Cross-Border Academy for Smart Industry Competence and Future Excellence ( SkillsBridge - ROBG00324 )
What is the purpose?
Specific Objective: 4.2 - Improving equal access to inclusive and quality services in education, training and lifelong learning through developing accessible infrastructure, including by fostering resilience for distance and on-line education and training
The overall objective of the SkillsBridge project is to enhance access to inclusive and quality education and training services across the Romanian-Bulgarian border, focusing on Industry 4.0 skills development. The latter is meant to be achieved via targeted investments in state-of-the-art training facilities and creating a comprehensive digital learning platform.
What is the budget?
736.482,40 €, from which 589.185,92 € FEDR and 147.296,48 € National Contribution
Who implements the project?
Lead partner (LP): Ruse Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bulgaria
Partner 2 (P2): Romanian Association for Technology Transfer and Innovation (ARoTT), Romania
Partner 3 (P3): Bulgarian-Romanian Chamber of Commerce, Ruse, Bulgaria
What is the implementation period?
Start date: 2025-08-19
End Date: 2027-08-18
Period: 24 months
Where it is implemented?
Craiova, Romania
Ruse District, Bulgaria
What will happen?
- Establishment and structure of cross-border smart industry academy for skilled workforce
- Equipment of the Cross-Border Smart Industry Academy for skilled workforce
- Research on best practices within the smart industry sector in CB region
- Development of SkillsBridge Online Training Tool
- Skillsbridge Smart Industry Academy Roadshow Demos
- Development of Common Training Curriculum and Methodology
- Launch of the Skill Booster Accelerator Program
- Experience Multiplicator Program
What will be the results (what is the contribution to the program)?
- RCO85 - Participations in joint training schemes: 256
- RCO87 - Organizations cooperating across borders: 5
- PSO4 - Investments in education, training and life-long learning services: 2
- PSR4 Annual users of the supported investments in education, training and life-long learning services: 200
- RCR81 - Completion of joint training schemes: 256
- RCR84 - Organizations cooperating across borders after project completion: 3
Status
The formal framework for the future Cross-Border Academy for Intelligent Industry has been established. To this end, the project partners signed a Partnership Agreement in October 2025, which sets out the operating framework for the Academy and its two operational centers, one in Ruse and one in Craiova.
Additionally, the Lead Partner has developed the Operational Manual, which establishes the procedural rules and operational details of the Academy.
Communication and Stakeholder Engagement:
The draft Communication and Dissemination Strategy and Brand Book were prepared. The project was launched via a trilingual blog( https://brcc.bg/public/en/projects/p/skillsbridge-cross-border-academy-for-smart-industry-competence-and-future-excellence; https://brcc.bg/bg/sabitia/s/parva-sreshta-po-proekta-skillsbridge; https://brcc.bg/bg/novini/n/skillsbridge-sazdava-transgranichna-akademia-za-industria-4-0), social media updates(Project Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61584965007060), and a successful information event in Ruse.
Ruse Chamber of Commerce and Industry finished building the Joint Curriculum Framework — a full pedagogical roadmap shaped by regional skills needs in Advanced Manufacturing, Automation, and Robotics, which will now guide the creation of six upcoming Industry 4.0 training modules.
On the infrastructure front, AROTT placed the first equipment order for the Cross-Border Training Center and Smart Industry Laboratory in Romania, marking a concrete step toward the physical lab becoming a reality. Alongside this, the multilingual online training platform reached 80% technical readiness, built on WordPress with a full LMS supporting live and self-paced learning, video lectures, tests, and discussion forums.
Research also advanced meaningfully: the Bulgarian-Romanian Chamber of Commerce completed the first phase of its Best Practices research, covering desk research, territorial scoping, and a survey questionnaire aimed at understanding enterprise needs around IoT, AI, and cybersecurity — groundwork meant to keep the future Academy aligned with real market demand.
The finalization of a Quality & Risk Management framework, strengthening how the project is monitored and governed.