Project Description

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Manufacturing is a central pillar of the European economy – the EU manufacturing sector accounts for 2 million companies and 33 million jobs. Our challenge is to ensure that all industrial sectors make the best use of new mechatronics technologies and solutions and manage their transition towards higher-value digitized products and processes.

The main objective of the MechMate project was to provide interactive training on mechatronics and to assist with the introduction of advanced mechatronics-based technologies in manufacturing SMEs across Europe. Thus, project realization would increase the level of innovativeness of SMEs and finally result for them in significantly higher competitiveness on the European and global market.

The MechMate project addressed the problems of manufacturing SMEs’ managers, people employed in SMEs (technicians, administrative staff), as well as students and trainers/teachers in terms of mechatronics and the lack of training means to facilitate innovation mechatronics-based technology introduction in manufacturing SMEs in Europe.

The expected intellectual outputs were the following:

• Report of the present State-of-the-art
• MechMate Curricula
• MechMate Methodology
• MechMate Training course
• MechMate Guidelines for SMEs and VET providers

All intellectual outputs were hosted on an interactive web-based platform, including an e-learning approach.

The project had a great impact on how innovation is managed in European manufacturing SMEs. The project’s impact on them was in the form of mechatronics training of their managers and employees. Increased innovativeness of their workers were further impacts. In addition, increased competitiveness of their operations increased the competitiveness level of European manufacturing SMEs.

The aim of this transnational project is to offer teachers the means to develop their learning design and digital skills to co-create with their students engaging, inclusive learning environments. The innovative employment of digital technology will stimulate creativity and facilitate interactions among all students, strengthening connections and providing opportunities forstudents who come from diverse backgrounds to be heard (e.g., by sharing their life stories/traditions).  

This type of support for student creativity and learning within a collaborative learning environment is certainly aligned with the EU policies for fostering soft skills and offers new opportunities for the effective integration of immigrant students by enabling them to raise their voices through the stories they create and promote an over intercultural understanding the learning new media skills so that students become active users of modern digital tools.