MADE - Competence Center

Italy: Lombardy

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

MADE is an initiative promoted by the Industry 4.0 National Plan, and its model is a public-private partnership. It is a non-profit consortium and a technical partner of SMEs that works as a pan European Digital Innovation Hubs. Its peculiar methodology is to foster the company competitiveness concerning their business/production processes, products or services using digital technologies by providing its technology infrastructure and by enabling access to the latest knowledge, expertise and technology to support their customers with piloting, testing and experimenting with digital innovations.

It helps companies to become more competitive concerning their business/production processes, products or services using digital technologies. They are based upon technology infrastructure (Competence Centre - CC) and provide access to the latest knowledge, expertise and technology to support their customers with piloting, testing and experimenting with digital innovations

In particular, MADE can be considered the step further in the process of digital maturity evaluation started by Confindustria’s DIH. The first stage is to stimulate the demand for innovation, to strengthen SMEs’ knowledge and awareness about Industry 4.0 opportunities. Besides, with the support of partnering national universities and sector-leading firms, MADE provides training on new manufacturing technologies, testbeds implementation, a teaching/learning factory model based on the features of I4.0, and advisory services to assist SMEs on technology transfer.

MADE can act as an innovation center, supporting the enterprises in understanding how state-of-the-art technologies can improve their competitiveness. The “experiential learning” methodology, where instructional theory and foundations deliver across a technology-enabled environment with a teaching/learning approach, is actively implemented.

In MADE, every worker has the opportunity to experiment with physical equipment within real industrial premises. Its 13 ‘technological islands’ encompass all the topics of the manufacturing plant. For instance, users can test the design of a product using augmented reality, predict plant failures with predictive maintenance policies, monitor machine performance while measuring energy consumption, or how to use big data to optimize factory behaviour.

MADE provides activities in three macro-areas:

Business orientation, with a series of tools, evaluations and analysis to support companies in the assessment of their digital and technological maturity level.
Training, through a Teaching/Learning Factory paradigm aimed at developing knowledge, skills and competencies, as requested by real business needs.
Deployment of innovation projects, industrial research, experimental development and technology transfer services in Industry 4.0.

In conclusion, firstly, MADE provides a set of knowledge, methods, technical and managerial skills on digital technologies to support companies in their digital transformation towards Industry 4.0. On the other side, thanks to the large demo-center of over 2000 sqm, it provides an I4.0 – pilot-based production facility for the initial test, demonstration and project development. Therefore, MADE offers space for co-working, meetings, training, advisory activities, research and innovation projects related to the topic of digital manufacturing topic. In a unique solution, it supports SMEs’ digital transformation.

In April 2020, meaning to participate in the EDIH initiative, the Italian Ministry of Economic Development assigned the consortium’s leadership to the competence centers.
Digital technologies.

Sectors
Technology

lvh.apa Digital Innovation Hub Südtirol - Alto Adige

Italy: Autonomous Province of Bolzano

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

lvh.apa Digital Innovation Hub Südtirol-Alto Adige was inaugurated in 2017 and it is an integral part of the Industry 4.0 National Network, strongly supported by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development Carlo Calenda. [http://www.mise.gov.it/images/stories/documenti/2017_05_16_network.pdf]

The Digital Innovation Hub is led by the non-profit association lvh.apa - Wirtschaftsverband Handwerk und Dienstleister/Confartigianato Imprese Bolzano. The association was founded in 1948 and is today of the biggest trade associations in South Tyrol representing more then 8.000 craft companies. Most of the members are small and medium-sized companies covering more than 60 professions. lvh.apa offers to its members business related services. For this reason the lvh - Bildung und Service Gen. was founded. 

The lvh.apa Digital Innovation Hub ist the operational tool through with lvh.apa offers tools and services related to Innovation, Internationalization and Digital Transformation. The office of the lvh.apa DIH is located at the NOI Techpark in Bolzano, the biggest innovation district in South Tyrol. The physical presence in this area facilitates the diffusion of know-how and the realization of innovative project. Our DIH is a bridge connecting traditional craft companies with digital an innovative solutions.

The physical presence is not only limited to Bolzano. lvh.apa has field offices in:  

Schlanders/Silandro

Meran/Merano

Neumarkt/Egna

Bozen/Bolzano, field office and head-quarter

Brixen/Bressanone

Bruneck/Brunico

Pedraces

St. Ulrich/Ortisei

Furthermore, the lvh.apa has a strong community of craft groups which are organized in:

115 craft-groups in almost every municipality of South Tyrol,

12 district groups and

60 groups of professions

The mission of the lvh.apa Digital Innovation Hub is to:

Inform and sensitize the local craft SME about new trends and future technolgies related to products, processes and business models.

