A recent UNCTAD study identifies three ways smallholder farmers in the landlocked southeast Asian nation can boost earnings from their harvests.
© Hanoi Photography
Rice is king in Lao People’s Democratic Republic, but the government has put the sustainable production of another crop, maize, at the heart of its socio-economic development strategy.
The growing appetite for meat in southeast Asia, thanks to rising personal income, has created a flourishing regional market for animal feed, of which maize is a main ingredient.
Sandwiched between China, Thailand and Vietnam, Laos is ideally placed to benefit from this trade, according to an UNCTAD study that sheds new light on the maize value chain in the landlocked nation.
As the second most planted crop in the country, maize has an important bearing on welfare in a land where almost a quarter of people live in poverty, and where the poverty rate is four times higher in rural communities than in urban areas.
The study, Analyzing the maize value chain for export in Lao People’s Democratic Republic, highlights measures that could help the country’s farmers capture a larger share of value from maize exports, and support poverty reduction efforts by national authorities and development partners.
“While a lot of analysis has been done aiming at improving the sustainability of maize production in Laos, there has been very little research on how to help farmers and traders take better advantage of export opportunities,” says UNCTAD economist Rodrigo Cárcamo.
“Yet this is a crucial piece of the poverty reduction puzzle, as it’s necessary for creating jobs and boosting economic growth in the country.”
Three key factors weigh heavily on incomes
The study is based on data from a field survey conducted in May and June 2019, which collected information on more than 180 farmers and 165 agricultural traders in three provinces: Xiengkhuang in the north-east and Xayaboury and Oudomxay in the north-west, where poverty is particularly widespread.
The author identified three key factors other than geographic location that weigh heavily on the income of farmers, who earn more if they sell maize in grain instead of on the cob, if they are part of a cooperative, and if they are less financially constrained.
Mr. Cárcamo, who is the report’s lead author, explains that “less financially constrained” means a farmer has access to storage facilities and doesn’t borrow from traders to buy inputs such as seeds and fertilizer.
“Our analysis suggests that the factors we identified have important effects on farmers’ livelihoods,” he says.
For example, those who sold maize in grain earned on average $41 per ton more than those who sold it on the cob. Since the farmers in the study sold on average almost 16 tons of maize annually, this amounts to an additional $655 each year.
“That’s a lot of money when you consider that the average farmer in the surveyed group earns just $3,622 annually,” Mr. Cárcamo said.
Likewise, the findings show that farmers in cooperatives earn almost $21 per ton more than those who are not, when considering all other factors studied.
“Cooperatives allow farmers to buy inputs in bulk at lower prices and help them get access to credit,” Mr. Cárcamo says. “But most importantly, they give the farmer more negotiating power with local traders when selling their produce.”
The study highlights that many farmers in Laos sell their maize right after harvest because they need the money immediately or lack access to storage facilities. This is unfortunate because there is a price premium for maize sold out of storage.
“Adequate storage of dried maize reduces the risk of damage by pests and fungi and, as in the case of cooperatives, gives farmers more bargaining power with buyers,” Mr. Cárcamo says. “Unfortunately, almost a quarter of those involved in the study have no access to storage facilities.”
Another key finding is that farmers who receive inputs from traders earn on average between $6–8 per ton less for their maize. This is because they got such inputs as seeds on credit – for an average monthly interest rate of 2.5%, according to the study – and must pay for them by forfeiting to the trader part of their harvest.
The author concludes that better access to finance would greatly increase the capacity of farmers to hold on to their maize after harvest.
The study brings forth important questions about the current factors that restrict rural finance in Laos.
“The findings confirm the importance of cooperative membership and helping farmers get access to the credit they need to invest in capital goods, such as storage facilities, and for buying inputs competitively,” Mr. Cárcamo says
“Collecting the information necessary to identify the factors that restrict rural finance in the country will be key to designing effective policies.”
The study was carried out as part of an UNCTAD project helping commodity-dependent, landlocked developing countries integrate into regional and global value chains.
“The project will bring a number of benefits to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic maize sector, helping us in the future to better design, implement and assess policies in this area,” said Xaysomphet Norasingh, director-general of the government’s trade promotion department in the industry and commerce ministry.
He added: “Enhanced data availability, as well as quantitative analysis of the maize value chain for export, are important for fostering the development of the sector in the country.”
Besides maize in Laos, the project is analyzing the value chains for exports of roasted coffee in Ethiopia, red meat in Mongolia and dried fruits in Uzbekistan.


Squeezing the most out of your budget as you head into the last quarter of the year takes both skill and strategy. It’s an art and something you get more efficient at with experience.
I get questions like:
- Should I reduce spend and improve my NOI or spend some to get more leads?
- What should I invest in and what should I dial back on?
- What will give me the quickest return if I do tick up my spend late in the year?
Learn how to balance saving and spending now so you can be the budget season hero at year-end (and into 2024).
Here are my three tips to use your 2023 budget wisely and get returns—and recognition—in the future:
Focus on Bottom-of-Funnel Efforts
Review your lead-to-tour and lead-to-lease conversion rates. It’s very likely you don’t need MORE leads, but you likely do have an opportunity to convert better on the ones whyo are already on your radar.
Work to identify the leaks in your funnel…where are leads falling off and failing to take the next step? Invest in tools that help you convince those prospects to convert.
Consolidate Your Tech by Re-Demoing Your Current Vendors
No matter what services and tools you have, start NOW and schedule a demo with as many of those partners as you can. Even a 20 minute call can help you discover gaps that can be solved with a tool or product you’re already using – and many times, at no or low additional cost.
Additionally, you may find you’ve had some “tool overlap” and can start to consolidate, which saves money and helps with NOI or, will help you find savings that you can then reinvest into something else you have a need for, but couldn’t yet afford. Every day our industry is evolving and if we don’t take these small steps to keep up with the tech, we’re leaving money and improved performance on the table.
Consider Short-Term Spend that Has Long-Term Results
Have you managed your budget effectively this year and have savings in a specific line? While we don’t ever want to spend money just because we have it, it can be beneficial to make some strategic investments with late-year budget savings.
For example, if you’ve identified you need to address your conversion problem and want to layer in a conversion tool, you could potentially pay for that conversion tool now with your 2023 savings, but get the service for all of 2024 without it ever hitting your 2024 budget.
Many services offer a 5-10% discount for paying in full versus monthly and this can be a resourceful way to squeeze more out of your 2023 budget, with benefits and ROI that extend into 2024.


In June, David traveled to China to visit our Chinese tea supplier personally. Along the way he bought a lot of tea and teaware, and has created these limited edition gift packs so that you can experience "all" the tea in China!
While this is only a limited number of teas compared to everything China has to offer, we feel that a selection of teas this extensive and fresh has never been offered all together before.
Be one of the select few to get a sampling of 29 teas (black, green, oolong, white and puerh) brought directly from China this past month.
You have two options:
The Mega Pack has double the tea of the other option in addition to more teaware. If we were to price each thing normally, the cost would be $525. However, because you're buying everything together, and in celebration of this trip, we are offering the whole pack for $375.
The Super Pack has everything the Mega pack has, though a few less teaware items, and half the tea. $195 ($275 retail)
Special Tea Tasting
Everyone who purchases any of the options will be invited to a special tea tasting this summer where we can try these teas together and you can learn more about Chinese tea.
Tea Farm Visit
Pictures of the Trip


With bitcoin prices stuck in a months-long holding pattern, some cryptocurrency traders are speculating on what might be the next hot market bet: digital assets associated with visions of a decentralized Internet, referred to colloquially as Web 3.0 tokens.
Data tracked by Messari and published by Arca Chief Investment Officer Jeff Dorman shows the cryptocurrency sub-sector of “Web 3.0 tokens” gained 22% in the week ended Aug. 1, outshining bitcoin and every other sub-sector, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, rallied 10%.
On a year-to-date basis, tokens associated with decentralized Internet applications have seen an average 244% rise, trailing the NFT sub-sector’s 2,726% gain but beating bitcoin’s 37% appreciation.
Some of the most prominent Web 3.0 coins, such as livepeer (LPT), helium (HNT), and bittorrent (BTT), are up at least 800% this year, despite a slump in cryptocurrency markets since April, according to Messari.


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It all started 3 weeks ago, when we were in the thick of exams. Anaga was preparing for her 10th and Ananya for her 6th. In between answering questions on Ashoka and Buddhism, Ananya was busy scribbling down a menu card. “What are you doing?”, I asked. “Mummy, this is for the charity sale for Easter. Shika and I are getting it ready.”
I brushed it off as another attempt by Ananya to avoid studying! Not really. 3 weeks and umpteen cupcakes, sandwiches and custard cups later, she and her cousin have collected an amazing Rs 3200 from the sale. Rs 800 came from some craft items Ananya and her friends made, while the rest came from the food.
But more than the actual money they made (ahem….I spent almost that at Reliance!), what amazed me was Ananya’s planning and execution……She had everything ready on the day of the sale – April 5. She had already gone to all our neighbors and told them about the sale. Along with that, she distributed small pieces of paper with the date and time. She also had a menu card that listed the items for sale and the prices. The day before the sale, she went with the menu card to each of these houses and recorded their orders.
