Abstract:

The concept of Digital Supply Chains (SCs) fosters the use of disruptive technological interventions, such as: Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs), Internet of Things (IoT), Data Analytics and Big Data (including Blockchain), and Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR). Notably, the European Commission reports that existing jobs are likely to change due to the Information Technology advancements. In this context, the European higher education students and new generation workforce should get accustomed to the new digital landscape. The purpose of this paper is to identify the digital needs and opportunities within the SC ecosystem to develop innovative capability-building curricula and training tools for higher education and VET in Digital Supply Chain that provide students with digital competences and skills through the collaboration of educational and corporate organizations.

In particular, this article focuses on the development of specialized courses in the four abovementioned thematic areas to promote:
(i) the integration of disruptive technologies for Digital SCs in the higher education and VET curricula to tackle skill mismatches, and
(ii) the transformation of the traditional SC business models to digital and sustainable ones.

An innovative learning methodology is proposed to design up-to-date material for in-class and e-learning courses, academic and company staff lectures which apart from traditional blending learning tools incorporates game-based learning integrated on the e-platform, virtual scenarios for showcasing the integration of the proposed courses in the digital SC context, and an augmented reality experimentation system for hands-on training.

Keywords:

Digital supply chain, innovation, education, business.