ICT adoption and organizational change an innovative training system on industrial automation systems for enhancing competitiveness of SMEs

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and discuss the benefits of on-line training on automation and innovation fields and try to explain their organizational impact on small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). Besides it tries to understand what are the main barriers for SMEs with respect to the realisation of their innovative potential and their capacity to improve internal processes by ICT adoption and organizational change. They are becoming particularly important for achieving greater productivity, lower operational costs, and higher revenues (usually characterized by reduced access to external finance, unavailability of wider distribution channels, low internationalization, etc.). The purpose of the paper is also to synthetize the experience done and the benefits of e-learning and of a specific online environment in the training process in this field. The project provides training contents to enhance participants background and some innovative simulations to improve knowledge of employees on industrial automation systems.