Higher education is undergoing a profound transformation. Universities are no longer competing only to attract undergraduate students, but to provide relevant learning throughout life, respond to rapidly changing labour market demands, and do so in a financially sustainable way.
In this context, SmartSim was created—a platform developed by CompanyGame together with the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) that offers more than pedagogical innovation: a new model to create, scale and monetise high-value university education.
SmartSim is not just educational technology. It is a strategic infrastructure that enables universities to transform their knowledge, teaching expertise and academic reputation into real learning impact… and sustainable revenue.
From traditional courses to microcredentials with real impact
One of the main challenges for institutions is adapting their offer to more agile, applied and employability-oriented formats, without losing academic rigour or overloading teaching staff.
SmartSim makes it possible to transform courses, modules, subjects or faculty expertise into certifiable microcredentials, designed for:
- Undergraduate and postgraduate students
- Alumni seeking to update their skills
- Working professionals
- Companies and public institutions
All without starting from scratch. The platform supports the creation of learning pathways based on simulators, practical challenges, decision-making and AI-driven feedback, aligned with academic quality standards.
The result: short, applied and market-relevant learning experiences—endorsed by the university.
New revenue streams for universities
SmartSim opens the door to flexible and scalable monetisation models, especially relevant in a context of budgetary pressure and growing competition.
Universities can:
- Create proprietary or co-created microcredentials
- Set flexible pricing for different audiences
- Access sustainable revenue-sharing models
- Scale their offer without proportionally increasing costs
Lifelong learning moves from being a marginal or experimental activity to becoming a strategic revenue line, fully aligned with the academic mission.
Monetising academic expertise without losing the educational focus
Many institutions hold an extraordinary amount of intellectual capital that does not always translate into economic value or social impact.
With SmartSim, that knowledge can become:
- Applied learning experiences
- Simulations aligned with real professional contexts
- Programmes focused on in-demand skills
All while preserving academic control, institutional authorship and pedagogical coherence. Technology acts as an enabler, not as a replacement for the university’s role.
Direct access to the corporate market
Another major opportunity enabled by SmartSim is structured access to the corporate and public sectors.
The platform allows universities to design:
- Tailor-made programmes for companies
- Training initiatives for public organisations
- Upskilling and reskilling experiences based on simulation
This facilitates the creation of long-term partnerships, recurring revenues and a more strategic relationship with the productive ecosystem, strengthening employability and knowledge transfer.
Low costs, high scalability
Developing proprietary digital solutions often involves high costs, long timelines and an operational burden that is difficult to sustain.
SmartSim drastically reduces these barriers by providing:
- A ready-to-use technological platform
- Pre-designed simulators and activities
- Integrated artificial intelligence
- Methodological and pedagogical support
Universities can innovate and scale their offer without major internal investments or increased operational complexity.
Academic differentiation in a saturated market
In a landscape increasingly crowded with low-quality online courses and weak credentials, SmartSim enables universities to clearly differentiate themselves.
Microcredentials developed on the platform stand out for their:
- Academic rigour
- Experiential, active learning approach
- Competency-based assessment through decision-making
- Direct alignment with employability
This positions the institution as a benchmark for educational innovation, without compromising its values or reputation.
SmartSim: technology serving a sustainable university strategy
SmartSim does not simply aim to “digitise” education. It proposes rethinking how universities create value—for learners, for organisations and for the institution itself.
More relevant learning.
More applied education.
More sustainable economic models.
Because the future of higher education is not only about teaching better, but about building models that make it possible to keep doing so. Click here for more information.