Background
On April 19th, 2016, the European Commission issued a communication containing a set of policy measures as part of a DSM technologies and public services modernization package.
Digital innovation hubs (DIHs) were proposed to be a solution allowing every industry in Europe to access the latest technologies to boost digital innovations in all sectors. Accordingly, DIHs are one of the most important pillars of Digitize European Industry‘s activities.
According to the European Commission, Digital Innovation Hubs are one-stop-shops that:
- help companies to become more competitive with regard to their business/production processes, products or services using digital technologies.
- are based upon technology infrastructure (competence centre) and provide access to the latest knowledge, expertise and technology to support their customers with piloting, testing and experimenting with digital innovations.
- provide business and financing support to implement these innovations, if needed across the value chain.
- act as a first regional point of contact, a doorway, and strengthen the innovation ecosystem.
- Cooperate with regional partners and have strong linkages with service providers outside of their region supporting companies with access to their services.
Our DIH
DIH is part of the SCCI 4.0 and the activities carried out by the KSSE within the Industry 4.0 thematic group. We address SME sector by offering our support to companies with a low, or simply insufficient level of digitization, shortage of resources or staff. We provide companies with comprehensive support in digital transformation.
DIH SCCI 4.0 has been listed in the Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) catalogue created and maintained by the European Commission
We were involved in the Smart Factories in new EU Member States project, managed by the European Commission for the European Parliament, in cooperation with PwC and Oxentia. The project aimed at creating the network of Digital Innovation Hubs and providing them with a training programme to improve their effectiveness.
SMART FACTORIES
The project, was launched in May 2017, aimed at creating the network of Digital Innovation Hubs and providing them with a training programme to improve their effectiveness. Creating DIHs was a part of the Digitalisation of the European Industry initiative, which is of utmost importance as with the use of new technologies the European industrial sector is expected to generate an additional EUR 110 billion in revenue per year.
A call for proposals was open from August 2017 to November 2017. 137 entities applied to take part in the Project, out of which in December 2017 the Steering Committee and the EC selected 34 to take part in the Training & Mentoring programme.
A Kick-off Workshop, held on 19-20 February 2018 in Bulgaria initiated the Project. Next, each entity was exposed to different types of activities such as the development of a specific business plan, training and coaching, provision of manuals and relevant documentation, establishment of potential funding schemes, as well as organisation of regional workshops.
As part of the Smart Factories project, SCCI 4.0 mapped an ecosystem of direct and indirect DIH stakeholders. Among the 307 entities, more than 110 SMEs and 150 large enterprises from the Silesian Voivodeship, as well as entities representing venture capital funds, incubators and accelerators and cluster organisations were found. Moreover, SCCI 4.0 examined market engagement in order to learn about the current state of knowledge concerning digitalization, expectations and needs of companies in the field of digital competences related to industry 4.0 and to collect feedback which will allow SCCI 4.0 to develop its service portfolio. Furthermore, the trainings implemented in the project were aimed at preparing DIHs to create business plans. The DIH Annual Event 2018 conference co-organized by the European Commission, the Innovation Department of the Ministry of Enterprise and Technology and I4MS, summarized the activities related to the Smart Factories Project.