July 2002–June 2003

#1. Project description

Rocket, anacronym for "Roadmap to Communicating Knowledge Essential for theIndustrial Environment" was an EC funded project that was approved in the last call of the fifth framework. Rocket prepared a strategic roadmap for future developments in organisational learning relevant to the education of engineers and knowledge workers. ROCKET developed a roadmap for future developments in organisational learning relevant to the education of engineers and knowledge workers. The Strategic objectives of ROCKET were:

  • To link KM at the level of an organisation, with KM and e-Learning at the level of people working within organisations;
  • To prepare organisations to monitor the fit between the external environment and their capabilities, their knowledge base, their performance and general competitiveness;
  • To build capability in distributed co-operation in various environments, both for organisations and for individuals;
  • To prepare engineering students, engineers and knowledge workers for work in more dynamic organisations.

We have identified some critical educational issues in dynamic networked organisations:

  • How to prepare engineering students, engineers and knowledge workers for their future work in networked organisations?
  • How to train these people in adapting to a changing environment (including new colleagues, ever-changing tasks, etc.)?
  • How to exploit new training concepts and tools for simulating distributed co-operation in various environments?

We are aware of current innovative approaches in pioneering organisations:

  • to provide some form of “knowledge network” containing accessible forms of the organisation’s knowledge;
  • to provide “just-in-time” education or training that supports “active learning” in a realistic context, to allow them to update their knowledge;
  • to use “knowledge augmentation tools”, which capture the expertise of certain staff in ways that allow less-qualified staff to perform as if they had high-level skills and insights.

Rocket

We investigated key features for future approaches to the linking of KM and learning:

  • exploit the shift of paradigm from “teacher-centred” to “learner-centred” philosophies;
  • move from questions like “What must an Engineer know to be a engineer?” to questions like “Which competencies needs an engineer for his current or future job and how can he gain them?”;
  • adopt self-organised programmes of studies focussing on processes and current engineering approaches;
  • integrate course-led programmes with knowledge- capture technologies in the workplace;
  • promote simple and effective interfaces common to organisational knowledge-bases and e-learning platforms.

##Approach to Roadmapping

Rocket prepares the ground for future knowledge management RTD activities in theupcoming Framework programme by investigating future research challenges andcreating a Vision; outlining a Roadmap showing how to implement the proposed modelwith a minimum of risk or social fallout. The constituency of key KM RTD stakeholders including researchers from industry and academia, technology providers, and businesses end users co-operated with standardisation bodies tooutline the challenges and rewards in the organisational knowledge management disciplines.

Rocket

#2. Project Partners

The project partners were:

  • UNIVERSITY OF FLORENCE, Italy
  • HENLEY MANAGEMENT COLLEGE, United Kingdom
  • CONFINDUSTRIA TOSCANA SERVIZI, Italy
  • GRUPPO FORMULA SPA, Italy
  • E-DUCATION.IT, Italy
  • INSTITUTE OF COMMUNICATION AND COMPUTER SYSTEMS OF NTUA, Greece
  • INSTITUTE EUROPEEN D’ADMINISTRATION DES AFFAIRES, France
  • SINTEF GROUP, Norway
  • BREMEN INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY AND APPLIED WORK SCIENCE, Germany
  • UNIVERSITAD OBERTA DE CATALUNYA, Spain
  • PLANET ERNST & YOUNG, Greece
  • VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL, Belgium
  • COMPUTER INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING RESEARCH UNIT, Ireland
  • NON STANDARD LOGICS LIMITED, United Kingdom
  • FORSCHUNGSZENTRUM INFORMATIK, Germany
  • FRAUNHOFER SOCIETY – INSTITUTE FOR INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING, Germany
  • NOKIA, Finland

#3. Events of Rocket

##Third Rocket Workshop, 18 June 2003, Helsinki

The Third and Final ROCKET Workshop took place within the Framework of ICE 2003 (the 9th International Conference on Concurrent Enterprising), at the Dipoli Congress Centre, Otakaari24, Espoo (Helsinki), Finland, on June 18th 2003.

##Second Rocket Workshop, February13-14, Brussels, Belgium

The second ROCKET workshop brought together European experts from industry and academia to present and discuss the consolidated project results in the state-of-the-art of Knowledge Management, E-Learning and roadmapping, as well as the initial findings of the users’ requirement analysis and the vision statement. A special timing and format were devised for this second workshop to favour active participation of all the participants.The workshop was open to all interested parties. The presentations that were given at the second Rocket Workshop, February 13-14, Brussels, Belgium are now online.

##First Rocket Workshop, 21-22 October 2002, Florence, Italy

The first Rocket Workshop was hosted by the Second International Seminar On Knowledge Management and E-Learning. The Seminar brought together European and international experts from all over the world to present and discuss the state-of-the-art of the involved disciplines, the technologies and the tools,remarkable case-stories, best practices, open issues and challenges. The aim of this second edition was to discuss models and strategies for identifying the economic advantages that effective KM can provide in different sectors (both public and private) with a focus on the linkages between strategic capabilities, innovation, learning and managing knowledge. The Seminar was part of a strategy aimed at promoting new initiatives in the field of E-learning by Università di Firenze co-ordinated by C.S.I.A.F., Centro Servizi Informatici dell’AteneoFiorentino. C.S.I.A.F is also the co-ordinating Partner of the Rocket project.Full details can be found at the

#4. Project web site and final report

Project Web Site

Download the final roadmap report from here.