This Digital Innovation Hub (DIH), is a non-for-profit organisation, which helps industrial companies to master digitalisation and realise smart products, services and business models by using software technology to drive innovation in their business.

We do this by developing and delivering the competences, products, services and knowledge necessary for clever companies to win the digitalisation race.

Within our Software Competence Center, SME's can visit us - free of charge - to get advice on innovative software solutions and make them aware of the changing role of software, which becomes a very strategic one.

Aim DIH:

The HTSC wants to show how pioneering innovative software contributes to the more efficient, flexible and qualitatively better development  and production of hardware. The starting points for this are: shortening the time-to-market (twice as fast) and preventing the complex development projects of products and services in machine construction from becoming uncontrollable and unmanageable. Digital technologies.

DIH for digital twins of manufacturing processes and systems is a national non-profit hub founded by the public body University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering that operates with the support of strategic Slovenian partners, all non-for profit organizations.

The main focus of the DIH for digital twins of logistics systems and manufacturing processes and systems is to support companies in increasing their competitiveness by improving their business and production processes as well as their products and services in the field of digital technology, especially digital twins. Digital twins are one of the enabling technology in the way of digital manufacturing transformation in Industry 4.0 and value chain processes in general. The digital twin is defined as a virtual representation of a physical product or process that serves to understand and predict the performance characteristics of the physical counterpart. Digital twins are used throughout the product lifecycle to simulate, predict, and optimize the product and production system before investing in physical prototypes and resources.

The DIH is focused to accelerate technology transfer at regional, national and international levels, the joint use of research infrastructures and equipment, the support of smart and sustainable entrepreneurship in the field of intelligent factories and the promotion of human capital growth.

The DIH DiTMaPS supports companies to develop and implement a digital transformation strategy based on research and innovation that can consolidate and expand national competitive advantages. At the same time, the transformation of the national and European manufacturing sector into new intelligent systems will be supported in line with DIH'European Union research and innovation agendas.

The DIH for digital twins of logistics systems and manufacturing processes and systems is established within the Laboratory for Handling, Assembly and Pneumatics (LASIM) of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (FME ) in Ljubljana. The Faculty is a member of the University of Ljubljana (UL) and is the largest educational and research institution with the highest international standards in the field of mechanical engineering in Slovenia and the wider region of Central and South-Eastern Europe. The Laboratory for handling, assembly and pneumatics is part of the Department of Manufacturing, Technologies and Systems of FME, UL. The research and development priorities of the LASIM laboratory are closely related to the DIH's focus: digital twins of logistics systems, smart factories and Industry 4.0. The related theme of the laboratory is smart manufacturing, supported by digital technologies to increase the efficiency of SMEs. The other research areas of the laboratory are: High Performance Computing (HPC), Cloud Computing, Edge Computing, Human Centered Production, AI in Manufacturing, Zero Defect Manufacturing, Distributed Cyber-Physical Systems, Networked Factory, Digital LEAN, etc.

Over the years, LASIM has extended the usage of Discrete Event Simulation to the field of Digital Twins, which are the backbone of Smart factories and I4.0. With the knowledge of cutting-edge technologies and approaches, LASIM has a very strong link with industrial partners through its R&D projects and activities. Here are some industry partners presenting the market leaders from different business sectors: Yaskawa Ristro, Yaskawa Europe Robotics, Knauf Insulation, Kolektor, ECOLAB, Danfoss, Krka, Intersocks, Gorenje, Scania, Goodyear, Hidria, Skaza Smart Plastic, Polycom, RIKO, MTZ, LTH Castings, Iskra Mehanizmi, Agromehanika, etc. Digital technologies.

Digital Innovation Hub for Agriculture and Food production (DIH AGRIFOOD) brings together Slovenian and European research and development expertise in the field of Agriculture and Food production. The network provides the latest knowledge and technologies on digitalization of this industry - so called ‘’Smart Agriculture’’. The goal of DIH AGRIFOOD is to represents a One-Stop-Shop providing services to SMEs (farmers, farmer associations, food producers/processors, digital solution providers) in the region through a multipartner cooperation in order to provide safe, sustainable and quality food.

DIH AGRIFOOD vision is to become Slovenian leader in the development, technology transfer and innovative application of smart farming solutions and services in areas where it creates maximum value for Slovenian and European Agri-Food system.

DIH AGRIFOOD provides following services:

Awareness creation
Innovation scouting and Technology Transfer
Cooperation with other DIHs
Financing / Funding
Developing strategies and business models
Mentoring and Training
Living Lab environment services

DIH AGRIFOOD is non-formal, non-profit, free-membership, facilitation based network, managed by actors and stakeholders from agrifood domain. Digital technologies.

DIH-Calabria is a no profit entity performing networking, matchmaking, brokerage and dissemination activities.

