Periodic Reporting for period 2 - QualiChain (Decentralised Qualifications' Verification and Management for Learner Empowerment, Education Reengineering and Public Sector Transformation)
Reporting period: 2020-01-01 to 2021-12-31
Education credentials are largely resisting the pull of technology, as they are still held in diverse formats in siloed databases, often involving paper documentation and extremely time-consuming manual processes for their verification. The latter come mostly into the foreground when education credentials are requested as a means of ratifying decisions regarding either personnel recruitment or individuals’ further admission in other educational and training programmes.
Indeed, the recruitment of personnel by an organisation is a lengthy process that comes along with combing through hundreds of candidates’ résumés, weeding out the unqualified ones and narrowing down the rest into a group of potential recruits’, whose qualifications and academic degrees have to be checked and validated on a case-by-case basis. The same applies when filtering out applicants for a postgraduate or other educational programme and creates a clear dependence from accrediting organisations for validating claims around the possession of certain educational certifications.
Disruptive technologies, such as blockchain, algorithmic techniques, data analytics and semantics and innovative concepts like gamification may offer solutions to these challenges. QualiChain targets the creation, piloting and evaluation of a distributed platform for storing, sharing and verifying academic and employment qualifications focuses on the assessment of the potential of the aforementioned combination of technologies for disrupting the domain of education. It assesses the socio-economic, cultural, legal but also political implications of deploying the prescribed combination of technologies towards addressing the aforementioned challenges, whereas it sorts out potential benefits and risks.
QualiChain investigates and provides evidence on the transformative impact of disruptive technologies, such as blockchain, semantics, data analytics and gamification in the domain of public education, as well as the interfaces of the latter with the fields of private education, the labour market and public sector administrative procedures. The concept and focus of the project lie more specifically in the design, implementation, piloting and thorough evaluation in terms of benefits, risks and other potential implications of the QualiChain technological solution, a distributed platform targeting the storage, sharing and verification of academic and employment qualifications.
QualiChain meets its main goal through a set of targeted objectives, divided into two categories, namely:
• Scientific and Technical Objectives focusing on the scientific and research work to be carried out to deliver a solid, well-grounded approach for fully exploiting the disruptive potential of the aforementioned technologies in the given context, as well as on the technical work required for the implementation of the novel, self-standing components that will materialise the envisaged functionalities and their integration under a common platform.
• Business & Societal Objectives focusing in turn on the piloting, evaluation and validation of the QualiChain platform, the spread of the benefits identified and the assurance of its acceptance by the targeted stakeholders and thereby of its sustainability.
Indeed, the recruitment of personnel by an organisation is a lengthy process that comes along with combing through hundreds of candidates’ résumés, weeding out the unqualified ones and narrowing down the rest into a group of potential recruits’, whose qualifications and academic degrees have to be checked and validated on a case-by-case basis. The same applies when filtering out applicants for a postgraduate or other educational programme and creates a clear dependence from accrediting organisations for validating claims around the possession of certain educational certifications.
Disruptive technologies, such as blockchain, algorithmic techniques, data analytics and semantics and innovative concepts like gamification may offer solutions to these challenges. QualiChain targets the creation, piloting and evaluation of a distributed platform for storing, sharing and verifying academic and employment qualifications focuses on the assessment of the potential of the aforementioned combination of technologies for disrupting the domain of education. It assesses the socio-economic, cultural, legal but also political implications of deploying the prescribed combination of technologies towards addressing the aforementioned challenges, whereas it sorts out potential benefits and risks.
QualiChain investigates and provides evidence on the transformative impact of disruptive technologies, such as blockchain, semantics, data analytics and gamification in the domain of public education, as well as the interfaces of the latter with the fields of private education, the labour market and public sector administrative procedures. The concept and focus of the project lie more specifically in the design, implementation, piloting and thorough evaluation in terms of benefits, risks and other potential implications of the QualiChain technological solution, a distributed platform targeting the storage, sharing and verification of academic and employment qualifications.
QualiChain meets its main goal through a set of targeted objectives, divided into two categories, namely:
• Scientific and Technical Objectives focusing on the scientific and research work to be carried out to deliver a solid, well-grounded approach for fully exploiting the disruptive potential of the aforementioned technologies in the given context, as well as on the technical work required for the implementation of the novel, self-standing components that will materialise the envisaged functionalities and their integration under a common platform.
• Business & Societal Objectives focusing in turn on the piloting, evaluation and validation of the QualiChain platform, the spread of the benefits identified and the assurance of its acceptance by the targeted stakeholders and thereby of its sustainability.
- Ethics, Socio-Economic Landscape, Stakeholders’ Requirements and Implications
• Update of the project SotA and SWOT analysis, stakeholders’ requirements, as well as a SLEPT analysis of the long-term implications of the QualiChain project.
• Analysis of observed and potential consequences on the QualiChain landscape following the global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Keeping track of the EU legal landscape regarding personal data and record any updates.
• Complete the DPIA.
• Create a roadmap mainly focused on the technological areas of QualiChain to help future researchers and technology providers remain compliant with the GDPR articles:
--The main articles of the GDPR that require the attention of a researcher or technology provider.
--Comprehensive guidelines for drafting consent forms for research participants.
--Guidelines for respecting and staying compliant with the data minimisation principle, the right for data deletion and the importance of informed consent for data entry and processing.
--Specific guidelines for projects that include blockchain or data analytics.
--A step-by-step roadmap that provides guidelines to researchers or technology providers that are working in projects that require data that can be characterised as personal based on the GDPR.
- QualiChain Development
• Final QualiChain architecture.