On April 5, we started the cooking at 9:30 AM. By 2 PM we had sold everything we made. Only because, Ananya had written down each family’s order in a separate page in her small notebook, and had tabulated the total number of items under each category. I had to just cook to order!
After the food was delivered, she and her cousin started preparing the bills! Each villa/house had a separate bill and the collection process started. When my neighbor Rakan asked for a discount of Rs 5, Ananya refused – saying it was tax and had to be paid!!! (That’s all I need – a run-in with the local sales tax department!)
By 4 pm, both girls were tired and tanned! But the girls were ecstatic at the money that poured in – in 10, 20 and 50 rupees. On hearing about this, their grandmoms and aunts have promised some additional money to add to their kitty!
So what have they decided to do with the money? A local girl’s home in Kakkanad (near Infopark) is looking for funds to buy some sports equipment for the inmates for summer – volley ball nets, volley balls, badminton rackets and shuttlecocks……and they have decided to donate to that cause.
From the Rs 3000 or so they made, Ananya is keeping back 25% as seed money for the next charity drive, since she felt bad that I spent “my” money to fund the sale. The rest is going to a local not-for-profit organization that is organizing the sports equipment for the girls home.
So end of the day, let’s do the math:
Supplies from the local art shop – Rs 437
Ingredients for the bake sale from Reliance – Rs 1335
Total sale made – Rs 3100 (as of April 9 – they have a couple more orders to complete)
Money given to charity – Rs 2400
Finding out how hard it is to earn money, even for a good cause – PRICELESS!
So is this blog about a mother’s pride in her daughter? Not really. This blog is about what I learnt about myself.
I was entirely skeptical about the entire charity effort in the beginning. I also fretted and fumed about having to bake stuff and cook things for close to 4 hours. But Ananya stuck to her plan throughout the 3 weeks. And I realized that as I grow older, my conviction that “I can make a difference” has certainly taken a hit. While I donate money to good causes, the passion that I personally can do something to change the world around me was certainly lacking.
As I watched Ananya stick to her plan, she showed me that it does not take much to make a difference. All it takes is a small plan, little kindness and some hard work.
Thank you Shika and Ananya. For showing me that every drop counts.


Prepare yourself -- the super-intelligent machines that used to be the stuff of science-fiction movies are now becoming reality. Thanks to giant strides in big-data collection and processing, machines can now be taught to recognize speech, images, and writing and even understand entire industries. Once trained, computers can interpret incoming information and react accordingly.
These super-human artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities are working their ways into just about every industry, and they are becoming huge competitive advantages to the companies that best employ them.
You may think the stocks at the forefront of this tech revolution would trade at sky-high valuations, but as the following three names show, that's not necessarily the case.
He wasn't kidding.
That year, Alphabet unveiled its AI Tensor Processing unit, an accelerator specifically designed for machine learning neural networks. TPUs are ideal for high-volume, low-precision computing tasks that make them especially useful for processing massive amounts of data. TPUs are available only in Google's Cloud platform, where they work alongside third-party graphics processing units (GPUs) and central processing units (CPUs), though Google has begun renting these proprietary TPUs to outside customers.
Then in 2017, Alphabet launched Google.ai, a division solely dedicated to leading AI research, tools, and applied AI projects.
AI has come to permeate all of Alphabet's businesses –- even the company's "old" search engine business. In 2016, Google installed its then-head of AI to lead the search business, and soon found that machine-learning algorithms executed search results even better than human-constructed algorithms.
AI is also at the center of Alphabet's "Other Bets" segments, made up of transformative, "moonshot" projects. One example is the Waymo One self-driving taxi business, which is now driving passengers around Phoenix and could be coming to a town near you in the not-too-distant future.
You may think that all of this innovation would come at a sky-high valuation, but Alphabet trades at a quite reasonable 23 time forward earnings. If you strip out its $100 billion-plus in excess cash, that valuation comes down to just 20.
That's a huge bargain for not only the world's dominant search engine, but also several Other Bets that currently make no profits, but could one day be worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
While Google has its own TPU chips, it still uses GPUs from gaming chip giant Nvidia (NVDA -2.28%). Nvidia's business began in video gaming GPUs, but as the world soon found out, graphics processors -- which can perform many more calculations at once than CPUs -- were also highly beneficial to the compute-intensive workloads AI requires. The only problem? That data must be translated into a form that a graphics chips can interpret.
Nvidia thus invented its CUDA software platform in the mid-2000s, which finally allowed massive amounts of data to be translated into familiar programming languages on graphics chips. That innovation proved prescient, as Nvidia's GPU chips and CUDA platform proved the ideal combo for the age of big data and artificial intelligence.
Look no further than Nvidia's booming data center business as evidence. Over the past three years, Nvidia grew its data center business from just $296 million in FY 2015 to $1.93 billion in FY 2018, a more than 500% increase in just three years.
With all this going for it, Nvidia's stock has nevertheless been crushed over the past six months, and now trades at a sub-20 P/E ratio. This has been due to a toxic combination of the Chinese slowdown, a pause in data center investment by cloud giants, and the crash in cryptocurrencies.
Nevertheless, I expect data center investment to pick up after the cloud giants digest their current investments. Since Nvidia's CUDA platform gives it a strong competitive advantage over competitors, I expect the stock to bounce back once this slowdown passes.
Another stock suffering from the same temporary headwinds as Nvidia is Micron (MU -0.76%). If you think Alphabet's and Nvidia's stocks are cheap, how about a P/E ratio of 3.3?!
That's not a typo, but rather par for the course for Micron, which has traditionally been an extremely cyclical stock. Micron produces DRAM memory and NAND flash storage products, both of which will see exponential demand in the coming age of AI. Nevertheless, memory prices can fluctuate wildly from quarter-to-quarter based on supply and demand, and currently we are in a period of memory price declines.
Still, artificial intelligence servers will need up to six times the amount of DRAM and twice the amount of NAND flash as a traditional server, and AI servers will become an increasing portion of cloud servers going forward. Micron is one of only three producers of DRAM worldwide. With only two competitors, the industry should be able to keep supply under control, even while demand for DRAM booms over the next decade.
That makes the near-term swoon a huge opportunity for long-term investors to pounce on this dirt cheap memory stock.


The universal child care benefit (UCCB) was introduced in 2006 as a taxable benefit designed to help Canadian families through direct financial support.
Parents have since 2006 been receiving a $100 taxable benefit a month for each child under age six.
On January 1, 2015, the UCCB was expanded to include a new benefit for children aged six through 17, and the payments that parents receive for children under the age of six were increased.
The payment is now $160 a month for children under six, and children between six and 17 are eligible for $60 a month.
Since payments are retroactive to Jan. 1, parents recently received $360 for each child six to 17 years old, for the first six months of 2015.
But don’t be so quick to spend that extra cash. According to a story published by the National Post, Canadians who received the payments can expect to see some of that amount taxed next April unless their income is so low that they don’t pay income taxes.
The benefit is taxable on the lower income earner in every household. However, Angella MacEwan, Senior Economist with the Canadian Labour Council, told the National Post that the lower income earner in some families will be moved into a higher tax bracket this year because of the government’s recent decision to allow income splitting. That will marginally increase how much they are asked to pay in taxes on the child care benefit, she said.
The increase in benefits, combined with the elimination of the child tax credit, will mean middle and upper-income earners will have more of the money taxed back at the end of the year than lower income households, said David Macdonald, Senior Economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, to the National Post.
“You get a cheque and it’s tangible. You have no idea what you’re going to pay back at the end of the year,” Macdonald said.
The universal child care benefit applies to all Canadian families regardless of income so long as they have children under the age of 18.


The subject of the current thesis work was Development of Business Planning System Based on IBM MAXIMO. I worked on my thesis as an employee of a big multinational company in an Asset and Work Management Project at Közmű Zrt. Közmű Zrt. is a power transmission company, whose main task is to ensure the transmission of electrical energy from the power plants to the electricity service providers.
Main subject of my thesis work was the business planning process, which creates the planned budgets for different kind of maintenance, refurbishment and development works. My task was to redesign the current business process, which will be supported by IBM Tivoli MAXIMO asset and work management system.
First of all I intended the MAXIMO object hierarchy in order to support the special needs of business planning at Közmű Zrt. I learned the basics of MAXIMO development and created validations, which prevents the users of creating wrong object hierarchy. I developed the MAXIMO side of MAXIMO-SAP interface, which allows the approval of business planning budgets form SAP. As a next task I created several BIRT reports, which provides the necessary data from the system for the business planning process. In order to make the process handling easy I did the necessary MAXIMO user interface customizations as well.
Another main part of my work was to invent how Primavera Project Management software can be involved in business planning process. As a part of this task I developed a new MAXIMO-Primavera import functionality to extend the current possibilities of implemented MAXIMO-Primavera integration. With the new import function it is possible to import the modified service costs from Primavera to MAXIMO automatically.
With the help of newly created business planning process in MAXIMO, more accurate planning of work costs is possible. The main advantage of this is that Közmű Zrt. is now able to save huge amount of costs on different kind of works.