The aim of DIH-Calabria is to help Calabrian companies to become more competitive by improving their business/production processes as well as products and services by means of digital technologies.

DIH-Calabria deals with the promotion of digital manufactoring trasformation towards Industrie 4.0 approach and the Value Chain processes overall.

In particular the main activities are:

Awareness Dissemination (Meeting, Workshop, etc.)
Supporting activities to industrial companies for Industry 4.0-based project implementation
Support access to tax breaks provided by Piano Industria 4.0
Supporting activities for assessing digital readiness
Supporting activities to facilitate manufacturing companies access to innovation regional "ecosystem"
Design and delivery of training initiatives
Coordination activities for implementing I4.0-based Calabrian factories.
Digital technologies.

Denmark's cluster organization for digital technologies, DigitalLead, is a gathering point for digital innovation - for companies developing digital solutions as well as for other industries and sectors in need of innovative digital solutions.

DigitallLead constitutes a unique platform for innovation and growth through the interaction between business and industry, research and education, public authorities and private citizens.

DigitalLead is a non-for-profit organisation that inspire and initiates innovation projects and hereby supports the danish SMEs with their digital transformation.

DigitalLead functions as a hub for digital innovation for companies developing digital solutions and for sectors in need for digitalization. This covers fields such as IoT, Cybersecurity, AI, and other digital technologies. DigitalLead arrange local and international activities:

Events, workshops and other knowledge dissemination activities
Network groups where peers share experiences and new ideas.
Matchmaking and prefunding of new innovation projects with companies, academia and public sector.
Demonstration projects
Living lab developments and offerings

DigitalLead's offerings are described in details at www.digitallead.dk  Digital technologies.

Development and implementation of new sustainable technologies applied to the management of water as a basic resource of the circular economy. “Digital Water” applies the concepts of sustainability and circular economy to the new technologies, to improve the integral water cycle, which increases the competitive edge of many business sectors while benefitting society as a whole. In addition to the experience and scientific and technological talent of the Eurecat team, the Centre has laboratories and pilot plants, scientific equipment and data processing centres. All of these facilities enable Eurecat to meet the current and future challenges of water. Services: * Fast prototyping * PoC (proves of concepts) * Digitalisation and connectivity * Highly Specialised consulting and training * Systems integration and homogenisation * Objects virtualization * Data Quality, cleansing and Valorisation * Intelligent Maintenance/Asset lifespan and utilisation improvement * Quality/Preservation prediction * Demand Forecasting * Productivity/growth prediction * Resource optimisation * Smart scheduling * Smart Recommenders * Data analytic services (SaaS) * Resource management * Operational management * Processes management * Real time monitoring and control * Advanced reporting: KPIs, dashboards... * Scenario characterisation and analysis Digital technologies.

The Digital Silver Economy (DIHDSE) seeks to be the "one-stop shop" through which companies and other public or private entities can access the information, services, and facilities  they need to successfully address their digital transformation processes aimed at incentivizing services more efficient for the citizenship over 50 years of age. It is a non-profit structure.

Zamora has a high Silver potential, in addition to the large number of people of age (Zamora is the most aging province in Spain as a whole), also for being an attractive place for its residence as established at the I International Silver Economy Congress held in Zamora in which 40 experts and 700 congressmen participated. On the other hand,    the business fabric of the region is highly atomized and in the labor framework action is needed to boost employment and increase average income.

The DIHDSE, led by the Diputación de Zamora in collaboration with the industry, research and finance organization, will promote Zamora's recognition as a reference province in the specialization of services and industry for the elderly not only in Spain but also internationally and thus strengthen the future socio-economic development of the region. Digital technologies.

Digital Media Innovation Hub is a digital media and innovation center consisted of several film & media industry clusters, research institutions that work closely with major film, media, digital art, immersive reality and game companies in Lithuania and in neighboring regions.

Digital Media Innovation Hub key competences are enabling facilities sharing and equipment; facilitation of cross-sectorial cooperation; trend-scouting (ideas for innovative projects emphasizing digital dimension); promotion of activities (marketing/ visibility); innovation management/support of innovation processes (internal, external), providing innovative services (such as Immersive reality digital solutions, gamification services, IT solutions with artificial intelligence, and others) to audio-visual industry in Lithuania and abroad.

Digital Media Innovation Hub is non-for-profit entity working towards enhancing its members and industry’s SMEs. Digital Media Innovation Hub proactively works in providing digitization services to the traditional film industry SMEs, offering complimentary services and consulting to optimize SME's internal processes, increase working and resources efficiency, reduce manual job and redirect their business priorities towards creation of innovative digital products and services.  Digital technologies.

The Digital Manufacturing Innovation Hub Wales (DMIW) based in Bridgend, South Wales, is a non-profit organisation, working and investing in creating connectivity and innovative technology solutions for Small and Medium Enterprises Across Europe.

