Full speed forward for courses in pilot mode, in close collaboration with industry

Together with around 20 industrial companies, Luleå University of Technology, Örebro University and Mälardalen University co-produce on-line courses that are free of charge and that meet the companies’ needs for skills development to accelerate the industry’s climate transition. Recently, three cost-free courses deriving from this initiative were completed. The participants were professionals working at the industrial companies ABB, Epiroc, Scania and SSAB, among others.

“I found my course to be highly insightful and relevant, especially given the growing importance of sustainability and circular economy principles in today's business environment. Overall, it was a very enriching experience that not only deepened my theoretical understanding but also demonstrated real-world applications of circular flows” says Joshi Subramanya, a Software Solution Architect at Scania.

He was one of the participants taking the on-line course ‘Product, production and business development for circular flows’, run by Luleå University of Technology and as from January 2025 included in the regular range of courses offered by Luleå University of Technology. The goal of the course is to enhance the participants’ ability to understand and apply development processes and gain deeper insights into how these processes relate to organisations' innovation and business strategies in order to achieve circular flows, resilience, and sustainability in the manufacturing industry.

Highly relevant for professional role

The company Scania where Joshi Subramanya works informed him about the course. By taking the course, he also contributed to its development.

“Balancing the course with my responsibilities as a Software Solution Architect at Scania was certainly challenging, but also manageable thanks to the course’s flexible structure. The content was highly relevant to my role and allowed me to directly connect the course material with ongoing projects at Scania, where sustainability and innovation are becoming increasingly important” he says.

“This course has given me a much clearer understanding of how businesses can shift from traditional linear models to more sustainable, circular approaches. The course has equipped me with practical tools and frameworks to assess and implement circular economy principles in product development and production processes,” he continues.

Strengthen skills for green transition

The course in pilot mode is one of the courses developed within the five-year project Reedeam External link, opens in new window., whose purpose is to strengthen the skills development throughout the entire value chain associated with the industry’s green transition. It requires extensive knowledge about new, sustainable technologies and business models. The whole project is funded by the Knowledge Foundation External link, opens in new window. in Sweden with a total of SEK 30 million over five years. The courses that are developed build on close collaboration between businesses, basic industry and academia to expand the range of need-based education of high quality.

“In the project, the industry and our three universities together create unique opportunities both for companies to train employees, based on their challenges arising from the green transition. We do this by ensuring that companies constantly are involved when we create the new courses and provide feedback on what works best. The universities contribute to the courses with researchers and teachers who have developed methods and theory based on needs arising from joint research projects, says Bjarne Bergquist, Project Manager of Reedeam and Professor of Quality Engineering and Logistics at Luleå University of Technology.

More courses and future research school

This autumn, six new cost-free courses in pilot mode are offered in collaboration with industry, where employees within various companies will have the opportunity to undergo needs-based training. In next spring, more courses will be offered.

“We are proud to develop these courses together with industry. We now can offer completely new courses within several areas, and we invite all working professionals to apply, says Bjarne Bergquist.

To further the long-term perspective, and to strengthen the collaboration between the parties, we are planning future industrial research schools providing that provide companies with access to doctoral key competence for the climate transition.

• Read more about Reedeam – skills development for industry's climate transition External link, opens in new window.