INESCOP brings together the partners of ShoeGAME, the Erasmus project that will improve the attractiveness of footwear studies through a digital game.
INESCOP has hosted the third transnational meeting of the partners of the Erasmus+ ShoeGAME project, whose objective is to promote footwear studies among European students of Secondary Education and Vocational Training, through the development of a serious game that attracts the new generations in a playful way, while preparing them to face the challenges of digitalisation and sustainability that the footwear sector is facing.
The headquarters of INESCOP in Elda was the place chosen for the third meeting of the partners of the ShoeGAME project, which began a year and a half ago. Coordinated by the Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi (Romania), INESCOP is joined by the Centro Tecnológico do Calçado de Portugal (CTCP), the company Virtual Campus (Portugal), the Liceul Alexandre Cel Bun (Romania), the non-profit company Cre Thi Dev (Greece), and the European Confederation of the Footwear Industry (CEC), an umbrella organisation for the entire European footwear sector.
The ShoeGAME project is funded by the Erasmu+ Programme of the European Union and aims to develop a serious game to promote training in the footwear sector among students of Secondary Education and the first years of Vocational Training. During the meeting, the partners have discussed technical and operational aspects of the game and have planned the pilot actions to be carried out with students and teachers, using the first version of the game, which will be available soon, as well as the guide for trainers.
Serious games as a learning tool
After almost a year and a half of work, the partners have developed the contents of 5 training units, aligned with the challenges currently faced by the industry, addressing the topics of: design, manufacturing processes, new technologies, sustainability and marketing. These areas will be developed and complemented by the challenges that the students playing the game will have to solve.
In this way, technical learning is promoted, framed in a playful and interactive environment, which is more attractive to the new generations of young students in Europe. The first version of the game is about to be released, as it is expected to be piloted in the last quarter of the year, as well as the guide for tutors and trainers.
A new social reality
In recent years, the European footwear sector has experienced a significant shortage of skilled labour to ensure the generational replacement of the workforce and to cover the new professional needs of the sector. Likewise, the twin transition that the footwear sector is going through, towards digitalisation and sustainability, requires new professional profiles within the industry, which are in great demand by manufacturing companies.
In this context, the ShoeGAME project addresses two important objectives: on the one hand, to alleviate the ageing of the workforce in European footwear companies, and on the other hand, to adapt the training offer to the current challenges of an industry that has undergone a total transformation over the last decade, which requires new jobs in the production chain.
All in all, the aim of ShoeGAME is to attract young people through digital games and to awaken interest in an historically manufacturing industry, where the digitalisation of processes is necessary to guarantee competitiveness in a global market. This initiative aims to take advantage of technological advances to target young people, through the channels they use most, and in this way, spark curiosity and transform entertainment into employment opportunities.
FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE SHOEGAME PROJECT
www.shoegame.eu
https://www.facebook.com/people/Shoe-GAME/100083085231022/