Act as intermedior in order to connect craft SME with innovative steakholders in order to activate and initiate innovative projects and collaboration. 

Offer support and assistance in the implementation of innovation projects. 

Offer trainig acitivites to facilitate know-how building.

Implement projects in order to develop helpful digital tools, services and know-how for SME. 

Offer digital products and services supplied by it's partner network

 

In order to achive this mission, lvh.apa offers through its DIH the following services:

Realization of dissemination activites such as events, workshops or congresses on Digital Transformation and Technologies

Support an consultancy on rapid prototyping in the Maker Space 

Support and consultancy in Crowdfunding as digital tool for alternative finance

Support and consultancy in Open Innovation processes

Training programmes on Digital Transformation

Support and consultancy on e-commerce platforms

Participation in local and national networks and partnerships

Digital technologies.

Sectors
Technology

Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)

Luxembourg: Luxembourg

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

The Luxembourg Institute for Science and Technology (LIST) is a mission-driven Research and Technology Organisation (RTO) active in the fields of materials, environment and IT.
By transferring technology to society as well as local companies, LIST contributes strongly to the building of tomorrow’s Luxembourg. Digital technologies.

Sectors
Technology

LTU AI Innovation Hub

Sweden: Upper Norrland

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

LTU AI Innovation Hub

Making northern Sweden the leading region in Applied AI.

The initiative supports a strong innovation system for growth in the AI industry, a Digital Innovation Hub as a base, in collaboration, research, innovation, applied test-driven development, education and clustering.

The main financier is the European Regional Development Fund and Luleå University of Technology (LTU), Luleå municipality, Skellefteå municipality and Region Norrbotten. Other sources are EU H2020, Interreg and the Swedish National Innovation Agency. The hub has a non-for-profit aim (funding organisations e.g LTU  are mentioned above which makes the hub operations possible) and primary target group is SMEs.  The Luleå University of Technology (LTU) as the host for the hub guarantees the non-for-profit organisation. To be more precise the hub is operated by two research and innovations centres at LTU i.e. Centre for Distance-spanning Technology (CDT) and ProcessIT Innovation. 

The chosen focus of the hub is inline with the Norrbotten Smart specialisation strategy (S3) also known as Norrbotten Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS). One of the regional strengths, the core of the Norrbotten economy is nature based economy i.e mineral resources, forest resources and a unique energy infrastructure.

The initiative offers a number of activities towards regional companies:

-Company visits to identify needs, issues and to talk about the potential of AI

-Create meeting places for strategic information work

-Active support for the development of research-based or other innovative solutions

-Possibility for researchers to work in the companies for some time

-Develop and implement long (20 months) and for short (10 months) collaborative projects out of real needs and issues that have emerged in meetings with the industry

-Organizing knowledge-enhancing workshops focusing on current topics relevant to the development of AI and machine learning

 

Reference document: https://www.norrbotten.se/sv/Utveckling-och-tillvaxt/Regional-utvecklin… Digital technologies.

Sectors
Technology

Living Lab for Smart Society (LL4SS) aka Living Lab Stratumseind 2.0

Netherlands: North Brabant

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

This not for profit initiative aims to provide Living Lab services for people and organizations collaborating to make the vision of Smart Society a reality.

The term 'smart society' was coined by the former mayor of Eindhoven. He used the term to illustrate that Smart Cities have a scope limited to infrastructure. He said: there are no smart cities, only smart people. With the term Smart Society Eindhoven aims to point out that the infrastructure isn't the end goal. A city people enjoy living in, facilitated with the smartest of technologies, is.

The Living Lab for Smart Society has succesfully prototyped Smart Society services on a FIWARE platform, notably in the largest clubbing street in The Netherlands. It also continues to collect feedback, through a primary response group and larger audiences. It helps realize publicity, through the frequent visits paid to the Living Lab. Through a partnership program it creates marketing opportunities. In close collaboration with the municipality, more aspects of Smart Society will be explored. Working with ATOS will help open up a broader market.

In the most recent stage, our not for profit objective is to to realize the type of collaboration needed for a city to work on Smart Society. It's not something that any municipality can do on their own; partnerships are required, a.o. with professionals in businesses. We are exploring how the municipality of Eindhoven, Atos and Philips can collaborate to create a structurally better functioning and less costly care system, using the advantages of Big Data and other Smart Society technologies. As a not for profit initiative. Digital technologies.

