DIA project : we #goFOURther to support companies jumping into 4.0

Submitted by Alessia Menduni on 17 December 2019

The end of the year usually represents a moment to make the stock of the situation: this is twice truth for DIA project that formally has finished in October 2019. Started in December 2017 with six European clusters (and more than 850 companies) the project has  promoted a “made in Europe” defining a value chain around an innovative transnational cross-sectorial collaborative approach to enhance innovation  and commercialize digital technologies.

The Digital Industry Alliance (DIA) philosophy has been based on 3 main objectives :

  • To build-up a partnership of world leading clusters to configure a “European Strategic Cluster Partnership” – Going International”;
  • To increase their competitiveness and innovation potential for internationalization – fostering cooperation among SMEs;
  • To provide a better understanding of the most effective ways to improve cross-sectoral collaboration between clusters at a European interregional level to develop and commercialize innovations internationally;

The first step has been to identify the European and global megatrends in the ICT sector followed by overall benchmarking of first 3 identified target markets outside Europe (USA, China, Brazil) in terms of market values, market potential, sectorial distribution and strength and weaknesses to develop and commercialize innovations. All 3 identified target markets struggle with a kind of political instability and political changes to the strategy could be redirected on next most interesting countries (Mexico or Morocco).

Additionally in order better understand companies’ needs DIA has organized study visits, mentoring activities  and regional workshops to enhance and build stable cooperation between clusters and also to increase cross-fertilization and cross-knowledge within each regional ecosystem, including all the triple helix actors. (see the previous news)

The consortium joined international initiatives and B2B Brokerage events (just to mention a few) :

  • DIA Co-organized with H2020 IoT4Industry INNOSUP project and Silicon Europe Alliance (ESCP-4i) an international event in Torino “International Networking towards Digital Industries: Best Practices and Grants”, followed by a B2B and Business to Clusters Matchmaking Event.
  • DIA has participated in EU INDUSTRY DAY, Brussels 5th-6th February 2019 with IoT4Industry and Silicon Europe Alliance projects.
  • DIA has attended the EU Clusters Week main anchor event at Hannover Fair (organised by the European Commission), one of the most relevant events for industry in the World with more than 6500 exhibitors and 200000 visitors from all over the world.
  • DIA has participated in the EU-Canada Cluster Matchmaking Event organised by DG GROW and the Canadian Innovation, Science and Economic Development Ministry.

At the end of October 2019 DIA has joined the fifth edition of IOT Solutions World Congress (IOTSWC) in Barcelona the event focused on data value to transform industries and business models with 16,000 visitors, more than 200 sessions and 300 speakers.

On the occasion DIA co-organised with Cyber Secure Light a side-event “DIGITAL INDUSTRY: disruptive solutions to shape the future of SMEs”, followed by a networking session between companies. This event aimed to focus on how the disruptive solutions offered by digital technologies could help SMEs to improve their business and approaching global markets.

This co-organization not only contributed to gather more than 70 attendants to our event but also was the starting point for forthcoming participation in joints EU projects that cross knowledge and experience from clusters in different but connected sectors. In fact thanks to this occasion, ELCA and Luce in Veneto clusters  (part of CSL project) have joined the celebration of 10th Birthday of Mesap and are imagining cooperation activities.

We celebrate the end of the project with a special edition of the newsletter !

DIA project formally has finished but we #goFOURther to help companies to catch the 4.0 opportunities! Stay Tuned!

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