MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY’S NOVEL DIGITALISATION VALUE CHAINS FOR CONNECTING MACHINES WITH PEOPLE, PROCESS AND TECHNOLOGY

Manufacturer companies which represent 41.4% of the EU manufacturing sector’s value added and 57.6% of the total workforce, are facing major challenges due to their shortage of energy/resource efficiency and digitalisation.

ICT SMEs and start-ups can provide game-changing solutions for many manufacturers, creating new cross-sector interconnections and value chains.

In this context, MIND4MACHINES project aims to facilitate the cross-sectoral and cross-border support needed by manufacturing SMEs to validate and adopt cross-cutting digital technologies provided by ICT SMEs and start-ups, particularly by addressing holistically the entire digitalisation value chain, combining manufacturing and novel, disruptive solutions in ICT(hardware, software, services and connectivity, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, IoT and Cybersecurity).

This will be done in a systemic approach which will (i) foster the ecosystem creation and reinforcement in targeted European regions,(ii) promote cross-sectoral and cross-border open collaboration,(iii) provide direct financial and technical support and (iv) offer capacity building programmes.

The project will replicate and disseminate its activities across the EU, with an initial focus on the regions represented by the partners in the consortium and aiming at delivering a large-scale demonstrator support after co-creating together with the stakeholders the strategic common vision.

The MIND4MACHINES consortium, led by ICI, brings together the cluster organisations and SME intermediary organisations from 8 different H2020 countries, ensuring a complementary balance of sectoral focus, experience and approach in support of SMEs and clustering mechanisms.

The major funding instruments put in place will be the Innovation Scheme (for TRL 5-7) and the Market Readiness Scheme (for TRL 8-9) which will deliver nearly 78% of the Project budget to ICT SMEs and start-ups by means of a lump sum, business support and open calls.