Sectors
Technology

Lithuanian robotic DIH (LTroboticsDIH)

Lithuania: Sostinės regionas

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

The overall mission of Lithuanian robotics DIH is to bring together local robotics stakeholders, establishment of a robotics eco-system in Lithuania and increase the competitiveness of Lithuanian
manufacturing sector.
The threefold vision to reach this mission is:
1. Uniting the Lithuanian robotics sector and striving to make it visible on an
international level.
2. Promoting cooperation in Lithuania, helping to organize work in a cluster and in a
joint value chain.
3. Striving to make robotics a priority sector in Lithuania and working together with the
decision makers promoting local robotisation and robot manufacturing. Digital technologies.

Sectors
Technology

Linz Center of Mechatronics GmbH

Austria: Upper Austria

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

LCM is a mechatronic research center and as such, has a long experience of product design. With the organizational areas “Drives” (electric and hydraulic), “Sensors and Wireless Communication”, and “Mechanics and Control” LCM is a solution provider in many different industrial sectors. LCM is is registered as non-profit research organisation in the European Commission Participant Register.
A Core element within LCM is its simulation and modeling know-how which is utilized in process description, automatic machinery design, digital twin creation, predictive maintenance and assistance systems.
LCM hosts and operates its SyMSpace platform that allows autonomous design principles simulation and optimization processes.  Within Artificial intelligence, these digital process handling and applying are a vital pillow for further progress (besides machine learning).
The know-how within SyMSpace have leveraged LCM for automation of knowledge-work and have contributed to LCM's white paper on knowledge engines and the network of knowledge engines.
It is the next evolution step beyond the internet of data and is currently piloted at LCM in diverse joint research activities and in open foresight and its overall research strategy. Digital technologies.

Sectors
Technology

Linköping Science Park

Sweden: East-Central Sweden

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

Linköping Science Park is a world-class Innovation and ICT hub – with 7 000 brilliant minds and more than 400 companies inspiring Linköping – and the globe – with technology, services, and an explorative mindset. It is the home of leading tech companies, as well as pioneering startups like in ICT and the Deep Tech sector. It is a place where businesses grow and break frontiers in close collaboration with academia and talents. Linköping Science Park is a non-profit organization with the purpose to strengthen startups, SME:s and international R & D companies and organizations to grow and develop by accelerating digitalization

Linköping Science Park work as regional hub for operationalizing the smart specialization strategy for Region of Östergötland.

Smart Specialization

The plan for smart specialization, highlighting five regional areas of strength:

Connected products and systems
Efficient logistics
Visualization and simulation
Environmental benefits as a business
Advanced materials.

Smart specialization is coordinated through the East Sweden Business Region, a platform facilitated by the Region of Östergötland. For each strength area, there are designated coordinators and expert brokers to drive development in the area forward. There are also designated contact persons within RÖ and LiU for each area of ​​strength. In a smaller group, called the Innovation Force Group (IKG), all innovation environments, areas of strength and clusters gather to coordinate and coordinate activities between the areas of strength and find economies of scale.

The region has been successful in winning the innovation initiatives, Vinnväxt, for the region. In 2016 we got Visual Sweden, and at the end of 2018 the message came that we had another program; Agtech2030.

Three of our areas within Smart specialization of strength have clear links to the national initiative Sweden ICT; connected products and systems, visualization and image analysis as well as advanced materials.

 

What service does the hub offer?

The hub offer SME:s services in 4 different areas.

Access to Test environments and Test Beds

IoT World

https://linkopingsciencepark.se/dih-iot-world/

Visual Sweden

https://linkopingsciencepark.se/dih-visual-sweden/

Innovative Material Arena

https://linkopingsciencepark.se/dih-ima/

Agtech 2030

https://linkopingsciencepark.se/dih-agtech2030/

Access to Open Innovation

East Sweden Hack

https://linkopingsciencepark.se/dih-east-sweden-hack/

Global Impact Jam

https://linkopingsciencepark.se/dih-global-impact-jam/

PoP Up Expo

https://linkopingsciencepark.se/dih-pop-up-expo/

Access to Capacity Building Activities

Visual Forum

https://linkopingsciencepark.se/dih-visual-forum/

Rekryteringsmässan

https://linkopingsciencepark.se/dih-rekryteringsmassan/

Ex.jobbsmässan

https://linkopingsciencepark.se/dih-exjobbsmassan/

Creactive

https://linkopingsciencepark.se/dih-creactive/

Swedish Scale Up:s

https://linkopingsciencepark.se/dih-swedish-scale-ups/

Access to Development Projects

ELIN

https://linkopingsciencepark.se/dih-elin/

MAAS

https://linkopingsciencepark.se/dih-maas/

Energiprojektet

https://linkopingsciencepark.se/dih-energiprojektet/

 

 

 

 

 

  Digital technologies.

