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SMERALDA – Smart models for resilience and digitalisation of businesses in the Alps

Creative learning formats for the digital and sustainable transformation of the construction industry

Digital and sustainable transformation presents many construction companies with major challenges: new technologies, increasing demands for climate protection and resource conservation, and the ongoing shortage of skilled workers are driving the need for changes in day-to-day operations. At the same time, there is often a lack of the right tools, the necessary expertise or the time to tackle new issues.

This is where ZAB Zukunftsagentur Bau comes in with the Interreg project SMERALDA. Together with our international project partners, we are developing creative, accessible and practical learning formats that help construction companies successfully embed digital and sustainable innovations into their day-to-day operations.

The aim is to help construction firms embed this transformation step by step within their operations – through creative, accessible and practical learning formats. Approaches such as storytelling, visual communication and gamified learning modules help to make complex content tangible and actively engage apprentices and staff.

bild Digitalisierung mit Logo Smeralda

ZAB’s contribution to the project

As part of the SMERALDA project, ZAB is developing and testing innovative learning formats for the construction industry. The aim is to provide practical support to companies undergoing digital and sustainable transformation and to bring about a lasting improvement in the transfer of knowledge within the sector.

Innovative aspects of the project

The project develops innovative learning formats for the construction industry that convey complex topics in an understandable, engaging and practical way through visual representations, short videos and gamified elements. In doing so, it complements existing training methods with motivating and contemporary approaches that make the learning content more accessible.

The project is divided into four consecutive phases:

  • Needs analysis building on the predecessor project ‘Digital Maturity’: In collaboration with construction companies, the project will determine their current digital and organisational status and identify any bottlenecks.
  • Development of creative learning formats: Practical methods for training and raising awareness will be developed – for example, on the sustainable use of resources or the introduction of new software.
  • Testing and practical application: The formats are trialled directly with companies, for example as digital learning modules on the ‘E-Baulehre’ platform
  • Participation of around 20 SMEs
  • Dissemination: The content is specifically shared with companies through workshops, events such as ‘Bau.Live’ and via concise resources. This low-threshold access to key future-oriented topics not only delivers tangible benefits for businesses – the engaging, modern learning formats can also help to inspire young people to take an interest in the construction industry. They offer new ways of reaching skilled workers, making apprenticeships more appealing and thus actively helping to secure the next generation of talent for the sector.

Benefits of the project for the construction trade and the construction industry:

How are the research findings to be utilised? The findings are to be disseminated at regional information events, via the online platform Bau.Live, and through existing industry networks. The aim is to reach as many businesses as possible and to integrate the materials into the existing continuing professional development programme offered by E-Baulehre.

PROJECT SMERALDA

SMERALDA (Smart Models for Resilience and Digitalisation of Businesses in the Alps) is a cross-border project under the Interreg VI-A Italy–Austria 2021–2027 programme.

The project is based on the recognition that, whilst small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Alpine region in particular are keen to innovate, they often face similar challenges: a lack of digital skills, limited experience in change management and scarce human resources make it difficult to introduce new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), blockchain, cloud computing and machine learning.

SMERALDA therefore adopts an innovative approach that utilises methods from the cultural and creative industries (CCI) to make digital transformation more accessible, practical and participatory. Storytelling, gamification, simulations and cross-generational learning formats help businesses to adopt new technologies more easily and successfully implement change processes.

The aim of the project is to develop people-centred models that actively involve companies, employees and regional stakeholders in the digital transformation. This is intended to sustainably strengthen the innovative capacity, competitiveness and resilience of companies in the cross-border Alpine region.

project webside

projectpartner:

  • Camera di Commercio Industria artigianato agricoltura di Treviso Belluno
  • t2i – trasferimento tecnologico e innovazione s.c. a r.l.
  • Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region – Department for culture and sport

duration of the research project:

Project duration: 19 months
Project start date: 1 May 2026
Planned project end date: 31 December 2027

project budget:  

Total project value: € 870,200.90
Of this, ZAB Zukunftsagentur Bau GmbH accounts for a project value of € 252,428.40,
of which € 201,942.72 is financed from EU funds.

Funding

Funding Programme

Interreg VI-A Italy-Austria 2021–2027
Third Call for Proposals 2025

Priority 1: Innovation and Enterprise

Specific Objective (RSO1.1): Developing and strengthening research and innovation capacities, and promoting the adoption of advanced technologies

Type of action: Development, introduction and transfer of technologies, know-how and best practices

Thematic focus: Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and digitalisation

Project code: ITAT-11-031

Partner