Bookmakers use odds to even out the bets, getting gamblers to wager on both sides of the line by leveling the playing field. Although there is overall parity in the NFL, there are teams that are haves and others that are have-nots. Indianapolis is still superior to Cincinnati but when they play each other the bookies have to get about half of the bettors to put cash on the Bengals. This covers the sportsbooks ensuring they’ll make a decent amount of cash on just about every game.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has always been a staple of the sports betting community. As a part of one of the big four sports, bettors have been working to develop systems to best the basketball betting industry for decades. Some have succeeded and enjoyed the spoils, while some have fallen. Our guess is that most of those who have fallen did so due to a lack of effort, a lack of information, or just no knack for the sport.
That was all before Charles McNeil, a math teacher from Chicago, invented the concept of the point spread. An avid gambler, McNeil created what he called “wholesaling odds” and started his own bookmaking operation in the 1940s. He started out offering this new style of betting on football, but his business model grew to include basketball. McNeil changed the way sports betting was done, and his legacy lives on today in what we now call the point spread.


As companies spend more than $2 trillion every year on acquisitions, many studies peg the rate of failure of these transactions in fulfilling expectations somewhere between 70 and 90 percent. Such performance is unacceptable in just about any endeavor. However, over time old lessons in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) failures continue to be relearned by many companies.
The question arises as to the board of director’s risk oversight role in overseeing the process of screening, selecting and pursuing M&A candidates, closing M&A transactions, and integrating merged and acquired entities, with emphasis on reducing risk in M&A activity. This issue of Board Perspectives: Risk Oversight analyzes the board's risk oversight role from an acquiring company's perspective.


Where does the nation stand in employment opportunities in the backdrop of AI?
We are living in a time where everything is digital. Disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) has become central to this transformation. From retail to Fintech and cybersecurity to predictive analytics, tech pundits avow that AI now plays an essential cog in the future of these industries and disciplines. However, through some alarmists argue that AI is stealing jobs through automation and robotics, on the contrary, it has been observed that AI is also adding new job roles every day to the existing employment pool. Researchers have tracked down new job roles, occupations and emerging industries, in the AI landscape that can help us understand the job market better. Although the impact of AI is no longer confined to theoretical assumptions, the skillset of the existing workforce does shape the demand for jobs in this domain.
This year, the World Economic Forum had forecasted a tremendous increase in AI jobs globally over the next two years, with new jobs per 10,000 opportunities increasing from 78 today to 123 in 2022. This statistics further is backed by analyst firm Gartner, which views 2020 as a turning point where AI will start to create more jobs than it is destroying. According to a previous report, of the 1.8 million jobs AI will get rid of, the emerging field will create 2.3 million by 2020, says Gartner. Such findings, draw attention to the nexus between what is possible in the job opportunities due to AI. Economists forecast that the USA shall grow to be a major leader in AI jobs. These include machine learning engineer, data scientist, computer vision engineer and more.
According to an independent study by Poker.org, most AI jobs are being offered in states with high-population cities like California, New York, and Texas. The company’s team had analyzed data from over 8,000 job advertisements, at Indeed.com in September 2020 for all 50 US states. The company also compiled online search data for AI jobs in all 50 states, adding insights by using keyword research tools to find approximate search numbers for the key terms in every state. As per the key observation, the USA state of California offered the highest jobs in AI with 1515 jobs, with San Francisco and Santa Clara offering 270 and 214 jobs respectively. Following next is Virginia with 843 jobs with Arlington having a share of 146 jobs. States like Washington, Massachusetts, New York and Texas also feature in the top 10 list, accounting for 592, 573, 562 and 447 jobs respectively. In Washington, Seattle fetches the largest share of 413 jobs, while for New York’s New York City offered 379 jobs. Even Austin had 158 jobs opening in AI out of Texas’s 447 total AI-oriented jobs.
Poker.org also used Google Trends data to analyze the states where people search the most often for the term, AI Jobs. They also used keyword research tools to get a clear idea of how many times people in each state searched for that term. The top USA states searching for AI jobs the most were, California, Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois.
The AI job ads research also showed USA states with the highest number of remote jobs. The state with the most remote jobs is California (148), followed by New York (89). Texas (76), Massachusetts, (39), and Virginia (31). Furthermore, the findings revealed US states that currently offer the most entry-level jobs in AI. With California leading again (351), followed by Massachusetts (126), New York (113), Virginia (110) and Washington (84). Meanwhile, the data also showed USA states with fewest AI jobs. These are Alaska, which is also the only state with zero AI job ads, Mississippi (2) and South Dakota (4).
Brendon Thomson, a spokesperson for Poker.org, commented: “Our research confirmed that AI jobs are growing fast, with thousands of new AI careers popping up around the country.
“It was great to see that not all AI jobs that are currently being advertised, are mid or senior level, but there are plenty of opportunities for AI enthusiasts to join the industry through an entry-level job. The same goes for the offer of remote AI jobs in the majority of large US cities.”


Application Center for Automation in Healthcare
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FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V
Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167, Mannheim (Germany)
Link to national or regional initiatives for digitising industry
Fraunhofer is active member in the initiative „Forum Gesundheitsstandort Baden-Württemberg“ headed by the Ministerpräsident of Baden-Württemberg Winfried Kretschman, dem Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Arbeit und Wohnungsbau (https://www.baden-wuerttemberg.de/de/service/presse/pressemitteilung/pid/forum-gesundheitsstandort-baden-wuerttemberg-gestartet/). dem Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst und dem Ministerium für Soziales und Integration to strenghten the medical technology industry in Baden-Württemberg. For more information please contact
Dr. Siegfried Jaumann
Referat 25: Lebenswissenschaften
Theodor-Heuss-Str. 4, 70174 Stuttgart Germany
PHONE +49 (0) 711 123 2468 FAX: +49 (0) 711 123 2145
The regional Cluster for Medical Technology (http://www.medtech-mannheim.de/de/cluster-medizintechnologie) is dedicated to supporting Startups and small and medium size companies in developing their digital health products more efficiently and strictly oriented towards clinical routine practice. This includes educational formats, the formation of applied research consortia, providing special office, workshop and lab infrastructure as well as bringing together Startup/SME, large corporations and and clinicians for mutual commercial projects. The Fraunhofer Project Group for Automation in Medicine and Biotechnology based in Mannheim is instrumental to these activities of the Mannheim Medical Technology Cluster, and forms a core facility for reverse translation in the field of digiatl health from-bed-to-bench-to-bed. For more information please contact
Dr. Elmar Bourdon
Fachbereich für Wirtschafts- und Strukturförderung
Rathaus E5 | 68159 Mannheim
Mobil: +49 152 546 93 258
Tel.: +49 621 293 2155
Fax: +49 621 293 9850
Market and Services
- Health and social work
- TRL1 - Basic principles observed and reported
- TRL2 - Technology concept and/or application formulated
- TRL3 - Analytical and experimental critical function and/or characteristic proof of concept
- TRL4 - Component and/or breadboard validation in laboratory environment
- TRL5 - Component and/or breadboard validation in relevant environment
- TRL6 - System/subsystem model or prototype demonstration in a relevant environment
- TRL7 - System prototype demonstration in an operational environment
- Awareness creation
- Visioning and Strategy Development for Businesses
- Collaborative Researchs
- Concept validation and prototyping
- Testing and validation
- Incubator/accelerator support
- Access to Funding and Investor Readiness Services
- Education and skills development
Development of a fully automated sorting device for zebrafish eggs
Client Profile: German Resilience Center & Focus Program Translational Neuroscience (FTN) University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (https://www.ryulab.org/)
Client Needs: Prior to the development of the new device the sorting of zebrafish eggs in the lab from petri dishes into microtiter plates was performed manually. Therefore a lab assistant had to pick the eggs from a petri dish one by one and sort them into the microtiter plate. This was a time consuming procedure and plans to scale up the whole process in numbers made it necessary to automate the task.
Provided Solution to meet the needs: Therefore engineers of Fraunhofer IPA developed a machine which detect the eggs in the petri dish by using machine vision. The developed machine then calculates which egg needs to be picked up next by taking into account the distances between the fish and by avoiding clusters of eggs which could have caused multiple fish to be picked up accidentally. Whenever necessary the machine would separate the clustered eggs to pick them up individually. The picked up fish would then be sorted into the microtiter plate. Once fully filled the plate could be transformed to the follow up process.
System for blood-sample-taking in the digital hospital
Client Profile: University Hospital Mannheim UMM, Department for Clinical Chemistry, https://w2.umm.de/start/
Client Needs: Taking blood samples is one of the most common medical standard working procedures in a hospital. The procedure consists of several steps that have to executed carefully: 1.) Reliable assignment of a blood sample to a patient 2.) Follow different protocols for different types of blood samples 3.) Ensure time and local (plus in future condition) sample tracking. Though the procedure of blood sample taking is part of the daily clinical routine, it is still highly prone to errors. This can result in incomplete samples, bad information for diagnosis, increasing workload for the medical staff and finally higher stress for patients, if procedures have to be repeated.
Provided Solution to meet the needs: In the project „LabCoder“ a mobile prototype-device including software was developed and delivered to UMM. The device provides an interface to the KIS (Krankenhaus Informations System) of UMM, so that the various taken-procedures can be pre-planned and can be done centrally. The device guides through the procedures. The sample-patient assignment and the measurement of time, environmental temperature and filling level is performed within a sensor slot of the device. The procedure has to be confirmed by the user and the information is send automatically to KIS and the LIMS (Lab Information and Mangements System) of the clinical lab. In the current status, the system was developed and tested in a pre-clinical test in UMM.More details: https://w2.umm.de/start/
Project-Name: Fusing data records to the DICOM standard
Client Profile: QIT Systeme GmbH & Co. KG is a leading IT service company in the fields of radiology, medical imaging and DICOM communication (https://www.qit-systeme.de/ueber-uns/).
