In the beginning of March 2021 the Skills4Cities Bulgarian partners IBS and CSKC laid the grounds of a common initiative inspired by the Skills4Cities project and in favour of the sustainability of the project’s results and the impact it aims to achieve – a Center for Competencies for Innovation Management and Smart Cities.

The Center will focus on the preparation of human capital in accordance with the European Skills Agenda with an emphasis on skills in managing innovation and deep technologies for digital transformation and smart cities. At the heart of the initiative is the most important building block of any smart city, namely the "smart city project".

This will be the first specialized Competencies Center in the Bulgaria, which will upgrade and certify skills, knowledge, and abilities directly related to the new professions, so necessary for the cities of the future. The initiative envisages offering lifelong and specialized training to expand and improve the professional qualification and skills for technology management, innovation, and projects for smart cities.

The target group is the innovative professional community, which includes employees and managers, experts, consultants, mentors, urban planners, economists, architects, engineers, geologists, cartographers, lawyers, as well as technicians working in the ICT sectors, etc. who, by upskilling with new competencies and subsequent certification, will claim knowledge and skills in the management and implementation of various types and sizes of the smart cities projects.
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After the completion of the Skills4Cities project, the Center will have the necessary resources to prepare and certify the first three new job roles.