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Transition to a 5.0 industry is underway for the European footwear industry

Jan 29, 2025 European Union

Partners from Belgium, Romania, Italy, Portugal and Spain recently met in Brussels to plan the next steps of the Shoe 5.0 project, which aims to equip the footwear industry with the skills and mindset needed to make the leap to Industry 5.0

At the recent meeting in Brussels, partners explored the forthcoming educational app, which will feature games related to the Shoe 5.0 learning units. Using immersive Artificial Reality (AR) quizzes, learners will engage in interactive games projected onto real-world surfaces.The app will be available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian to ensure accessibility to a wide audience.

To date, the project has identified five key profiles for the 5.0 industry, including Footwear Technical Manager, Footwear Manufacturing Operator, Footwear Designer/Pattern Maker, Maintenance Technician and 5.0 Footwear Architect, and developed 15 essential learning units to prepare footwear workers for this transition. To enhance the learning process, footwear workers can access them via a personalised training pathway using the Shoe 5.0 Scanning Tool available on the project website.

The Shoe 5.0 project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, aims to transform the European footwear industry into a more sustainable, human-centred and resilient industry.

It brings together the Portuguese Footwear Technology Centre (CTCP), the Portuguese technology company byAR, the Footwear Technology Centre of La Rioja (CTCR) and Politecnico Calzutiero from Spain, Gheorghe AsachiTechnical University of Iasi (TUIASI) from Romania, all coordinated by the European Footwear Confederation (CEC) and the Portuguese management company Edit Value.

As the project progresses, Shoe 5.0 will pilot its learning units in Spain, Portugal, Romania, and Italy. A series of meetings with industry stakeholders and training centres are also planned to present and promote the use of the results.

Image Credits: CEC

European Union Innovation CTCP Footwear Organisations