Client Needs: QIT wanted to augment the existing archiving technology based on DICOM by features for collecting raw data (e.g. sensor data from robotics) and contextual metadata (e.g. notes written by assistants during the intervention) for each relevant event in the intervention room and then fusing the semantic and temporal dimensions of corresponding activities/events.
Provided Solution to meet the needs: In a joint project we helped QIT collecting the data and analyzing them while QIT adapted fused data records to the DICOM standard and archived them in their platform. A graphical interface developed by Fraunhofer PAMB retrieves and presents the fused data in situation-specific ways. This opens up new avenues for knowledge discovery and data analytics in intervention environments. The newly implemented DICOM classes secures QIT status as a leading IT service company.
Usability Tests of Clinical Software
Project-Name: Usability Tests of the OPASCA Check-in Terminal for Digital Patient Registration
Client Profile: OPASCA, https://www.opasca.com/
Client Needs: The registration of patients at clinics is not yet well digitized in Germany thus requiring unnecessary occupation of clinical staff and time. The SME OPASCA is developing a check-in terminal for patient registration similar to check-in terminals found in airports. The system is currently deployed in three clinics in Stuttgart, Freiburg, and Mannheim for general patient registration as well as for radio-oncological clinics.Provided Solution to meet the needs: As part of private-public project, Fraunhofer is analyzing and testing the usability of the system at the university clinics of Mannheim. The test aim to identify weaknesses of the current implementation in order to improve user-friendly in future versions. More details: https://www.opasca.com/
Modular automation platform for cell cultivation
- Primacyt Cell Culture Technology, http://www.primacyt.de/
- AFT Automation, https://www.aft-automation.de/en/homepage/
Client Needs: A high degree of automation is required to meet the rapid development of methodologies in personalized medicine for the future treatment of a wide range of diseases. Specifically, the human-specific cultivation and production on industrial scales is required, which was not possible at the beginning of the project. Cell cultivation is currently performed manually or in a semi-automated fashion on a laboratory scale. Such small-scale methodologies rely heavily on the accuracy, reproducibility, and efficiency of the process conducted by human technicians. Ensuring processed cells meet stringent quality criteria constantly is a key factor.
Provided Solution to meet the needs: The EU project ManuCyte aimed at the development of an integrated, intelligent, flexible and modular automation platform for cell cultivation in order to enable patient-specific cell cultivation in an industrial scale.More details: https://cordis.europa.eu/result/rcn/140355_en.html
(part of) Public organization (part of RTO, or university)
Number of employees
- National basic research funding
- National specific innovation funding
- Private funding
KUKA ROBOTER GMBH
University Medical Center Mannheim
University of Mannheim
Medical Technology Cluster Mannheim
Carl Zeiss Meditech
University of Heidelberg
Research & Technology organization
- Micro and nano electronics, smart system integration
- Sensors, actuators, MEMS, NEMS, RF
- Photonics, electronic and optical functional materials
- Robotics and autonomous systems
- Interaction technologies (e.g. human-machine Interaction, motion recognition and language technologies)
- Data mining, big data, database management
- Simulation and modelling
European Network of competencies and platforms for Enabling SME from any sector building Innovative CPS products to sustain demand for European manufacturingEuropean Network of competencies and platforms for Enabling SME from any sector building Innovative CPS products to sustain demand for European manufacturing
SMEs play a key role in European economies; they constitute the largest business block and provide the bulk of employment. They generate most of the innovative ideas for ICT and CPS-enabled IoT products, two areas which represent an inflection point for innovators and industry in Europe.
EuroCPS is an ambitious project that aims to arm Europe with a network of design centres that will boost and initiate synergies between SMEs, major CPS-platforms, and CPS-competency providers, to capture the emerging markets for IoT products.
1. Leverage the existing regional ecosystem across the full value chain (from micro-electronics, smart systems, and CPS, to high value added products and services) and range of expertise and competencies to provide innovators from any sector with an easy path to build innovative CPS-enabled systems.
2. Act as a one-stop-shop that provides a critical mass of technologies and competencies by facilitating user-supplier partnerships across value-chains and regions. Hence the typical development time of innovative for CPS applications will be significantly decreased through the ease of access to the platforms, and coaching by the competence partners within EuroCPS.
3. Link software, system and nano-electronic industries along the full CPS value chain to demonstrate a new cooperation model evidenced by experiments initiated and led by innovators that translate the rich pool of ideas from end users into implementation of CPS applications made in Europe.
EuroCPS gathers major European system suppliers and world class research centres and technology providers, all rooted in the top European regional ecosystems. Based on strong foundations in European and national initiatives, EuroCPS will, through pan European collaboration and knowledge exchange and access to the strong value chain in this strategic sector, significantly reduce development time and certification efforts, thus putting Europe at the cutting edge of CPS development and implementation.
Open Data INcubator for EuropeOpen Data INcubator for Europe
The Open Data INcubator for Europe (ODINE) project will set up an environment to support and advice SMEs and start-ups in creating commercial added value from open data. Drawing on the experience from key players in the consortium including Wayra (an incubator/accelerator), Fraunhofer IAIS and the ODI (both data facilitators and incubators), Telefonica (providing computing infrastructure and strong links to data protection and privacy stakeholders), and the University of Southampton (renowned for its open data research and home of Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Sir Nigel Shadbolt), we plan to establish a EU-wide, industry-focused network of open data companies around Europe, promoted and guided by the trusted authorities and commentators at the Guardian and OKFN. To achieve this we shall take an approach that follows ‘best in class’ practice for incubators and which makes it as a simple and smooth as possible for SMEs to apply for help. We will offer: (i) a transparent, fair, and efficient proposal process for SMEs and start-ups, based around Wayra, IAIS and ODI’s existing and successful processes; (ii) a network of European open data SMEs and start-ups; (iii) initial investment in these companies through an open call; (iv) incubation and mentoring by ODI, Fraunhofer and Wayra academies, with the possibility of acceleration via Wayra, Telefonica Ventures, and Fraunhofer Venture; (v) access to data services and computing infrastructure from IAIS, ODI, OKFN and Telefonica; (vi) expert support from serial entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, and coaching from business schools; as well as (vii) high visibility through promotion of success stories by the Guardian, ODI and the OKFN. A successful open data incubator will significantly help Europe to regain leadership in technical innovation, balanced with the ethical treatment of data for which the public are crying out, and to create skilled jobs that help Europe become more productive and competitive in the 21st Century.
GateOne - Innovation Service for European Smartization by SMEsGateOne - Innovation Service for European Smartization by SMEs
GateOne’s mission is to accelerate smart systems adoption by European SMEs in facilitating their access to advanced technologies for the development of innovative and smart solutions. GateOne offers Innovation as a Service to the benefit of SMEs in structuring a complete and adapted innovation chain to contribute to the Smartization of Europe. The concept is based on an innovative and pragmatic approach to cross the valley of death. Our Innovation Action is designed to enter efficiently into a new management paradigm in implementing critical size mechanisms. We will work on a unique Pan European portfolio of smart systems technologies to make them attractive and available for evaluation by a large panel of European SMEs. 20% of the portfolio will be related to bioelectronics technologies. In implementing the New Product Introduction process, our service will provide a collaboration framework between SMEs and RTOs, to progress from Lab to Market. From a complementary smart systems technologies portfolio we will work on 50 small scale projects to deliver innovation concept in the form of demonstrators. They will be produced at the only condition that an SME expresses interest and engages to enter into a testing phase. Our innovation service will allow low risk evaluation conditions. We will introduce “product concept” designed on a business case to meet SMEs expectations. We will structure, an adapted innovation chain, while validating the cost efficient manufacturability of the solution. A broad diffusion will make GateOne a European entry point of state-of-the-art technology for smart systems.Inherited from COWIN CSA success and commitment of RTOs to further apply and develop the COWIN approach, GateOne will lead to a major breakthrough for European competitiveness in engaging SMEs in the smartization wave. The support of the European Commission will validate the concept and prepare its sustainability with RTOs, industrials and private investors support.
Supercomputing Expertise for SmAll and Medium Enterprise NetworkSupercomputing Expertise for SmAll and Medium Enterprise Network
Network of HPC Competence Centres for SMEs
Access to I4MSAccess to I4MS
The new industrial revolution which is based on the deep integration of ICT in manufacturing and characterised by new industrial technologies such as cyber-physical systems, IoT, additive manufacturing, and simulation offers great potential. EU industries are well placed to benefit from the new ICT- driven industry, but a challenge is for SMEs to participate in and to benefit from the new industrial revolution. To turn this vision into reality for European SMEs the I4MS project aims to increase the uptake of ICT by manufacturing SMEs. It does so through innovation and support actions. The Access to I4MS (XS2I4MS) project is a support action to advance the European I4MS community, and expand its coverage, notably through the I4MS Mentoring programme which is aimed at supporting the establishment of a network of Digital Innovation Hubs.
