SMARCO | HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht

SMARCO is a four-year an Erasmus Partnership for Innovation dedicated to developing a Blueprint for smart city skills development. In collaboration with 21 European academic and non-academic partners, the project addresses the skills required by engineers, planners and procurers to navigate the transition towards greener and digitally resilient communities. The aim is to educate and equip Europe’s future smart city workforce.

SMARCO strives to become a unique one-stop-shop for smart community skills focusing on the three main aims:

To ensure the development of resilient and sustainable smart communities by addressing the skills gaps of smart city engineers and planners/procurers through the development of urgent upskilling courses and forward-looking training programmes;
To grant flexible and user-centric learning, trans-national dimension and learning mobility, as well as a wide recognition of trainings through the development of micro-credentials, training certificates and wider certification scheme;
To create a sustainable community of stakeholders to discuss, share and scale training, upskilling and reskilling linked to smart communities’ skills and relevant best practices via participation in the Pact for Skills (and its Digital Large-scale ecosystem) and the organization of roundtables with decision-makers.

Lead beneficiary for the European skills supply-demand analysis in the (WP2), including partners to identify the critical skills needed for the next generation of smart communities.

Evidence-based skills mismatches and future foresight reports.
Comprehensive Smart Communities’ skills resources catalogue.
Accessible Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and urgent short-term upskilling courses.
Specialized Higher Education and Vocational Education and Training programmes for smart community engineers, planners, and procurers
Professional certification scheme and micro-credentials framework.
Strategy and Blueprint for Smart Communities Skills Development in Europe to provide actionable policy recommendations for decision-makers and the industry.

Full training programme package for Higher Education Institutions and Vocational Education and Training providers
Learner-centered training methodology to be used by Higher Education Institutions and Vocational Education and Training providers for both occupational profiles, two modular and flexible curricula for HEIs and two for Vocational Education and Training (VET) providers, with at least 20 total courses and related total of 100 learning resources, as well as linked 20 Massive Open Online Courses.
Smart Communities Skills Partnership
Permanent stakeholder community launched as a Working Group under the Digital Ecosystem Large-Scale Partnership within the Pact for Skills. It is hosted as a dedicated Partnership page on the project website, outlining its vision, scope, and collaboration activities to ensure the long-term sustainability and exploitation of the project's results,
Smart Communities’ skills resources catalogue
The publicly accessible catalogue of education, upskilling, and reskilling opportunities will be continuously updated throughout the project. Based on trend research, skills gap analysis, and input from partners and stakeholders, the project formulates recommendations and key actions for skills development in smart communities. The Blueprint consolidates these results and shares practical examples with policymakers.
Smart communities’ skills mismatches and future foresight
A summary of the all work carried out in Analysis of smart communities’ skills supply and demand, including methodological approach and considerations to smart communities’ skills supply and demand analysis, as well as gaps identification and development of future foresight scenarios. Further, it provides the findings on skills demand and supply, and concludes with the identified gaps and mismatches between skills supply and demand.
Strategy and blueprint for Smart Communities Skills Development in Europe
This deliverable presents research on global trends and technology developments linked to smart communities. It provides a set of actionable recommendations, key actions, and timelines for stakeholders (academia, industry, and decision-makers) to ensure responsive skills development in Europe. The Blueprint serves as a practical, shortened version of the Strategy to be used by decision-makers and at various project events.
Train-the-trainer materials for short-term trainings
Guidelines for trainers willing to deliver trainings to the industry, students or unemployed people willing to upskill our public administration employees. The trainers might be academic trainers or coming from DIHs, business support organisations or any other training providers. The guidelines will include a set of comprehensive instructional resources designed to facilitate the training. The materials will be developed in the project’s first year, and then updated, based on any changes made to the training content.
Training certification scheme for smart cities and communities skills
The developed scheme will detail the methodology for and explain the developed benchmarks of certification for smart cities and communities skills trainings. This report will provide detailed guidelines on how to assess the training courses, and explain the key criteria for reputable and transparent certification.
Training methodology, curriculum and learning materials for short-term courses
This output includes a detailed training methodology and structured curricula for the urgent upskilling of practitioners. It provides a comprehensive set of learning resources, such as presentations, case studies, and multimedia content, tailored for short-term courses in industrial and public administration settings.
Trainings programmes’ recognition system report (Micro-credentials and Certificates)
This document establishes the mechanism for acknowledging learner achievements. It includes a methodology for assessing knowledge and skills, along with template certificates and the definition of micro-credentials. This system ensures that the modular courses can be used independently for flexible learning pathways and integrated into other institutional frameworks.

SMARCO is a “Blueprint” project that focuses on the development of a sector. It follows a similar approach to projects such as ARISA and Digital4Sustainability. SMARCO explores market needs and develops and pilots training programmes.

SMARCO pioneers hybrid professional identities by defining new roles for resilience engineers and planners at the intersection of technology and governance. It revolutionizes the educational landscape through co-created Higher Education and Vocational Education and Training curricula, integrated with micro-credential, flexible learning pathways, and certification frameworks. By establishing a "one-stop-shop" for skills intelligence, the project bridges practice-based research, scientific theory and professional practice, equipping future generation of smart city practitioners.

Project partner meeting
25-2-2026
On the February 25 and 26, 2026, the project partners met in Edutus University in Budapest....
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APLE Conference on Architecture and Education
26-3-2026
Researchers Mohammed Eledeisy and Quan Zhu presented their research on the skills gap for smart city...
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Mohamed Eledeisy
- Project manager
- Research groups: Process Innovation and Information Systems, Organisations in Digital Transition
Steven Haveman
- Associate professor
- Research group: Organisations in Digital Transition
Quan Zhu
- Researcher
- Research group: Process Innovation and Information Systems
Xander Lub
- Professor
- Research group: Organisations in Digital Transition
Pascal Ravesteijn
- Professor
- Research group: Process Innovation and Information Systems
Beverly Pasian
- Researcher
- Research group: Process Innovation and Information Systems