THE PROJECT

Main objectives

Development of a training plan that will provide employees and lower level managers of European SMEs with the skills and abilities needed for collaborative knowledge, i.e. to generate, share and apply knowledge and know how in collaboration with their co-workers, (peers or team members) or members of the same specialization. 

The project will focus on a sector which traditionally has not put an emphasis on aspects related to sharing knowledge and sharing skills, i.e. collaborative knowledge: the manufacturing industry. The sector could learn from the experience in other sectors, but the implications of collaborative knowledge for this industry need a specific adaptation, as traditionally among the competences required from the employees of such organizations these collaborative skills were not of importance to the competitive advantage of the organization.

Specific Objectives

  • Analysis of the barriers to collaborative knowledge building, i.e. sharing skills and knowledge off and on line, within manufacturing in SMEs, both from the perception of management as well as from the perception of the employees.

  • Identification of those barriers that are related to the lack of competences and abilities of the employees and the lower management levels.

  • Analysis of the training needs of these lower level managers and employees to acquire the competences necessary for successful collaborative knowledge building, both on and off line.

  • Identification of the training gaps.

  • Development of a training plan that will provide lower level managers and employees of manufacturing SMEs with the competences necessary for collaborative knowledge building.

  • Realization of the corresponding training system, procedures and materials.

  • Execution of a pilot training with a limited number of SMEs managers and employees so as to test the material with a view on improvement and correction of deviations.

Expected Results

A complete training system, including procedures, modules and materials, that is capable of providing employees and lower level managers of European SMEs with the skills and abilities related to collaborative knowledge.

These abilities and skills will increase the innovative capability of the organization, by improving the competences at lower levels of the organization, which will allow to take full advantage of the new tools, techniques and technologies related to the knowledge economy, and thus improving the internal business processes through a bottom-up approach.

Leonardo da Vinci programme

Spanish Agency of the Leonardo Da Vinci Programme: www.mec.es/fp/leonardo 
Official Website of Leonardo Da Vinci Programme in the EU: www.europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/leonardo/leonardo_en.html 

The Mithras project is financed by the European program "Leonardo da Vinci", created by the EU to promote a European space in the subjects of education and professional training. 

The objetives of the "Leonardo da Vinci" program are the following:

  • Improve the individual aptitudes and competitions, specially of the young people, in the initial professional training at all levels, with views to facilitate the insertion and the professional reintegration.

  • Improve the quality and the access to the continuous professional training, as well as to facilitate the acquisition, throughout life, of aptitudes and competitions.

  • To promote and to reinforce the contribution of the professional training to the innovation process in order to improve competitiveness and the enterprise spirit, with views also to possibilities of new employments.