DMIW is based in Waterton Technology Centre which is a building housing a fully operational test facility for Industry 4.0 experimentation. It is supported by Ford Motor Company and has many links to other manufacturing businesses and supply chains with particular influence and emphasis on Control Systems.

The Hub is part of a network of specialist technology organistions for Industry 4.0 practices around the UK and Europe, with a specific focus on Control Systems and the interactions made between Robotics, Sensors, Cyber-Physical Systems and the Internet of Things (IoT). 

The Hub provides a physical link between SMEs, academia and other organisations and facilitates engagement with like minded organisations looking to improve their digitization conceptions. It allows all members to develop, research and establish innovative technological solutions by connecting individuals to a  wider network, sharing their experiences from many different trades, environments and manufacturing processes; as well as supporting and facilitating financial investment, strategic focus and operational procedures.

Our support is based upon a holistic approach to improving profitability and sustainability, by solving common manufacturing failures or problems.

Clients are offered the opportunity to engage with like minded individuals who have experience in many different trades and manufacturing processes. 

Companies bring their application information and dilemmas to us and we will work with them to evaluate the production cycle and its pitfalls.  Feasibility analysis is completed and solution-orientated products and processes are developed to help:

Improve production and output

Reduce costs/waste

Offer diagnostic solutions

Capture data

 

Innovation development and prototyping

We have a fully equipment testing and simulation facility where we can provide equipment, knowledge and applications to test and improve prototypes and prove concepts in a live manufacturing environment.

Learning 

By engaging with other SMEs, academia and our own digital community, we are able to share knowledge and draw upon a wealth of research and expertise across Europe, strengthening our Welsh manufacturing industry and forging links with SMEs across the network.

Deployment

Working directly with SMEs and technology providers we are able to identify commercial opportunities for the new products and services developed and support our clients to engage with supplychains. Digital technologies.

Digital Innovation Smart eHUB (hereinafter Smart eHUB) is a non-for-profit consortium created by three non-governamental organisations in collaboration with relevant stakeholders in the regions of Bucharest-Ilfov and South-Muntenia. After its creation, the DIH benefited from the co-financing of the European Commission through DIHELP.

Smart eHUB mission is to provide digital services to private sector companies, in particular, but also to public sector, able to offer the best expertise and skills in technologies needed for digital transformation, such as: Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS), Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Digital Services Outsourcing, data processing, IoT, IIoT, Industry 4.0, M2M, Artificial Intelligence, robotics, cloud computing, laser technologies, 3D printing, blockchain, systems of spatial or geographical information and others.

Smart eHUB founding members are three non-governmental/ non-for-profit organisations:

“APTE - ELINCLUS Cluster”,

“University Entrepreneurial Center USH ProBusiness” and

“Smart Alliance Innovation Technology Cluster”

(all 3 are the DIH founding members and coordinators).

The Smart eHUB Consortium includes also a series of regional and national organisations, such as: Regional Development Agency Bucharest Ilfov, Regional Development Agency South-Muntenia, University POLITEHNICA Bucharest, ROMANIAN ASSOCIATION FOR ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS, Association for Promoting Electronics Technology, CETTI, Clustero - representative body of clusters, PROSME, National Union of Employers in Romania, IND-AGRO-POL Cluster, Magurele Science Park, etc.

Smart eHub addresses regional digitisation issues by providing SMEs one-stop-shop for tailor made digitalization services in their regional proximity. The coordinators offer at their best the suitable capacity and competences to provide digitalisation services to the regional ecosystem which do not have a clear perception of digitalisation benefits. In this static environment, lagging behind European countries, Smart eHub comes as a cost-effective and high scaling solution which help companies to be more open towards digitization. 

The three partners have a rich experience in organizing the know-how and technology transfer activities and benefit from the interaction between business and the academic environment, as follows:

1. APTE-ELINCLUS - Electronic Innovation Cluster is a cluster whose industrial composition is represented by SME companies involved in the development of electronic products for various fields, such as: telecommunication, intelligent systems, automation, monitoring and control, high precision measurements, and so on. ELINCLUS Cluster has been formed starting from the structure of economic relationships existing between CETTI (Center for Electronic Technology and Interconnection Techniques), who has developed a Technological and Business Incubator, entity accredited in National Innovation and Technology Transfer Network– ReNITT and companies from the Bucureşti-Ilfov region, by associating with Bucharest-Ilfov Regional Development Agency, ARIES and APTE. The Association for Promoting Electronic Technology - APTE realised several surveys, studies, strategies and policy papers to support the innovation process and culture for the electronic and software industry of Romania. For its activity APTE has received the Silver Label from ESCA (The European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis) since 2016. APTE is member of the Romanian Cluster Association CLUSTERO, being in the managing board of the association and being actively involved in the annual organization of the National Cluster Conference.

