## 6 Conclusions and Next Steps  
This section presents the conclusions that were drawn from the operation and execution of this pilot use case as well as the next steps for future research. Overall, it can be observed from the previous sections that this pilot was successful in showcasing the QualiChain technical results in a critical group of stakeholders belonging to a university. The main research question of this publication concerned the added value of a smart badge ecosystem in a university setting. The evaluation results showed that the smart badge accreditation functionality was one of the most successful functionalities of the platform. Undergraduate students were excited to see that through attending classes and completing \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Policy** & **Thematic** & **Timeframe** & **Impacted Stakeholders** \\
**Recommendation** & & & & Policy makers and regulators \\ \hline Emphasize the concept of micro-accreditation & Methodological & Short & Accreditation organizations \\  & & & Students and learners \\  & & & Accreditation organizations \\ Connect education institutions & & & Students and lifelong learners \\   and their curricula with job & Societal & Mid/Long & Job seekers \\  & & & Recruiters and employers \\  & & & Policy makers and regulators \\  & & & Public administrations \\  & & & Accreditation organizations \\  & & & Public administrations \\ Adopt an official CV standard such & Methodological & & Students and lifelong learners \\   as Europass2 & Procedural & Mid & Job seekers \\  & & & Recruiters and employers \\  & & & Policy makers and regulators \\  & & & Public administrations \\ Strengthen continuous training and & Methodological & Long & Funders and R\&I activities’ supporters \\ skills enhancement & Procedural & Long & Job seekers \\  & & & Recruiters and employers \\  & & & Technology providers \\  & & & Public administrations \\ Ask for clear, comprehensible, and & & & Students and lifelong learners \\   easy-to-use interfaces & Technological & Short & Recruiters and employers \\  & & & Public administrations \\  & & & Students and lifelong learners \\  & & & Public administrations \\  & & & Students and lifelong learners \\  & & & Job seekers \\  & & & Funders and R\&I activities’ supporters \\  & & & Researchers \\  & & & Technology providers \\  & & & Accreditation organizations \\  & & & Students and lifelong learners \\  & & & Students and lifelong learners \\  & & & Job seekers \\  & & & Technology providers \\  & & & Policy makers and regulators \\  & & & Public advisers \\  & & & Accreditation organizations \\  & & & Students and lifelong learners \\  & & & Job seekers \\  & & & Technology providers \\  & & & Policy makers and regulators \\  & & & Public administrations \\  & & & Funders and R\&I activities’ supporters \\  & & & Funders and R\&I activities’ supporters \\  & & & \\  & & & Policy makers and regulators \\  & & & Accreditation organizations \\  & & & Students and lifelong learners \\  & & & Job seekers \\  & & & Technology providers \\  & & & Policy makers and regulators \\  & & & Public administrations \\  & & & Funders and R\&I activities’ supporters \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 4: Policy recommendations. assignments, they could improve their academic and professional profiles through validation of the skills they gain. The fact that this accreditation is officially performed by professors is also a strong point of QualiChain. Ph.D. students were also very satisfied with having a way to be validated for the various tasks that they perform for the university. Finally, professors agreed that smart badge accreditation could be integral in a university setting and were very active both in creating smart badges as well as awarding them. When it comes to blockchain for certificate verification, while this functionality was not explored under the context of the pilot, the functionality was developed and used in some of the other pilot cases with successful results.