Sectors
Technology

Lighthouse Digital Innovation Hub

Lithuania: Vidurio ir vakarų Lietuvos regionas

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

 

Lighthouse Digital Innovation Hub (LH DIH) is nonprofit organisation which aims to become a digital innovation support platform that helps companies, institutions and organisations in the region of Klaipėda to create added value through digital technology, better business and production processes. LH DIH functions as a one stop shop service to digitize businesses in the Klaipėda region.

Vision - to develop progress in the Baltic Sea region through digital technology and networking.

Mission - to mobilize the network players of the digital ecosystem of Klaipėda region and to create added value for companies.

The main strategic objectives are to initiate and develop public sector, business and scientific cooperation in the field of digital innovation using the most advanced means of communication. Mobilise the necessary infrastructure for research and experimental development (R&D), initiate the development of new products and services, implement product prototyping and testing, quality assurance (validation), standardisation, certification, For the management of digital innovation projects, to participate in EU and national programmes.

LH DIH focuses on Maritime industry, ICT, civil engineering, life sciences and biotechnology, energy and clean technologies. These sectors comply with R&D priorities on national level as laid out in Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3), the implementation of which is supported by a number of EU Structural Funds measures.

In 2017, Lithuanian Government has concluded a national industry‘s competitiveness committee „Pramonė 4.0“ to address Industry 4.0 issues on national level, followed by Ministry of Economy launching a coordination group for this matter. http://www.industrie40.lt/platform/

LH DIH activities are aligned with the RIS3 strategy: reinforcing excellence in knowledge creation and developing new high-tech industries 

Funding research and technology centres; 
Public-private partnerships for innovation;
Targeted research funds, for private and public actors, and for co-operative projects; 
Participation in national and international competitive research programmes;  
Research spin-off promotion schemes (e.g. regional seed and venture capital funds);
Global talent attraction in targeted new sectors.

LH DIH is recognized as a project of strategic importance for the Klaipėda region (recognized by Klaipeda Regional Development Council). Digital technologies.

Sectors
Technology

LIFE SCIENCES DIH LITHUANIA

Lithuania: Sostinės regionas

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

Life Sciences Digital Innovation Hub LITHUANIA (LS DIH Lithuania) is a non-profit association that aims to become a leading life sciences and biotechnology industry digitalisation service centre in Lithuania. With a mission to bridge ICT sector related R&D, big industries and SMEs in life science and biotechnology sectors, LS DIH Lithuania is creating one of the biggest integrated science and business campus in Lithuania. LS DIH Lithuania focuses on biochemistry, biotechnology, molecular biology, genetics, neurobiology, molecular medicine, ICT and clean technologies. These sectors comply with R&D priorities on the national level as laid out in Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3), the implementation of which is supported by a number of EU Structural Funds measures. One of the main goals of LS DIH Lithuania is to support the growth of innovative projects in health and life science through supporting services and a multidisciplinary approach involving also process and organisational innovations including digital technologies.

LS DIH Lithuania provides a one-stop service as well as access to competencies and infrastructure available at North Town Technology Park and Life Sciences Center of Vilnius University. The coordinating organisation, public institution Northtown Technology Park, is acting in developing and implementing national and EU or other grants funded projects such as „Move it forward+”, „InoSpurtas”, „Office Eco Consultant”  to support the activities of LS DIH Lithuania. Life Sciences Digital Innovation Hub’s partners have participated in many different H2020 projects in areas such as Biotechnology, Health, SMEs and others (more https://www.gmc.vu.lt/images/Apie_GMC/Annual_report_2018.pdf, p. 92).

LS DIH Lithuania focuses on shifting the balance of care from traditional treatment models through the development of digital health and care innovations that focus on prevention, early detection, post event care and independent assisted living. With our unique and valuable range of capabilities combed with core knowledge and expertise built on the foundation of Life Science Center (since 2016), we operate an effective partnership model, bringing together health and care practitioners, industry and academia to collaborate to solve key demand-led challenges.

For the next years to come LS DIH Lithuania partners will work on the further development of the DIH structure, projects, workshops, tools to support the digitalisation of the SMEs in Lithuania. Digital technologies.

Sectors
Technology