XS2I4MS supports the continued expansion of services provided to DIHs in a number of ways. It has established a special section on the single portal for the I4MS community (WP1). The project builds a solid information base for I4MS in WP2 - the I4MS Observatory. Sharing best practices and dissemination (WP3) aims to extend the reach and impact of IMS as widely as possible through the collection of information about other digitization activities in Europe. Brokerage support and information activities (WP4) are aimed at supporting a key task of the DIH and also focuses on the assessment how DIHs can be financed. Specifically, the outreach activities in WP5 (Mentoring and Coaching for Regional Innovation Hubs) aim to extend the network to include SMEs in regions not currently participating in I4MS. WP6 (Management and Coordination) will ensure effective coordination of tasks.
The XS2I4MS consortium presents a strong mix of organisations to realise excellence and impact. Three large European applied research organisations, TNO, Fraunhofer and VTT, have as their core business transfer of technologies to manufacturing. They have state-of-the art facilities in open innovation. They have programs tailoring technologies and business models to the needs of SMEs. The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) is specialized on advanced manufacturing and has a dedicated Training Centre. Brainport Development has a major role to support high-tech SME start-ups in developing business plans, and accessing finance for growth.
Factories of the Future Resources, Technology, Infrastructure and Services for Simulation and Modelling 2Factories of the Future Resources, Technology, Infrastructure and Services for Simulation and Modelling 2
Fortissimo 2 will drive the uptake of advanced modelling, simulation and data analytics by European engineering and manufacturing SMEs and mid-caps. Such an uptake will deliver improved design processes, better products and services, and improved competitiveness. For the European Union as a whole this means improved employment opportunities and economic growth.
The importance of advanced ICT to the competitiveness of both large and small companies in the engineering and manufacturing domain is well established. Despite early successes in this area, there are still many barriers to the uptake of such solutions, not least of which are the initial cost and complexity of adoption, particularly in the context of challenging trading conditions. This proposal targets the ICT Innovation for Manufacturing SMEs (I4MS) action line (Phase 2) and builds on Phase 1 of that initiative.
Phase 2 addresses the adoption of next generation ICT advances in the manufacturing domain. At the core of Fortissimo 2 are three tranches of Application Experiments (~35 in total). An initial set is included in this proposal and two further sets will be obtained through Open Calls for proposals. These experiments will be driven by the requirements of first-time users (predominately SMEs) and will bring together actors from across the value chain, from cycle providers to domain experts via the Fortissimo Marketplace. This will enable innovative solutions to manufacturing challenges, leading to new and improved design processes, products and services. A key feature of Fortissimo 2 will be the adaption of the Marketplace to meet the needs of end-users. It will offer a responsive and reliable service to companies which want to access HPC and Big resources and expertise.
Fortissimo 2 initially involves 732 months of effort, a total cost of €11.1m and EC funding of €10m over a duration of three years, commensurate with achieving its ambitious goals.
Business Experiments in Cyber Physical Production SystemsBusiness Experiments in Cyber Physical Production Systems
BEinCPPS Innovation Action aims to integrate and experiment a CPS-oriented Future Internet-based machine-factory-cloud service platform firstly intensively in five selected Smart Specialization Strategy Vanguard regions (Lombardia in Italy, Euskadi in Spain, Baden Wuertemberg in Germany, Norte in Portugal, Rhone Alpes in France), afterwards extensively in all European regions, by involving local competence centers and manufacturing SMEs. The final aim of this Innovation Action is to dramatically improve the adoption of CPPSs all over Europe by means of the creation, nurturing and flourishing of CPS-driven regional innovation ecosystems, made of competence centers, manufacturing enterprises and IT SMEs.The BE in CPPS project stems upon three distinct pillars:• A FI-based three-layered (machine-factory-cloud) open source platforms federation, integrated from state-of-the-art R&I advances in the fields of Internet of Things, Future Internet and CPS / Smart Systems and able to bi-directionally interoperate data pertaining to the machine, the factory and the cloud levels.• A pan-European SME-oriented experimentation ecosystem. In a first phase of the project, the five Champions will provide requirements to the platforms integrators. In a second phase, an Open Call for IT SMEs developers (applications experiments) will award 10 third parties. In a final third phase, the extended platform will be instantiated and deployed in additional 10 third parties equipment experiment SMEs.• A well-founded method and toolbox for Innovation management, where an existing TRL-based methodology for KETs technology transfer will be enriched by a CPPS certification, education and training programme for young talents and experienced blue collar workers and by a well-founded three-fold (objectives-variables-indicators) method for results assessment and evaluation.
ROBOTT-NET - A shared infrastructure to sustainably optimise technology transfer throughout EuropeROBOTT-NET - A shared infrastructure to sustainably optimise technology transfer throughout Europe
The main objective of the TT-Net initiative is to create a sustainable European infrastructure to support novel robotic technologies on their path to market. TT-Net will develop and test mechanisms for sharing expertise and physical research infrastructures, and a unique multidisciplinary approach that enhances cross-fertilisation of ideas between academia and industry. We transform successful national structures and mechanisms used by Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) in Denmark, Germany, Spain and the UK; merging them into a Europe-wide, composite, technology transfer system. Together we will test and improve a four-stage process to accelerate the path to market for new robotic technologies. The first stage involves promoting state-of-the-art industrial and professional service robot technologies to over 1,200 end-users and robot developers (from industry and academia) in a bidirectional exchange of views and opinions about robotic research trends, needs and technology developments, and soliciting participation in TT-Net. The second stage involves technical and business feasibility studies for both end-users and robot developers at about TRL 5. The third stage implements first field trials at TRL 6 for a novel technology and then produces complete TRL 7+ robotic automation solutions at end-user sites. The fourth stage is the completion to TRL 9, facilitated within TT-Net but happening outside project control. Accelerating the path to market of new robot technologies will increase Europe’s market share in both industrial and professional service robotics. Installing European-standard robotic automation at end-user sites instead of the present national-standard automation will contribute substantially to increasing the competitiveness of Europe's manufacturing sector and in particular SMEs.
EUROPRACTICE training, CAD and prototyping services for European universities and research institutEUROPRACTICE training, CAD and prototyping services for European universities and research institut
This proposal is submitted to continue the current EUROPRACTICE 2013 Service.
The current EUROPRACTICE 2013 Service project, part of the 7th Framework and ending on 31 December, 2018, is widely recognized as a world-leading service offering state-of-the-art CAD tools and microelectronics-based technologies to universities and industry. Today, through the EC funding of the EUROPRACTICE 2013 project, 650 European Academia (550 universities and 100 research centers) have access to this Service. Continuation of this service is considered indispensable (strong support letters from 130 Academia) as universities need to be able to renew their annual CAD licenses for continuing support of their research and training courses and need to get further IC prototyping services for their EC-funded research projects. The proposal covers 2.5 years of full operation (1 July 2016 until 31 December 2018).
The objectives are offering access to CAD tools for training and research, and access to advanced IC and More-then-Moore technologies for prototyping.
As a broker, EUROPRACTICE negotiates low cost conditions with the most popular industry-standard CAD vendors for educational use and non-commercial research within the 650 European Academia. EUROPRACTICE has negotiated with several foundries agreements to buy or share low cost MPW (Multi Project Wafer) runs in order to offer low cost prototype possibilities to universities and research institutes in advanced IC and More-than-Moore technologies. Also discussions will continue with other European “service” providers, initiated by EC funded projects, in order to make them available to the Europractice member Academia. As such, the IC service will be further extended with prototyping possibilities in MEMS and Photonics-like technologies.
Dedicated training courses mainly on design flows using the latest EDA tools, PDKs and advanced technologies (that are available through Europractice) will be organized for the benefit of the 650 institution
ROS-Industrial quality-assured robot software componentsROS-Industrial quality-assured robot software components
ROSIN will create a step change in the availability of high-quality intelligent robot software components for the European
industry. This is achieved by building on the existing open-source “Robot Operating System” (ROS) framework and
leveraging its worldwide community. ROS and its subsidiary ROS-Industrial (European side led by TU Delft and
Fraunhofer) is well-known, but its European industrial potential is underestimated. The two main critiques are (1) is the
quality on par with industry, and (2) is there enough European industrial interest to justify investing in it? Partially, the
answer is “yes and yes”; ample industrial installations are already operational. Partially however, the two questions hold
each other in deadlock, because further quality improvement requires industrial investment and vice versa. ROSIN will
resolve the deadlock and put Europe in a leading position.
For software quality, ROSIN introduces a breakthrough innovation in automated code quality testing led by IT University
Copenhagen, complemented with a full palette of quality assurance measures including novel model-in-the-loop continuous
integration testing with ABB robots. Simultaneously, more ROS-Industrial tools and components will be created by making
50% of the ROSIN budget available to collaborating European industrial users and developers for so-called Focused
Technical Projects. ROSIN maximizes budget efficacy by alleviating yet another deadlock; experience shows that industry
will fund ROS-Industrial developments, but only after successful delivery. ROSIN provides pre-financing for developers
which will be recovered into a future revolving fund to perpetuate the mechanism.
Together with broad education activities (open for any EU party) led by Fachhochshule Aachen and community-building
activities led by Fraunhofer, ROSIN will let ROS-Industrial reach critical mass with further self-propelled growth resulting
in a widely adopted, high-quality, open-source industrial standard.
