Thursday, October 27, 2016, at 10.00 pm at the ”Pietro Barilla” hall of Fiere di Parma (Parma Fair) on Cibus Tec, SMILE was presented, with which companies can co-design the factories of the future .
SMILE is an early-stage project that Unione Parmense degli Industriali, University of Parma, CDM Tecnoconsulting and Casappa SpA are preparing to award a specific call for establishment in Parma of a Digital Innovation Hub (DIH), which was voluntarily supported by the European Commission under the ICT Innovation for Manufacturing (I4MS) project to bring innovation to manufacturing and manufacturing SMEs.
Download below the presentation of the presentation at the Cibus Tec fair on 27 October:
Intervention by Patrizio Bianchi, Councilor at school, vocational training, university and research, work of the Emilia-Romagna Region
Report by Stefano Massari, CNCT Confindustria Vice President, Innovative and Technological Services
Intervention by Massimo Bertolini, Associate Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Parma
SMILE will enable effective technology transfer between universities and industry, support SMEs in digitizing operational processes and implementing innovative and streamlined methodologies, in line with Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications, as elements needed to improve production automation and make functional processes excellent.
During the meeting, 130 people in the hall were able to follow the initial interventions for presenting the contents of the project.
SMILE – Digital Innovation Hub will be a “one-stop-shop” physical tool (in Europe there can also be virtual DIHs) that will respond to any type of business or manufacturing industry, to access technology and digital support tools, To understand its benefits and to develop financial and / or investment actions necessary for digital transformation.
The specific function of a Digital Innovation Hub such as SMILE is to act as a connector to the DIH network of Europe as well as to all the EU Competence Centers (the competence centers, typically set up at Universities and Research Centers, are to be considered the heart Technology of DIH and will be activated from those closest to DIH who insist at national and regional level, provided that they are competent and censed) and have a soft service business infrastructure.
The European Digital Innovation Hubs will primarily have the following objectives and carry out the following related activities:
- CREATE ECOSYSTEMS through workshops, visits, conferences, brokerage, project development;
- DISSEMINATION AND INFORMATION via conferences, newsletters, lobbying, publications;
- TRAINING through specific courses, hosting training facilities, webinars;
- MARKET ANALYSIS through business assessments, feasibility studies, IPR analysis;
- TREND ANALYSIS by means of foresight studies, market surveys;
- PRODUCT ASSESSMENT by listening to the “consumer voice” by contributing to business development;
- PROVIDE COMPETENCES for R & D projects, consultancy;
- SUPPLY INFRASTRUCTURE for pilot productions, workshops, demonstrations, validations;
- BROKERAGE ACTIVITY through a digital marketplace, innovation / brokerage sessions.
At the end of the first part, more than 70 people, businessmen and business officials, focused on working tables to deal with a very pragmatic and participative approach with experienced Hub researchers, associate officials and consultants, on four parallel sessions to the themes:
- Research and technological transfer of DIH;
- Modalities and rules of interaction with DIH to streamline research and development projects;
- Patents, Trademarks and Intellectual Property;
- Tax breaks, access to credit and financing to support DIH activities.
Photo gallery: