The SafetyIoT-5G project awarded the ‘Innovative FP Project’

This award recognises the initiative, which has the participation of the Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia (Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya — IEEC), as an innovator project in dual professional training in the industrial sector.

SafetyIoT-5G aims to adapt this type of education to the emerging changes in the telecommunications sector. It involves the educational centres Institut FP Sant Cugat (Sant Cugat del Vallès), Institut Narcís Xifra i Masmitjà (Girona) and Centro Formación Somorrostro (Bizkaia), together with IEEC and the startup company Engidi.
 
The project’s goal  is to investigate the application of the Internet of Things (IoT) in monitoring the health and safety of workers in the industrial sector through 5G communications. To this end, 5G test laboratories will be created in the educational centres that will be connected, via the nanosatellite ‘Enxaneta’, to IoT devices, such as individual protective equipment with biometric sensors that Engidi has developed.

Managed by IEEC, ‘Enxaneta’ is the first nanosatellite put into orbit by the Catalan Government in the framework of the NewSpace Strategy for Catalonia, in which the i2Cat Foundation and the Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya (ICGC) also participate as promoters. The nanosatellite was launched in March 2021 and provides IoT connectivity to terrestrial devices while serving as a platform for 5G experimentation in space.

The achievement of the project will allow a knowledge transfer between the educational field and the industrial sector, and a transversal work between different groups of students, as well as a promotion of entrepreneurship with the possible consequent creation of new startups related to telecommunications technology.

The project is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Professional Training (within the aid plan for innovation and research and knowledge transfer in FP), as well as by the European Union’s Next Generation funds.