Bringing FIWARE to the NEXT stepBringing FIWARE to the NEXT step
Digital technologies underpin innovation and competitiveness across a broad range of market sectors. A key technology to boost such innovation and competitiveness is represented by the full and wide adoption of Open Service Platforms. In fact, they will allow increased competition and market penetration because they should be built on top of royalty-free open specifications, adopting open source reference implementations, and s such allowed to be offered by multiple vendors. The Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technology Development (FP7) has developed the FIWARE platform which has demonstrated its potential of becoming a service platform of choice, with proven potential for usage by SMEs and startups. This rises to the extent that four main ICT players in Europe with global ambition have put FIWARE in their strategy for market development. More than that, those four players announced the creation of an open to all legal entity, the FIWARE Foundation, to have more stakeholders driving the evolution of FIWARE. Well in this scope, the aim of the FI-NEXT project is to put in place all the measures necessary in order to make FIWARE materializing such a potential. This will achieved pursuing the following objectives: a) bringing FIWARE from an European Open Source project to a global Open Source Community, b) ensuring FIWARE meets the highest quality standards and best technical support, c) positioning FIWARE as the de facto standard for the development of smart applications, and d) ensuring FIWARE Lab to be a self-sustainable environment.
SMART Emerging Electronics Servicing DIHSMART Emerging Electronics Servicing DIH
The market for organic & printed electronic products is growing at a high level (BUS$ 23-24 in 2014) with predicted annual growth rates of 20 % in all fields. Although the use of OLAE in products is still limited and only have been commercialized by large corporates, the number and type of products has grown significantly. These emerging markets are a huge opportunity for the EU industry. But EU small & mid-size companies have had only a limited access to technologies and often lack the capabilities needed to benefit from OLAE. These include the ability to fully understand the technological implications and the related business implications. They need support in the translation of the OLAE technologies into innovative products, assessing potential markets, finding investors, developing new business models and creating the right partnerships to optimally benefit from OLAE opportunities.
SMARTEES will be the Digital Innovation Hub dedicated to OLAE, an organized European innovation network that provides both access to competencies and business support for innovation adoption. SMARTEES will help the European industry to create a competitive advantage within the global economy by providing access to disruptive OLAE technologies and innovation support in a pragmatic, operative and efficient pan-European manner.
A 1-Stop-Shop will be set to establish a collaborative environment and to provide wider access to the technology at the same time as coordinating the bespoke services and efficiently and effectively linking them together. 20 Application Experiments will be conducted to explore the technology transfer into business, organization of cooperation, access to finance, services to be provided and act as showcases to raise awareness and activate potential users. The established eco-system will be harnessed by the consortium to propel the continuity of the initiative beyond SMARTEES. This will include the formulation of a comprehensive business plan as a strategic outcome.
Federated CPS Digital Innovation Hubs for the Smart Anything Everywhere InitiativeFederated CPS Digital Innovation Hubs for the Smart Anything Everywhere Initiative
The overall ambition of the FED4SAE innovation action (IA) is to boost and sustain the digitization of the European industry by strengthening competitiveness in Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) and embedded system markets. In alignment with the "Smart Anything Everywhere" initiative goals, FED4SAE will:
- Create a pan-European network of Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) by leveraging existing regional ecosystems across full value chains and a range of competencies. DIHs will enable both tech and non-tech innovative Third parties (Startups SMEs, Midcaps) from any sector to build new products and services with “digital inside”.
- Act as a European added-value one-stop-shop to facilitate innovators-suppliers cross-border partnerships which will accelerate innovation in products and processes of European Third parties by providing technical, industrial and innovation management expertise. This will lead to quantifiable increases in market shares, productivity, industrial capacities of the Third parties, and a broader adoption of CPS and embedded systems solutions.
- Link innovators to investors associated to DIHs to reach out to further funding opportunities and enable the next steps of the Third parties’ developments after completing their application experiments (AEs).
- Ensure the self-sustainability of the DIHs pan-European network by developing cooperation with regional organizations and key stakeholders engaging public and or private investment to fund FED4SAE network activities.
FED4SAE is built upon the key learnings obtained in the EuroCPS, Gateone-project, CPSE Labs IAs. FED4SAE will leverage the best practices related to Third party engagement, submission, evaluation and selection of AEs. FED4SAE will give birth to a competitive ecosystem where European Startups, SMEs and Midcaps will thrive as they access to leading technology sources, competencies and industrial platforms and also to well-connected business infrastructures and existing regional innovation hubs.
Digital Innovation Hubs boosting European Microelectronics IndustryDigital Innovation Hubs boosting European Microelectronics Industry
DIATOMIC aims to establish a sustainable ecosystem to facilitate AME/SSI-based innovation in the health, agrifood and manufacturing sectors, all of which are under-digitized and of prime importance for society and the economy.
DIATOMIC ecosystem draws from the advanced technological excellence of the DIATOMIC consortium to execute three sector-specific cross-border Application Experiments to help technology adopters, end-users and smart solution developers realise tangible benefits of digitization. In-house excellence in dissemination is leveraged to ignite further ideation of digital products, processes and business models from non-tech SMEs and midcaps; thus promoting interest in experimentation with AME and SSI.
At the heart of the ecosystem, three interconnected sector-specific Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) pulsate to accelerate digitization in-beat with sector-specific needs, and to enable delivery of AME/SSI based applications to a critical mass of customers. DIHs first assist non-tech companies to couple with counterparts across the EU with complementary technological competencies. Then, acting as a one-stop-shop, they offer the teams (i) strong technological support to accelerate design, development, prototyping and manufacturing and (ii) business support to develop solutions with a robust product/market fit.
Two open calls are organised to attract and select the best of the best consortia, consisting of tech adopters, tech providers and Competence Centers. Application Experiments will be funded to generate AME/SSI-based products, processes and business models with strong market potential.
DIATOMIC delivers the structure and three instances of sector-specific DIHs, +75 Competence Center, +20 application experiments, along with a validated ecosystem sustainability plan.
DIATOMIC consortium is a fusion between: technological research centers (IPA, IPN and BIOS), CCs (INTRA, LIB and SYN), innovation consulting (INO), SMEs community (F6S) and investors (FASTT).
Manufacturing Industry Digital Innovation HubsManufacturing Industry Digital Innovation Hubs
VISION: By 2023, Europe will set the reference for the Industry 4.0 market: European CPS/IOT Open Digital Platforms providers will be able to flexibly and dynamically connect the Real World with digital Enterprise Systems through common open standards; European ICT SMEs will be growing fast through leadership in data-driven smart Industry 4.0 services; European Manufacturing SMEs will successfully compete globally with innovative products and services, digitised Industry 4.0 processes and innovative business models, involving their workforce at all levels in this Digital Transformation innovations.
MISSION. The MIDIH 4.0 project aims at implementing the fast, dynamic, borderless, disruptive side of the I4MS innovation coin: technological services (interactive try-on demos, webinars, challenges, hackathons and awards) will be driven by young and dynamic ICT talents virtually meeting older and experienced manufacturing engineers in a one-stop-shop global marketplace; business services (ideas incubation, business acceleration, demand-offer matchmaking and brokerage, access to finance) will support SMEs, startups, web entrepreneurs as well as corporates in the delivery of innovative products and services, in accessing new markets, in fund-raising; skills building services (serious and role games, participative lessons and webinars, virtual experiments in physical teaching factories, professional courses for existing technicians as well as for executives) will not only help SMEs and corporates understand the new technologies, but also take full advantage of them, providing an operational framework that will stimulate trust, confidence and investments.
The MIDIH project is an inclusive Innovation Action of 21 beneficiaries coming from 12 EU Countries, including, Competence Centers, Digital Innovation Hubs, CPS/IOT Technology Providers as well as Lighthouse Manufacturing Industries. A two-iteration Open Call will help achieve a critical mass of cross-border experiments.
Logistics for Manufacturing SMEsLogistics for Manufacturing SMEs
L4MS (Logistics For Manufacturing SMEs) will spark incremental (productivity increase of new users by a factor of 4 and system setup time reduction by a factor of 10) and disruptive innovation (batch size one & consumerization) for over 100,000 European Manufacturing SMEs & Mid-Caps, building on their intra-factory logistics challenge (50% of the production cost of an item) unleashing their digitalization potential by powering new robot systems that are more cost effective at lower lot sizes.
L4MS relies upon:
• An open industrial IoT platform with enablers for rapid and efficient deployment of customized logistics solutions.
• A suite of "Smartization services" including business modelling, technical support, mentoring, access to skills and to finance.
• The L4MS Marketplace, a one-stop-shop, where European Manufacturing SMEs & Mid-Caps will access the L4MS services.
• A portfolio of 23 cross-border Application Experiments by 50 SMEs selected through 2 competitive Open Calls, that will test more than 40 services & apps leveraging 10M€ of public funding across 12 established and emerging Digital Innovation Hubs.
• A growing ecosystem that will foster Smart Specialization in each single region linked to L4MS.
L4MS will transform a pan-European ecosystem into a self-sustainable start-up operating an Open Platform for Innovations in Logistics (OPIL) and L4MS marketplace consisting of 21 members. Comprising 6 Competence Centres, 5 technology providers, 4 industry associations, 3 end-users and 3 business developers -currently engaged in I4MS (XS2I4MS, HORSE and BEinCPPS) and FIWARE- plus 6 Satellites Nodes. L4MS covers 14 EU countries, 15 regions with 8 of them from East Europe.
