Enabling SMEs in the HoReCa sector for the effective adoption of Artificial Intelligence knowledge and tools
▶Summary
The HoReCa5.0 project focused on building an innovative and attractive ECVET compliant e-Course in a way to be easily adoptable by SME owners and professionals in the Hotel-Restaurants-Catering sector (HoReCa). This sector is characterised by a high proportion of young people who have to work in quite uncertain and not always sustainable conditions and who face quite a few challenges, from which we highlight the following two: 1. Uncertainty with regards to customer behaviour and demand, as well as with regards to availability of resources for the sustainable food serving; 2. Fast-changing dynamics and sensitivity to environmental, health, social, economic events, which makes the decision making process very challenging.
▶Objectives
Our starting point was that AI will let the HoReCa business save costs and increase revenues. Therefore, HoReCa5.0 offers training on various dimensions of artificial intelligence usage and how these can be applied in the HoReCa sector to solve real problems in areas. The implemented simulation scenarios covered key areas (air quality estimation, food waste management, sales forecasting, thermal comfort, human resource management, personalized customer experience), relevant to the sector, and offering an up-to-date and in-depth training to HoReCa staff. As such, our project contributed to the EU policies and framework for the knowledge and sustainable economy, and aims to continue to do so.