The main objective of the AtlanticCrossing proposal is to develop a partnership between two higher education institutions, one Portuguese, Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon, and one from the United States of America, Bridgewater State University - BSU. This partnership is designed to be mutually beneficial, aiming to initiate the effort to develop joint specializations, postgraduate programs, and the awarding of joint academic degrees in the near future in scientific areas of mutual interest, such as Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, and Language Technologies, Business Innovation, and Teaching-Learning. By collaborating, both institutions could leverage each other’s strengths and resources, enhancing the quality of education and research. The proposal also aims to develop skills for faculty and students through Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), applied in Curricular Units (CUs) of undergraduate courses at both universities, focusing on the aforementioned scientific areas. The program includes activities throughout the academic year in a COIL environment and two short-term stays (1 week) for faculty and students: one organized at Iscte in mid-January, with the visit of BSU faculty and students, and the other at BSU, at the first week of June, reciprocally. We will coordinate joint and interdisciplinary research projects with an emphasis on Cybersecurity and Language Technologies. This will be conducted within the framework of project-based and applied research initiatives. Additionally, we will facilitate Iscte’s participation in BSU's annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, providing a platform for Iscte students to present their innovative results at this US event. In the field of Cybersecurity, we will organize comprehensive joint training sessions employing challenge-based and competitive environments, such as “Capture the Flag” and “Hackathon”. We will utilize BSU's CyberRange infrastructure - an exclusive resource in Massachusetts—...

Today, in the digital era society is evolving at a rapid pace and investing in education have vast social and economic advantages for it. It is the education that allows people to have access to SDGs 4. It is not argued that a better educated people break away from poverty more easily, help to reduce inequalities and achieve gender equality; they are more tolerant, they contribute to reduce crime, to increase political and civic participation and generally to have more peaceful societies with reduced inequalities and imbalances. Within this context the project brings together European, Asia and African academic and non-academic organizations in a staff exchange program, with the goal to explore, design and deploy innovative and context sensitive solutions for transforming higher education systems. This international and multi-sector consortium is created as a platform for collaboration and is united by the principles of innovation, partnership and solidarity with the purpose to research and identify successful contemporary models and modern instruments that can help higher education transformation and support the sustainable and effective adaptation of the higher education systems of the consortium members to the digital age. The aim of the project is study the process of digitalisation in different organisations and offer solutions concerning the improvement of the digitalisation practices. The project consortium comprises both academic and non-academic partners as well as experts in diverse fields such as, but not limited to, economics, law, management, linguistics. This allows a broad and an indepth approach to digitalisation. On the basis of the identified gaps in the digitalisation process, the project will propose approaches and methodologies which will be realised as different disciplines for the academic institutions’ partners in order to build sustainable competences for the transfer of knowledge and skills

AI4PA Portugal's strategic objectives and action plan are clearly aligned with the main focus areas of the Digital Transition Action Plan:    Pillar I - Empowerment and digital inclusion of people    Pillar II - Digital transformation of the business fabric    Pillar III - Digitalisation of the State    The Centre's activity will pursue six strategic objectives, aligned with the Digital Transition Action Plan, namely: optimising public policies in the various areas of governance based on Artificial Intelligence and the promotion of innovative digital technological solutions; improving the interaction of public services with citizens and businesses; assessing the social impacts and ethical implications of technologies, including Artificial Intelligence; increasing the digital skills of public entities and the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that provide them with services; disseminating good practices and reusable solutions of national and international origin; and improving governance for the digital transition at the various levels of state intervention.    AI4PA Portugal aligns its intervention with the model established in the European network of Digital Innovation Hubs, targeting the priority services of the Digital Innovation Hubs described in the Digital Transition Action Plan,    1- Experimentation and testing of digital technologies in the phase prior to the investment decision; 2- Qualification and training in digital skills; 3- Support in finding funding for investment in digital technologies; 4- Acting as a facilitator bringing together different actors.