L4MS will help demonstrate that public funded research with a “Smartization” approach (accelerating Industry 4.0) can help manufacturing SMEs & Mid-Caps achieve digital excellence and global competitiveness through logistics automation become “entrepreneurial states and digital industries”.
EU SMEs/mid-caps face clear barriers in the uptake of Additive Manufacturing (AM) related to lack of skilled human resources, and lack of access to know-how, equipment, infrastructure and markets. The principal objective of this project is to overcome those barriers and enable the uptake of AM technologies by SMEs/mid-caps leading to the development of innovative business and service models and new value-chain models in a fully digital environment – thus bringing their ideas and business cases to life and making their innovations Additively Manufacturable (AMable). To achieve this objective, partners with expertise right across the AM value chain have been brought together from the four corners of the EU to:
- create an open-sourced-based, living and adapting AM eco-system which can offer required assistance to European SMEs/mid-caps and become self-sustainable after project execution;
- provide all necessary assistance to SMEs/mid-caps allowing successful exploitation of AM, including 3 ‘competitive calls’ for experiments;
- offer a comprehensive range of (at least 10) AM support services through an open source- and API-based digital marketplace structured as three Platforms (Technology, Business, and Skills and Education);
- support and develop ‘best in class’ AM data handling tools and approaches, on an open-source basis.;
- coordinate the development of synergies with the already existing I4MS framework, Competence Centres, Digital Innovation Hubs and other related research and innovation activities at the European level.
Through these activities, the following direct impacts are anticipated:
- >50 SME/mid-cap application experiments
- >150 SME/mid-cap business case evaluations and/or Application Experiments
- >500 people trained through AMable approved courses
- >2,000 SMEs/mid-caps reached through training, roadshow and exhibition events
- specific support for EU-13 countries, with >5 centres supported and coached
Cloudification of Production Engineering for Predictive Digital ManufacturingCloudification of Production Engineering for Predictive Digital Manufacturing
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is essential for the digitalization of the manufacturing sector; notwithstanding, less than 25% of the manufacturing companies in Europe profit from ICT-enabled solutions. In order to democratically boost the competitiveness of the European manufacturers (especially Small and Medium-sized Enterprises - SMEs), innovative solutions need to consider technological and commercial scalability from the beginning. From this perspective, the cloudification of services has become the ideal enabler in the manufacturing digitalization. Successful European initiatives such us CloudFlow, cloudSME or Fortissimo have demonstrated the benefits of cloudification for engineering services, by means of combining HPC resources, computational tools, and cloud computing platforms. Manufacturing SMEs are empowered to compute and solve problems that cannot be tackled without cloud and HPC technology, making them more competitive by reducing development times for innovative product with better performance. The results of these initiatives are fostering the engineering and to some extend the prototyping processes within the manufacturing workflow; however, monitoring and optimizing production processes have not yet greatly benefited from an integrated information workflow and simulation loop based on on-line factory data.
The core partners of CloudFlow (eu-cloudflow.eu) and cloudSME (cloudsme.eu) are joining forces to leverage factory data with cloud-based engineering tools:
a) paving the way toward manufacturing analytics,
b) enriching the manufacturing engineering process with on-line data, and
c) simulating and optimizing the production process with the vision to support it in real-time.
The consolidated platform between CloudFlow and cloudSME with extended capabilities to process factory data is going to be accessed through a central interface, enabling the stakeholders to interact, and collaborate.
ACceleraTing PHotonics innovAtion for SME’s: a one STop-shop-incubatorACceleraTing PHotonics innovAtion for SME’s: a one STop-shop-incubator
ACTPHAST 4.0 (ACceleraTing PHotonics innovAtion for SMEs: a one STop-shop-incubator) is a unique photonics innovation incubator for Europe which is perfectly aligned with the needs of SMEs in overcoming the challenges and seizing the opportunities afforded by the new digital revolution of Industry 4.0 in which photonics technologies are a key enabler. ACTPHAST 4.0 will directly support the broader and faster take-up of photonics by a critical mass of SMEs by providing action-oriented solutions on two complementary levels, driven by the business needs of the companies: (i) ready-made access to rapid prototyping services using the top photonics technologies and expert know-how of Europe’s leading photonics competence centers covering the entire integrated supply chain of photonics technology platform capabilities to make deep interventions in the SMEs’ new product development through focused short-duration co-innovation projects; combined with (ii) professional coaching on the technical, business and financial aspects of the innovation process, from concept feasibility through to a mass-manufacturable marketable product. ACTPHAST 4.0 is designed to ensure that all of Europe’s SMEs, in particular first users and early adopters across a wide range of end user industries, have open access to the incubator for timely, efficient and cost-effective photonics innovation support. As a result, ACTPHAST 4.0 expects to boost photonics innovation in Europe at a scale and with a leveraging factor never seen before, delivering a substantial increase in the revenues, venture capital and jobs across all of the supported companies. In addition, through its tight links with the EU pilot lines, as well as its collaboration with smart “first mover” regions across the EU on best practices for co-funding on SME innovation, ACTPHAST 4.0 will act as a game-changer in revitalizing European manufacturing and as one of the vital catalysts to the successful digitization of European industry.
Being safe around collaborative and versatile robots in shared spacesBeing safe around collaborative and versatile robots in shared spaces
Increasing demand from the growing and aging population can be assuaged by ever closer safe human-robot collaboration (HRI): to improve productivity, reduce health limitations and provide services. HRI and safety are both major topics in the Work Programme. Safety regulations will be a barrier to cobot deployment unless they are easy to access, understand and apply. COVR collates existing safety regulations relating to cobots in e.g. manufacturing and fills in regulatory gaps for newer cobot fields e.g. rehabilitation to present detailed safety assessment instructions to coboteers. Making the safety assessment process clearer allows cobots to be used with more confidence in more situations, increasing the variety of cobots on the market and the variety of services cobots can offer to the general population.
TRYG provides a one-stop shop which uses a common approach to safety assessment and is valid across all fields and applications. TRYG will provide clear and simple online access to best-practice safety testing protocols via a user-friendly decision tree, guided by questions about the cobot and its intended behaviours. Resulting application-specific testing protocols specify how to assess safety and document compliance with regulations.
We support coboteers by providing safety-relevant services based in well-equipped facilities at each partner site. TRYG services cover all stages of cobot development from design through final system sign-off to safety in use and maintenance, provided through consultancy, risk analysis, actual testing, workshops, courses, demonstrations, etc. – all designed to inspire people to increase cobot safety.
All TRYG elements will be beta-tested by external cobot developers etc. financed by FSTP. By using project elements “live”, these FSTP beneficiaries not only develop their cobots further towards market, but also contribute their knowledge to the TRYG system and provide valuable feedback to both partners and standards developers.
Connecting the dots to unleash the innovation potential for digital transformation of the European agri-food sectorConnecting the dots to unleash the innovation potential for digital transformation of the European agri-food sector
SmartAgriHubs is dedicated to accelerate the digital transformation of the European agri-food sector. It will consolidate, activate and extend the current ecosystem by building a network of Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) that will boost the uptake of digital solutions by the farming sector. This will be achieved by integrating technology and business support in a local one-stop-shop approach involving all regions and all relevant players in Europe. The heart of the project is formed by 28 flagship innovation experiments demonstrating digital innovations in agriculture, facilitated by DIHs from 9 Regional Clusters including all European member states. Concurrently, SmartAgriHubs will improve the maturity of innovation services of DIHs so that digital innovations will be replicated across Europe and widely adopted by European farmers. A lean multi-actor approach focusing on user acceptability, stakeholder engagement and sustainable business models will boost technology and market readiness levels and bring user adoption to the next level. This will be enhanced by synergetic effects between SmartAgriHubs and RIS3, since SmartAgriHubs will work in lock step with European regions to maximize the return of European investments, including regional structural funds and private capital. Open Calls with a total budget of ±6 M€ will expand the network and ensure that technological developments and emerging challenges of the agri-food sector are incorporated in the DIH service portfolio. SmartAgriHubs’ inclusive structure and ambitious targets will bring the entire European ecosystem together, connecting the dots to ensure global leadership for Europe in the AgTech market. The consortium, led by Wageningen Research and other partners of previous key projects such as IoF2020, FIWARE, S3P Agri-Food and I4MS, will leverage the existing ecosystem and guarantee a maximum ROI for European taxpayers and a vital agri-food sector producing adequate and safe food for future generations.
A Pan‐European Network of Robotics DIHs for Agile ProductionA Pan‐European Network of Robotics DIHs for Agile Production
DIH^2 is a network of 26 DIHs, with a target to reach over 170 DIHs. The sole aim of the network is to spark incremental (cut 50% cost of advance robotics solutions, double the growth of robotics market) and disruptive (maximum productivity & optimum agility) innovations in over 300,000 Manufacturing SMEs and Mid-Caps. It will support SMEs in their Agile Production challenge (50% increase in productivity) and unleash their digitalization potential by enabling robot solutions that are more cost effective at lower lot sizes.
DIH^2 relies on:
• A Common Open Platform Reference Architecture for Agile Production (COPRA-AP) -based on Industrial Data Space Reference Architecture Model and FIWARE technologies- to serve the needs of SMEs by means of a continuously growing set of Robotic-based Open Standard Enablers (ROSE-AP).
