Tallinn University’s FP7 ICT integrated project proposal “LAYERS” the best of the 17th January 2012 call!

Invent Baltics OÜ helped a consortium of 20 international partners, lead by Tallinn University, Center for Educational Technology as the scientific coordinator (and research centre CIMNE from Spain as the administrative coordinator) submit a successful large scale integrated project proposal to the 7th Framework Programme ICT call for proposals: "Learning Layers - Scaling up Technologies for Informal Learning in SME Clusters" (LAYERS, N° 318209). The other partners include universities, research centres, SME-clusters and (SME) end users from Germany, Austira, UK, Finland and Norway.

The objective of the LAYERS (Learning Layers) project is to develop a set of modular and flexible technological layers for supporting workplace practices in SMEs that unlock peer production and scaffold learning in networks of SMEs, thereby bridging the gap between scaling and adaptation to personal needs. By building on recent advances in contextualised learning, these layers provide a meaningful learning context when people interact with people, digital and physical artefacts for their informal learning, thus making learning faster and more effective. Building on mobile learning research, the project situates learning into physical work places and practices to support situated, faster and more meaningful learning. Learning Layers provide a shared conceptual foundation independent of the tools people use and the context they are in.

Learning Layers are based on a common light-weight, distributed infrastructure that allows for fast and flexible deployment in highly distributed and dynamic settings. These technologies are applied in two sectors that have been particularly hesitant to take up learning technologies, i.e. health care and building and construction. Involving two representative and large-scale regional SME clusters allows to involve end-users in co-design of the system and later scale up the approach to more than 1,000 learners within 4 years. By inviting a larger set of stakeholders to adapt and build on the LAYERS solutions and through research in sustainable business training models, the project will generate significant impact by boosting the ability of regional innovation systems to adapt to change and thereby remain competitive, on the individual, organisational and regional level. The project will demonstrate the impact in the two chosen sectors, but widen the scope to other sectors and regions towards the end of the project.

Project duration: 48 months Project total budget: ca 12.67 million EUR (including ca 10 million EUR EU contribution)