• Final QualiChain baseline services.
• Final QualiChain value adding services.
• QualiChain platform implemented and integrated.
• Continuous and heavy testing.
- QualiChain Pilots
• All 5 QualiChain pilots (“Supporting Lifelong Learning”, “University Process Optimisation through Smart Curriculum Design and Student Accreditation”, “Staffing the Public Sector – The case of Greece/Portugal”, “Provision of Recruitment and Competency Management Services”) and the underlying 24 pilot specific test cases have run successfully.
• Collection of operation data and 44 pilot-specific KPIs' data for the pilots’ and project assessment.
• Distribution of horizontal and marketing specific questionnaires to the users, and collection and analysis of the relevant responses.
• Establishment of a continuous loop of feedback between the end-users and the technical team developing the QualiChain system.
• Provision of policy-level input stemming from experiences and knowledge gained from the application of QualiChain in the pilots.
- Networking, Dissemination and Exploitation
As a result of the dissemination and communication planning:
• Participation in almost 50 events during the second period.
• Almost 30 QualiChain publications have been published in peer-reviewed journals and presented in international conferences.
• Promotional material has been distributed in the physical events such as QualiChain flyer and QualiChain roll-up.
• Special content for the website such as partners’ interviews, webinars and newsletters have been continuously produced and published.
• A promotional video has been produced and set out, in order to raise awareness and promote project outcomes to the general public and to the stakeholders of the project’s pilots.
• Noteworthy and effective activity has been realised in the project’s social channels, resulting in almost 1000 followers in Twitter, almost 70 followers in LinkedIn and almost 180 followers in Facebook.
• Participation in and monitoring of various standardisation initiatives and activities.
As a result of the Exploitation activities, results include:
• Update and finalisation of barriers of the job and learning market.
• Update and finalisation of the list of QualiChain exploitable assets and the accompanying licenses and IPR schemes.
• A first round of exploratory exploitation activities with potential clients.
• The QualiChain Business Model Canvas and Business Plan.
• The partners’ individual exploitation plans.
• Update of the project SotA and SWOT analysis, stakeholders’ requirements, as well as a SLEPT analysis of the long-term implications of the QualiChain project.
• Analysis of observed and potential consequences on the QualiChain landscape following the global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Keeping track of the EU legal landscape regarding personal data and record any updates.
• Complete the DPIA.
• Create a roadmap mainly focused on the technological areas of QualiChain to help future researchers and technology providers remain compliant with the GDPR articles:
--The main articles of the GDPR that require the attention of a researcher or technology provider.
--Comprehensive guidelines for drafting consent forms for research participants.
--Guidelines for respecting and staying compliant with the data minimisation principle, the right for data deletion and the importance of informed consent for data entry and processing.
--Specific guidelines for projects that include blockchain or data analytics.
--A step-by-step roadmap that provides guidelines to researchers or technology providers that are working in projects that require data that can be characterised as personal based on the GDPR.
- QualiChain Development
• Final QualiChain architecture.
• Final QualiChain baseline services.
• Final QualiChain value adding services.
• QualiChain platform implemented and integrated.
• Continuous and heavy testing.
- QualiChain Pilots
• All 5 QualiChain pilots (“Supporting Lifelong Learning”, “University Process Optimisation through Smart Curriculum Design and Student Accreditation”, “Staffing the Public Sector – The case of Greece/Portugal”, “Provision of Recruitment and Competency Management Services”) and the underlying 24 pilot specific test cases have run successfully.
• Collection of operation data and 44 pilot-specific KPIs' data for the pilots’ and project assessment.
• Distribution of horizontal and marketing specific questionnaires to the users, and collection and analysis of the relevant responses.
• Establishment of a continuous loop of feedback between the end-users and the technical team developing the QualiChain system.
• Provision of policy-level input stemming from experiences and knowledge gained from the application of QualiChain in the pilots.
- Networking, Dissemination and Exploitation
As a result of the dissemination and communication planning:
• Participation in almost 50 events during the second period.
• Almost 30 QualiChain publications have been published in peer-reviewed journals and presented in international conferences.
• Promotional material has been distributed in the physical events such as QualiChain flyer and QualiChain roll-up.
• Special content for the website such as partners’ interviews, webinars and newsletters have been continuously produced and published.
• A promotional video has been produced and set out, in order to raise awareness and promote project outcomes to the general public and to the stakeholders of the project’s pilots.
• Noteworthy and effective activity has been realised in the project’s social channels, resulting in almost 1000 followers in Twitter, almost 70 followers in LinkedIn and almost 180 followers in Facebook.
• Participation in and monitoring of various standardisation initiatives and activities.
As a result of the Exploitation activities, results include:
• Update and finalisation of barriers of the job and learning market.
• Update and finalisation of the list of QualiChain exploitable assets and the accompanying licenses and IPR schemes.
• A first round of exploratory exploitation activities with potential clients.
• The QualiChain Business Model Canvas and Business Plan.
• The partners’ individual exploitation plans.
• QualiChain Implications’ Assessment
• QualiChain Baseline Services
• QualiChain Value-Adding Services
• QualiChain Integrated Platform
• QualiChain Pilots’ Execution, Completion and Assessment
• QualiChain Policy Brief and Lessons Learnt
• QualiChain Dissemination and Communications Results
• QualiChain Business Plan and Model
• QualiChain Baseline Services
• QualiChain Value-Adding Services
• QualiChain Integrated Platform
• QualiChain Pilots’ Execution, Completion and Assessment
• QualiChain Policy Brief and Lessons Learnt
• QualiChain Dissemination and Communications Results
• QualiChain Business Plan and Model