Digital experts from the Four Motors and EUSALP meet at SIDO, the new technologies exhibition

The 8th edition of SIDO took place on September 14 and 15, 2022 at the Cité internationale in Lyon. Supported by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, this exhibition is the largest European showroom dedicated to the Internet of Things and a benchmark event for artificial intelligence, robotics, and for the digital transformation of industrial and service companies.

           On this occasion, the Region organized, with its partners from the European Union Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP), an expert meeting of the sub-group "Smart Industry" of the Action Group 2, on September 14 (in hybrid format).

           As president of the Four Motors for Europe for 2022, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region has invited European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) from Lombardy, Catalonia and Baden-Württemberg to this meeting. The EDIHs are one-stop shops, supported by the European Commission, that assist companies in their digital transition.

           Luca Mion, Head of Innovation and Technology Transfer at Hub Innovazione Trentino Foundation, and leader of the EUSALP “Smart Industry” subgroup, opened the meeting by reminding the objectives of the subgroup: the challenge of reconciling green transition and digital transition, the digitisation of value chains, the resilience of SMEs, data management and valorisation, artificial intelligence, data-driven innovation and industry 5.0.

           The two EDIHs from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, represented respectively by Pierre-Damien Berger and Thibaut Lefort, presented their actions. Minalogic runs the EDIH  Minasmart, which supports the digital transition of companies, especially SMEs, in six sectors: energy, health, transport, chemistry/environment, agriculture, and textiles. Polytronics, with the EDIH Polymeris, assist polymer materials companies.

            For Catalonia, Sandra Pérez, representative of DIH4CAT, said that more than 1,000 SMEs have been accompanied since 2019 by the "ProACCIÓ 4.0" program. In Catalonia, nearly 25% of companies with more than nine employees have already adopted advanced technologies.

            For Lombardy, Pierluigi Petrali, director of the Digital Innovation Hub Lombardia, presented his mapping work done on more than 250 companies. It estimates the degree of implementation of artificial intelligence in Lombardy clusters, and the digital maturity of companies with the assessment Industria 4.0 developed by Politecnico Milano.

            Finally, the representative from Baden-Württemberg, Claus Hoffman, presented the Digital Hub Böblingen, which is part of the network of Digital Hubs, that brings together thirteen structures: ten regional and three specialized (Artificial Intelligence, Chemistry, Digital Health and Future Industries). Taking advantage of the industrial dynamism of the city and area of Stuttgart, the hub focuses its action on Smart Manufacturing.

            This meeting was an opportunity for the EDIHs from the Four Motors and EUSALP present to get to know each other better and to plan future collaborations in the framework of European projects.

Back