Microcredential in Intelligent Algorithms for Industrial Data
With an increasingly demanding global market, the digitalization of industrial processes is becoming essential for companies to maintain a competitive edge. These new challenges have profoundly impacted the industrial paradigm, creating a growing need for the acquisition, monitoring, and processing of data from various stages of the manufacturing cycle in a computationally sustainable and efficient manner. However, it is not uncommon for gaps in the management and interpretation of these large volumes of data to occur due to mathematical knowledge gaps, leading to an underutilization of resources. This microcredential aims to introduce basic mathematical concepts and best practices for the successful integration of data analysis techniques, as well as other intelligent algorithms, into industrial processes. The ultimate goal of the microcredential is to provide participants with a comprehensive understanding of the digital transformation of industry, focusing on the most relevant algorithms and their fundamental role in technologies such as Machine Learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and Digital Twins. The training program will be adapted to practical and real-world case studies based on the professional demands of the participants.
Microcredential in Biometrics: The Next Generation of Security
This technology involves security and innovation, resulting in a pattern identification solution that recognizes a person’s identity by combining biological and/or behavioral characteristics with biometric features. Biometric characteristics are a very convenient way to authenticate an individual, as they offer a high level of security and cannot be stolen, forgotten, or lost. In any business sector where customer identification is part of daily activities, such as banking, financial services, healthcare, and telecommunications, biometrics drastically reduces the time spent on identifying customers/members/patients or verifying identity.
Microcredential in Circular Economy in Construction
The current challenges related to the sustainability of the built environment, highlighted in European policies such as the Green Deal, which impose the need for a qualified response in terms of decarbonization and circular economy models across society and various industrial sectors, require a rapid upskilling effort for future and current professionals in the field. This calls for a focus on quality education in key areas, such as how the circular economy can and should shift the development paradigm in the construction sector and the manufacturing industry for materials and products used in building our habitat.
Microcredential in Inspection and Diagnosis of Existing Buildings and Infrastructure
In the various types of interventions on built heritage, the depth of the intervention must be based on an adequate assessment of the current state of conservation of the construction. For this assessment, the building must undergo a thorough inspection. This need to determine the state of maintenance and conservation is common to structures made of different materials (concrete, steel, masonry, or wood). Proper knowledge of the condition of buildings, supported by inspection actions, will allow for better maintenance planning, extending their service life, as well as promoting rehabilitation actions that generate fewer waste, fostering more sustainable construction practices.
Microcredential in Intelligent Digital Construction
This microcredential is particularly focused on studying aspects related to the development and application of digital methodologies and technologies, aiming to promote the acquisition of analytical skills to support decision-making on issues related to the use of digital communication technologies in inspection processes, as well as their support and integration with project management. These digital skills in the AEC sector are essential for driving the digitalization of the industry and optimizing processes. Additionally, it will contribute to ensuring equal access for all men and women to quality technical and higher education at affordable prices, ensuring the acquisition of specific skills in information and communication technologies (ICT), in response to the SDG of Quality Education.
Microcredential in High Energy Efficiency Buildings
Buildings are like true thermodynamic systems, highlighting the great importance of a holistic approach involving materials and systems, utilizing dynamic and energy simulation of buildings. In general terms, this microcredential is particularly focused on aspects that allow for achieving high energy efficiency buildings, aiming for NZEB (Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings) and carbon-neutral buildings. First, it addresses the importance of new materials and construction and HVAC technologies that contribute to more energy-efficient and sustainable buildings. Then, we focus on optimizing and designing buildings with predictions of thermal comfort and energy needs, moving towards the concept of carbon-free buildings, meaning increasingly sustainable constructions with lower energy consumption and a reduced CO2 footprint in both construction and operation processes.
Microcredential in Digital Technologies for Project Support, Execution, and Operation
This microcredential focuses on the study of aspects related to the development and application of the BIM (Building Information Modelling) methodology. BIM is currently recognized as an important driver of development in various industrial sectors, specifically in the architecture, engineering, and construction sector, and is associated with paradigm shifts in diverse contexts, such as the execution process of projects across different specialties, for which the existence of BIM libraries is essential. Therefore, it is crucial to provide training to professionals in various industrial sectors so that they acquire competencies in this working methodology, given the growing adoption of its implementation.
Microcredential in Local Strategies for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
Climate change is one of humanity’s greatest challenges, affecting all sectors of activity, and can only be addressed with the involvement and participation of all citizens. Therefore, it is essential to raise awareness and provide access to the best scientific knowledge about the causes and consequences of global warming and climate change, as well as strategies to tackle these issues. This microcredential aims to equip professionals from regional and local administrations, consulting firms, and private sector organizations from various fields (municipal councils, decentralized state services, technical environmental consulting and planning offices, SMEs in the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors) with the knowledge and tools for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Microcredential in Environmental Management Tools
This microcredential will contribute to the European Green Deal, in a general sense, by providing organizations with tools to improve their environmental performance through evaluation, reporting, and continuous improvement, such as reducing energy consumption, resource use, waste production, and greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, the microcredential will help strengthen the competitiveness of European industry by supporting the green transition and providing tools for the adoption, management, evaluation, and dissemination of non-polluting technologies and products. The microcredential will also help create more resilient local economies and foster environmentally innovative business cultures. Lastly, it will contribute to the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, specifically Sustainable Development Goals 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and 13 (Climate Action). More broadly, the microcredential will also contribute to SDG 9 (Quality Education).
Microcredential in Introduction to Virtual and Augmented Reality
Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) typically provide visual (but also multisensory) experiences through specialized hardware, such as VR goggles (Head Mounted Displays). The emergence of low-cost systems allows for the development of viable applications in an increasing number of situations. However, developing these applications presents a challenge, as it is necessary to track the user to display information according to their position and orientation. Human factors also pose complex and difficult challenges, as these systems can easily impact user comfort, health, safety, and privacy if not developed using an appropriate methodology. This microcredential aims to introduce the fields of Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality, addressing basic concepts, methods, and tools that will allow students to better understand the issues involved in developing simple applications.
