In the 21st century, technology evolves extremely fast. The same applies to technology-related professions, mostly in terms of skills requirements. Contradictorily, higher education technological institutions are not always in the position to keep up with the labor market requirements. As a result, some of the skills taught in their courses are oftentimes outdated. From a learner’s perspective, the main goal should be to avoid such outdated courses, as for most university students, the long-term objective is to land a job, where they will utilize the skills they acquired from their studies. On the other hand, from an educational decision maker’s perspective, the most important goal is to keep up with the changes in the labor market, offering courses that will be valuable for the prospective careers of students. The work conducted in the context of this publication aims to bridge the gap between education offered in universities and job market skills’ requirements in technology. Specifically, a skill and course recommender system was developed to help learners select courses that are valuable for the job market, as well as a curriculum design service, which recommends updates to a given curriculum based on the job market needs. Both services are built on top of a text mining service that retrieves job posts from several online sources and performs skill extraction from them based on text analytics techniques. Moreover, a decision support service was developed to facilitate optimal decisions for both learners and education decision makers. All services were evaluated positively by 31 early users.

Since its conceptualization in 2008, blockchain technology has advanced rapidly and been applied in multiple domains. In higher education, blockchain can be applied to develop ICT systems that can revolutionize student accreditation through certificate verification and micro-accreditations, which represent skills and other learning outcomes, in the form of digital/smart badges. While there are multiple studies that highlight the significance of blockchain in higher education and propose digital systems, few of those studies include the evaluation of such proposed systems by real users. As such, the research question of how useful a higher education blockchain system would be for its relevant stakeholders remains largely unanswered. In the research publication at hand, a blockchain-powered higher education platform was applied in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens, where it was used and evaluated by students and professors at the school. The evaluation of the platform was positive, and participants found that the smart badge functionality was among the most useful. Finally, the execution and evaluation of the pilot led to several lessons learned and policy recommendations towards dealing with existing barriers and further promoting blockchain in higher education.

In recent years, there has been an ever-intensifying discussion around the use and establishment of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) in the global economy. This paper examines the reasons why central banks are aiming to introduce CBDCs into the economy, as well as the ways in which the use of CBDCs could contribute to the transition to the Green Economy, focused mainly around the area of providing financial means and incentives towards green investments, green renovations, and more sustainable energy consumption practices. Aiming to provide an all-around and concise overview of CBDCs, this paper explores their technological background, as well as the areas in which they will mainly contribute, as a means of transaction or value storage. Special mention is also made of the initiatives undertaken by the European Central Bank for the issuance of the digital euro as well as the legal and technological framework within which it could operate, to serve the objectives of the EU. Finally, the potential role of CBDCs in the green economy is examined, and ways in which they could be used as a means of supporting individuals and businesses investing in this direction are presented. This publication is written in the context of the Horizon Europe funded project FORTESIE.

With an emphasis on pilots in Spain and Portugal, this study examines the connection between Efficient, Sustainable, and Inclusive Energy (ESIE) performance improvements, home renovations, and tenant/owner behavior within the framework of the FORTESIE project (CBDC-powered Smart PerFORmance contracTs for Efficiency, Sustainable, Inclusive, Energy Use). This paper investigates the relationship between tenant behavior along with energy consumption and renovation packages that also include digital technologies and energy efficiency measures. It studies the efficiency and effectiveness of the FORTESIE Common Impact Model (CIM) towards engaging homeowners/tenants, comprehending their driving forces, and implementing customized plans to encourage sustainable energy practices. This study presents applied case studies with different digital and energy literacy backgrounds and emphasizes the importance of considering elements such as cultural settings, energy poverty, and digital literacy when creating sustainable energy engagement approaches and putting them into practice. Taking into account these elements, this study investigates whether the CIM can be used effectively in diverse settings to engage with stakeholders and help create customized and appropriate energy behavior pathways.