• A marketplace as one-stop-shop for SMEs to access essential services for digital transformation including business modelling, technical support, access to skills and finance.
• 2 competitive Open Calls to launch an ambitious Technology Transfer Program with 260 Agility Audits, 26 cross-border Technology Transfer Experiments and 26 ROSE-AP, leveraging over 26M€ of public & private funding in advance robotics solutions for Agile Production.
• Members deeply rooted in their regional Smart Specialization Strategy (bringing €5M additional funding on top of EU funds), ensuring ‘working distance’ services for every SME in Europe - whichever the sector, wherever the location, whatever the size.
• A Corporate Sponsorship Program from equipment and automation suppliers committed with the network to get access to wider market and latest research in robotics.
DIH^2 will transform this network into a self-sustainable non-profit association with members all over Europe. DIH^2 will demonstrate that public funded research can help SMEs & Mid-Caps achieve digital excellence and global competitiveness through adopting advanced robotics solutions in Agile Production.
Digital Innovation Hubs in Healthcare RoboticsDigital Innovation Hubs in Healthcare Robotics
DIH-HERO (Digital Innovation Hubs in Healthcare Robotics) will establish a broad-based pan-European network of Digital Innovation Hubs specialising in Healthcare Robotics. The network will focus on developing services that join business and healthcare stakeholders in developing innovative products and services for the healthcare market. DIH-HERO will develop channels between healthcare and technology providers that reduce barriers to adoption and which develop strong mutual understanding between robotics technology innovators and healthcare professionals. DIH-HERO will operate throughout the healthcare "pathway" that connects Prevention, Diagnosis, Treatment and Care as well as covering all aspects of hospital logistics and clinical services. It will also focus on home and care-based robotics addressing healthy aging and elderly care. The DIH-HERO consortium brings together a comprehensive network of partners reaching north, south, east and west across the European regions. The partners bring with them connection to their own regional networks and extensive expertise in healthcare innovation that ranges from surgical intervention to care at home. Each Hub partner delivers both technical and medical expertise to the consortium through their pre-existing operational relationships with hospitals and healthcare facilities. They couple in-built expertise in business development, access to finance and innovation to robotics technology and healthcare expertise in a network of hubs that will connect and stimulate robotics innovation in all aspects of healthcare. DIH-HERO is built on concrete plans to sustain the network beyond the time span of the project and to provide a long term network for innovators in healthcare. The network of Digital Innovation Hubs created and supported by DIH-HERO will ensure that robotics innovation in healthcare is accelerated, that SME can develop global reach and that the advantages of robotics based healthcare can be propagated across Europe.
Next Europractice eXtended Technologies and Services: “The access point for the future generation of electronic components and systems”Next Europractice eXtended Technologies and Services: “The access point for the future generation of electronic components and systems”
The mission statement of NEXTS is to provide the European industry and academia with a platform to develop smart integrated systems, from advanced prototype design to volume production. The latter will be achieved by providing easy and affordable access to a wide range of fabrication technologies and tools complemented with training and support to the customer in all critical steps which are needed. NEXTS will act as a true one-stop shop for technologies enabling fully integrated systems and providing direct routes for industrial up-scaling of those systems and consequently it will sustain and grow jobs in Europe in the areas of design and fabrication of microelectronic component and systems.
The partners of the NEXTS proposal have already a vast experience and strong position in providing access to microelectronic technologies. Its predecessor EUROPRACTICE has supported the European academic sector with CAD tools and IC prototyping for over 25 years, and its partners have already supported SMEs with MPW and small volume services for over 15 years. The new consortium has been extended with CMP (Circuits Multi Projects) and TYNDALL who will provide additional access to foundry services and more importantly to system integration capabilities.
NEXTS will ensure that the European industry grows the captured value from the development, fabrication and deployment of electronic smart systems and remains a global leader. As a value chain aggregator, NEXTS aims to close the gap between the supply- and demand- side for electronic smart systems in virtually all applications domains. Therefore, it provides maximum transformative impact to all sides of the value chain.
Digital Technologies, Advanced Robotics and increased Cyber-security for Agile Production in Future European Manufacturing EcosystemsDigital Technologies, Advanced Robotics and increased Cyber-security for Agile Production in Future European Manufacturing Ecosystems
The main objective of TRINITY is to create a network of multidisciplinary and synergistic local digital innovation hubs (DIHs) composed of research centers, companies, and university groups that cover a wide range of topics that can contribute to agile production: advanced robotics as the driving force and digital tools, data privacy and cyber security technologies to support the introduction of advanced robotic systems in the production processes. The result will be a one-stop shop for methods and tools to achieve highly intelligent, agile and reconfigurable production, which will ensure Europe’s welfare in the future. The network will start its operation by developing demonstrators in the areas of robotics we identified as the most promising to advance agile production, e.g. collaborative robotics including sensory systems to ensure safety, effective user interfaces based on augmented reality and speech, reconfigurable robot workcells and peripheral equipment (fixtures, jigs, grippers, …), programming by demonstration, IoT, secure wireless networks, etc. These demonstrators will serve as reference implementation for two rounds of open calls for application experiments, where companies with agile production needs and sound business plans will be supported by TRINITY DIHs to advance their manufacturing processes. Besides technology-centered services, primarily laboratories with advanced robot technologies and know-how to develop innovative application experiments, TRINITY network of DIHS will also offer training and consulting services, including support for business planning and access to financing. Services of participating DIHs and dissemination of information to wider public will be provided through a digital access point that will be developed in the project. Another important activity of the project will be the preparation of a business plan to sustain the network after the end of the project funding.
agROBOfood: Business-Oriented Support to the European Robotics and Agri-food Sector, towards a network of Digital Innovation Hubs in RoboticsagROBOfood: Business-Oriented Support to the European Robotics and Agri-food Sector, towards a network of Digital Innovation Hubs in Robotics
agROBOfood is dedicated to accelerate the digital transformation of the European agri-food sector through the adoption of robotic technologies. It will consolidate, extend and strengthen the current ecosystem by establishing a sustainable network of DIHs. This will boost the uptake of robotic solutions by the agri-food sector: a huge challenge requiring an inclusive approach involving all relevant European players. The agROBOfood consortium has 39 partners, led by Wageningen University & Research and other core partners of previous key projects such as IoF2020, ROBOTT-NET, PicknPack and I4MS, to leverage the ecosystem that was established in those projects. The heart of the project is formed by Innovation Experiments (IEs), organized and monitored by the DIHs. In each of the 7 Regional Clusters, an initial IE will demonstrate the robotics innovations in agri-food in a manner that ensures replicability across Europe, wide adoption and sustainability of the DIHs network. agROBOfood will work in lockstep with the European robotics community, ensuring synergetic effects with initiatives such as EU-Robotics. This will maximize the return of European, including private capital, investments in the digital transformation of agri-food. A key instrument to achieve this objective is the Industrial Advisory Board. They will provide strategic guidance and also define priorities for the selection of solutions to be funded. Open Calls of 8MEUR will attract additional Innovation Experiments (12) and Industrial Challenges (8). These will expand the network and ensure that vast technological developments and emerging challenges of the agri-food sector are incorporated in the service portfolio of DIHs. Through its inclusive structure and ambitious targets, agROBOfood aims to bring the entire European ecosystem together; connecting the dots in a way that ensures effective adoption of robotics technologies in the European agri-food sector.
SUSTAINABLE ECOSYSTEM FOR THE ADOPTION, RAMP-UP AND TRANSFER OF EMERGING ELECTRONICS SOLUTIONSSUSTAINABLE ECOSYSTEM FOR THE ADOPTION, RAMP-UP AND TRANSFER OF EMERGING ELECTRONICS SOLUTIONS
Despite significant recent progress made by the EU industry, the level of digitalisation of industry remains uneven, depending on the sector, country and company size. Facing at the same time a scattered landscape of Research, Industry and Institutional stakeholders, the efficient adoption and transformation of enabling technologies into business visions & concrete market cases remain limited. This slow diffusion of digital technologies poses a risk to the EU’s ability to compete in the global economy. This is particularly true for Organic Large Area Electronics (OLAE) enabling technologies whose industry made significant progress recently and has established itself as a competitive growth industry. Despite proving that more and more products have matured onto the global market, the actual diffusion and efficient adoption of OLAE technologies remain limited. Underlying reasons and key challenges are identified (cost, processes, encapsulation, scalability, yield, standards & regulations), for which major breakthroughs are needed on use, production and cost rather than on basic technology, which reflects the growing market orientation of OLAE. To address both market & technology specific challenges, SmartEEs2 will be key role to link technology promises with real use/business cases. These cases will be implemented through a unique digitalisation experience providing experimentation, testing or support to manufacturing. SmartEEs2 will capitalize upon SmartEEs’ strong technological OLAE platform and focuss on the uptake of Flexible & Wearable Electronics enabling use cases, where OLAE can valorize its uniqueness (flexibility, conformability) and its promises for solutions in the fast growing business of wearables and Internet of Everything. SmartEEs2 will orchestrate a pan-EU collaboration network of Regional DIHs promoting the best quality level of digitalisation experience, hence boosting the efficiency and effectiveness of the overall OLAE European inDIH on Area3