On October 16, Metalindustry4 virtually held the informative webinar “Innovative opportunities for SMEs. Cascade funding and project accelerator” within the framework of the activities of the Asturias Digital Innovation Hub (AsDIH). The AsDIH coordinates the infrastructure, resources and technological services available in Asturias with the aim of accelerating the digitisation process of the Asturian industry.
The informative webinar was organised by the multidisciplinary cluster Metalindustry4, aimed at companies and global value chains related to advanced manufacturing in the metal industry. Currently this industry faces challenges in its value chain due to the arrival of cutting-edge technologies. Under this premise, the methodology of open innovation and opportunities offered by the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator are of great value for the industry.
The objective of the virtual meeting was to give visibility projects that accelerate the innovation and digital transformation of SMEs. On the one hand, Soraya Bravo, from EIT Manufacturing, presented the European project SURE 5.0 and its objective of supporting European SMEs for digital transformation. On the other hand, Maika Gorostidi, coordinator of the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator project and director of International Relations at TECNALIA, explained our accelerator and how the Asturian metal industry can take advantage of connections with other companies in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Metalindustry4 Cluster is made up of partners from different areas of the sector ecosystem: metal industry, scientific-technological, logistical and institutional agents, ICT enablers, as well as other business agents related to the sectoral value chain or its priorities as a cluster. In this sense, a project like the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator can support them by connecting digital challenges of large companies with solutions from startups and innovative SMEs, and supporting their alliances through tailored acceleration services to achieve investments.
In addition to presenting opportunities, the webinar introduced tools to prepare cascade funding projects. Thanks to this virtual space, EU-LAC Digital Accelerator was able to connect locally with one of the European industries that is experiencing problems in carrying out its digitalisation. EU-LAC Digital Accelerator has available the call for challenges in Smart Production for companies interested in exploring open innovation which entails direct opportunity for corporates of the Metaindustry4 Cluster to face their digitisation challenges.
