of the on-site CHAISE training pilots, aimed at testing the developed CHAISE Blockchain skills digital course. Given its proximity to blockchain development and application, IOTA provides useful insights into the real-world dynamics within the blockchain space.

The association is a reference point for Italian and European institutions, also thanks to the implementation of common activities to promote the sector in the dissemination and training with regional capillarity. In the training field, alongside the offering of two introductory courses on blockchain technology, Blockchain Innovation Manager and Blockchain Technology Specialist, Italia4Blockchain is a proud partner of CHAISE, conducting research and sharing resources on the Italian market, contributing to the awareness on CHAISE in Italy and supporting the implementation of the project results on a national level whilst designing and promoting a National Blockchain Skills Partnership.

Professor Raimundas Matulevicius from CHAISE partner University of Tartu was one of panellists of "Blockchain Education & Standardisation: 

Navigating (beyond) the European landscape",

the webinar organised by the SEEBLOCKS.eu project on November 10. The webinar explored the standardisation actitivies within the Blockchain/DLT domain focusing on the importance of education in blockchain technology for individuals and organizations looking to understand, adopt, and work with these blockchain systems and to equip them with the required skills. Professor Matulevicius had the opportunity to speak about CHAISE activities and findings and to provide the online audience with an overview of the CHAISE blockchain skills digital course, explaining how the course is structured and what job oppotunities it unlocks thanks to its specialisation pathways.

BIBB organized an international conference that brings together researchers from different disciplines to highlight and discuss the active contribution of Vocational Education and skilled workers to technological and ecological innovation. With her participation to the workshop "The technological side of transformation" Adele had the chance to introduce the CHAISE Blockchain skills needs and demand analysis, its forecasting findings and the three emerging professional roles identified by the analysis and for which the CHAISE blockchain skills digital course offers tailored specialisation learning pathways.

Indeed, the course is designed to tackle mismatches in blockchain skills and train learners for the specialized professional profiles, identified in CHAISE Blockchain skills needs and demand analysis. The event offered the participants the opportunity to learn more about the CHAISE project and explore its blockchain skills digital course, its specialisation pathways and certification procedures.  In addition to the CHAISE project, the conference shed light on the Austrian Public Service Blockchain (Data Certification Service). Attendees had the chance to gain a comprehensive understanding of its vision, objectives, and the significant role it plays in shaping the blockchain landscape. This included an exploration of the Data Certification Service, underlining its role in ensuring data integrity and authenticity within the Australian Public Service

The event explored key topics such as climate action, ReFi, digital inclusion, and governance, providing a comprehensive overview of the potential impact of these technologies. In this CHAISE was introduced to the conference audience by its partner BerChain, who highlighted the critical need for skilled Blockchain specialists to effectively harness the transformative power of this technology and explained how the CHAISE Blockchain skills digital course can be leveraged by both students and professionals to acquire the necessary knowledge of Blockchain and DLT and specialise as one the blockchain professional profiles identified by CHAISE Blockchain skills needs and demand analysis. Afterwards, there was also the opportunity to introduce the CHAISE Alliance and the CHAISE statement of support, showing how interested organizations can engage and contribute to the project's objectives as CHAISE Associated partners or supporting its results. The event has also seen the participation of panellists from IOTA foundation which is also part of the CHAISE project partnership. 

Standardisation activities include, among others:

- Participating in European and International Standards Developing Organisations

- Producing technical reports & research studies

- Proposing new work items in Technical Groups, standardization guides or use cases.

With an overall budget of 400.000 €, Blockstand will engage with nearly 40 experts which will provide a total of 100 contributions through their activities. Applications for paid activities, amounting up to € 12.000 for each selected expert, will be evaluated on a rolling basis, with the upcoming cut-off set for 15th January 2024.

The Gala will not only be a platform for recognizing the achievements of the award winners but also an occasion to gain insights from Mathieu Michel, Belgium State Secretary for Digitization, who will deliver a keynote speech, sharing valuable perspectives on the pivotal role of emerging technologies in shaping the future of industry, economy, and innovation in Europe. Furthermore, since CHAISE has been nominated among the most exciting projects for 2024, we will find out during the Gala whether it has won the INATBA Awards in the Learning and Awareness category. More than just a celebration of blockchain's advancements, the Gala underscores INATBA's commitment to a greener and more sustainable future. By aligning technological innovations with environmental responsibility, the event will represent a reaffirmation of INATBA's dedication to fostering positive change in the industry.

Thanks to the experience developed with the application of blockchain technology for the certification of credentials, CIMEA is involved in the EBSI Vector project (EBSI enabled Verifiable Credentials & Trusted Organizations Registries), a project funded by the Digital Europe Programme, which brings together 52 partners from 20 different countries.

Started in June 2023, the main objective of the EBSI Vector project is to cooperate to simplify some of the complex verification credentials and trusted registries by extending them with new capabilities (such as the decentralized identity of legal persons or revocation functionality).

Representing the Italian use case of the project, CIMEA is leading the project work package dedicated to education use cases, managing their implementation with the current and new EBSI capabilities, to enhance the specifications of the EBSI Diploma and support the onboarding on EBSI standards. 

CHAISE was an official partner of the 4th edition of the Paris Blockchain Summit, an exceptional gathering of blockchain enthusiasts, experts, innovators, and investors from around the globe, which offered them the chance to take part in engaging panel discussions, keynotes, and workshops to explore the latest trends, developments, and innovations in the blockchain and cryptocurrency field. Furthermore, the Paris Blockchain Summit hosted several pitching and networking sessions to foster the interaction between solution providers and potential partners and/or investors.

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.