DRIVEN ‑ Expert Competence for Data‑Driven Industrial Transformation

In the DRIVEN project, Mittuniversitetet together with 23 companies and organizations will develop new courses adapted to the needs of data-driven development in various industries. In the four-year project, a total of 31 million SEK is invested with financial support from the Knowledge Foundation.

Background

The rapid development of information technology leads to a fundamental transformation of the industry and affects competitiveness. Companies must embrace innovative technology and new knowledge in order to be at the forefront of their industry.

To support the industry in this change, Mid Sweden University has started a competence development program for professionals - DRIVEN. The goal is to develop short courses that can be combined with full-time work. In the four-year project, 23 companies and organizations from different types of industries, such as IT, forest industry and technology consultants, participate. The participating organizations are represented throughout Sweden and several of them operate in the counties of Västernorrland and Jämtland. The participating organizations will describe their and the industry's need for competence, after which the university produces a range of courses that match this need.

Course in three different levels:

Inspiration courses – courses that provide knowledge about the potential of information technology and inspire new ideas in planning and strategy processes towards transformation.
Expert courses – which provide developers and experts with cutting-edge knowledge in key competency areas.
Implementation courses – where participating organizations can implement new technology in an industry or other businesses to enable transformation.

Through this concept, the project will create a total course portfolio of at least 78 higher education credits in deep collaboration with the project's partners. The university will also further develop the process around admission, student reception, pedagogical approach and didactic methods to better suit this professional target group. And finally, create a long-term sustainable training concept for professionals by integrating the courses into the regular offer.

Supported by strong research environments

Behind the investment are Mid Sweden University's two largest research centers; STC – which conducts research in technologies such as the Internet of Things and AI, and the research center FSCN – which focuses on forest industry research.