The SME sector's digital and sustainability leap

RDI platform: Smart City

Language: Finnish

Project description

Adapting to change is a smart business tactic. Project aims to improve the competitiveness of companies in the SME sector and their possible development and adaptation to the changing operating environment. Companies and the public sector are highly in need and interested in carbon footprint calculation, emission reductions, and integrating the circular economy and sustainable development into corporate business. The project continues VAMK’s and Novia’s line of open learning, whereby the training provided in the project is openly available to everyone.

Goals

The main goal of the project is to improve the competitiveness of companies in the SME sector and enable their development through digitalization and the green transition. The project creates training services specially tailored for the SME sector. In a rapidly changing world, in order to maintain competitiveness, more new know-how is needed, especially regarding the carbon footprint of companies and better utilization of data. SMEs particularly are in a delicate position in the subcontracting chain, where companies rarely have any other options than to follow and comply with the sustainability goals set by larger companies without their own expertise and resources.

From a business perspective, this poses a big risk, and the requirements are getting higher. The goal of the project is to reduce these risks and to increase the readiness and know-how of companies and the public sector regarding climate issues, the circular economy and digitalization. VAMK has an on-going project called Carbon-neutral industry training package (Hiilineutraali teollisuus -koulutuskokonaisuus), which contents, know-how and experiences will be utilized in this project. The contents developed in the Carbon-neutral industry project are also offered in Swedish, which increases the accessibility of the education offer by the project. The goal is to have an expanded target group outside of industry and to continue raising awareness of VAMK’s carbon calculation expertise, so that as many companies as possible nationwide could benefit from it.

Results

The goal and concrete outcome of the project is that at least 80 people have received training tailored to the SME sector, which corresponds to 20 credits in the field of digitalization and green transition. They have expertise in the basics of carbon footprint and life cycle calculation and emission reductions in companies. These measures will increase digital skills significantly and while ensuring the competitiveness of SMEs and better utilization of data will also be enabled which opens doors to improved efficiency and new innovations. The goal is also that a large part of those participating in the training can be transferred through these further studies towards engineering degrees and thus further develop the competence of the SME sector. The training offers tools, know-how and actions with which SMEs can concretely develop their corporate responsibility, such as carbon footprint calculations, emission reduction roadmaps and circular economy solutions. During the project, the students create exercises and tools suitable for their own company, which can be immediately put to use by the company already during the training.