APTE received since 2015 the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification for Quality Management System. The evaluation was done by TÜV (Technische Überwachung Hessen GmbH), an international certification body.

To be continuously in contact with the newest standards regarding electronic industry worldwide, APTE became in 2014 an IPC member (Association Connecting Electronics Industry). The contact with IPC allowed, by receiving the needed information, to build up a professional education and training environment, strong support for creating a proper human resource, mandatory to enhance the competitiveness of the electronic industry in the European Union.

2. USH Pro Business has a unique position in the region and nationwide, as a university entrepreneurial centre. USH ProBusiness experience and the permanent connection with both the academic environment and the business environment allows for the optimal connection of scientific and academic resources to those of the business environment, as we find that the biggest problem for putting in the value of Romania's immense potential in the innovation area is market cooperation between the scientific resource (researchers) and entrepreneurs. USH ProBusiness has actively contributed to the creation, development and promotion of clusters: BIO DANUBIUS, BIO CONCEPT PRAHOVA VALLEY, CERMAND (Renewable Energy Center on the Black Sea and Danube), DANUBE ENGINEERING HUB and CREATIVE BUCHAREST. 

3. Smart Alliance Cluster (Bronze label, Cluster Management Excellence) addresses innovation and digitalization issues through various initiatives, partnerships and events directed towards the SME ICT sector and through the Smart Alliance Innovation Summit, an annual event, that brings together a continuously increasing number (+500) of C-level business people

The goal of Smart eHUB partners is to create a platform of networking and connectivity between successful SMEs, leaders in the Romanian ICT landscape and companies that need to become more competitive and innovative through digitalisation.

The smart specialization in the region is still a policy target (in 2019), designed at the top, not yet fully understood by the SMEs sector. Through DIH we act as a catalyzer of a better entrepreneurial specialization process in the region. Pursuing an assessment and selection process in the strategy, six sectors of smart specialization that have the highest potential for innovation and development have been selected. Each sector may be capitalized through multiple economic, technologic and scientific activities:

Agriculture and food industry: with emphasis on traditional bio products; Bioeconomy, Biomedicine and precision farming (GIS services, large data processing and imaging)
Tourism and cultural identity: there is a huge potential for management and information management for integration of tourist offers on Curtea de Argeş – Câmpulung – Rucăr – Dâmboviţa – Bran Bridge in a regional value chain
Smart Cities: Information management and management technology, computing and imaging; Production of solar panels; Urban Mobility Plans; Waste management plans.
Wood Processing & Furniture: Production& Implementation of assistive technologies for production processes, quality & design
Textile and apparel
Automotive: Production of automotive subassemblies; Production of wiring; Engineering and related technical consultancy activities, research development in other natural sciences and engineering.

The DIH’s objectives (similar to Coordinators’ objectives) are fully aligned to the smart specialization areas of the region, considering the existing ecosystem of innovation such as university education infrastructure of Polytechnic University/ Electronic Faculty, Spiru Haret University, knowledge transfer centers of USH Probusiness (located in Bucharest, Ploiesti, Craiova, Constanta, Brasov, Campulung), ICT competencies and expertise in software development of Smart Alliance members, and ELINCLUS Cluster.

Smart eHub strategy is focused in strengthening the innovation ecosystem, creating and implementing regional strategies in order to promote digitalization and smart specialization.

All coordinating partners are focused on ICT based creative industries:

-           The USH ProBusiness has experience in providing business services, and developing an innovative ecosystem. The center's activity is aimed at entrepreneurial development services for facilitating the market access of its clients. It was authorized for creative industries through the Order of the Minister of Research and Innovation no.150 / 15.03.2017.

-           Production, distribution, utilities, financial services, telecommunications, public administration, education or human resources are just a small part of the economical, administrative and educational areas that Smart Alliance Cluster covers with IT products and services.

-           ELINCLUS Cluster has experience in supporting companies active in the field of electronics, sensors, ICT, applied mainly to automotive IoT space, mechatronics, precision agriculture, telecommunications for the entire innovation projects lifecycle.

In February 2019 Smart eHUB was selected by DIHELP Academy to be part of their coaching and mentoring programme.

 

The main targets of Smart eHUB are:

SMEs in the South Muntenia & Bucharest region - with 56,908 SMEs in South Muntenia and 131,334 SMEs in Bucharest-Ilfov, out of which to focus on innovative Start-ups (that lack resources for digitalisation) and SMEs which have issues to scaleup their business. The SME sector in target is split following smart specialisation domains: Agriculture & Food processing, Furniture & wood processing, Textile & apparel, etc. At the same group are targeted cluster managers which can act as brokers to reach the companies inside their