Digital Innovation Hubs Advancing Digitisation in Industry
Seminar by the EU-Japan.AI and AI-REGIO Projects
As part of the Society 5.0 vision of Japan’s government, the speed and scale of adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies by SMEs in Japan is a key policy objective. The European Union and many of its Member States share similar objectives. Through its research and innovation funding over more than a decade, the EU’s Factories of the Future and related themes have created the idea of a Digital Innovation Hub (DIH). The goal of this seminar is to explain the DIH concept to relevant policymakers and research and innovation actors in Japan who are well-placed to create equivalent organisations in Japan. In addition to aiding the adoption of digital innovation in Japanese industry, the adoption of a DIH approach offers opportunities to cooperate in this area with partners in the EU. EU-Japan cooperation in research and innovation is accelerating: Japan was involved in many Framework 7 and Horizon 2020 calls as joint partners, and the Japanese government is now negotiating to join the Horizon Europe program as an Associate Country (allowing the inclusion of Japanese research institutions and innovative companies in projects).
Digital Innovation Hubs
DIHs are non-profit organisations with expertise in suitable digital technologies that support commercial (and public sector) organisations in identifying opportunities for digitisation of their operations. DIHs provide: “test-before invest” consultancy including staff awareness testing and training, digital transformation conceptualisation and integration pathway development; digital skills training for staff before and during digital transformation; identification of investment opportunities (from government grants to digitisation investment specialists); innovation networking, bringing together researchers and innovators offering solutions to partner with organisations needing those solutions. In the seminar the AI REGIO project will explain the DIH concept more fully, aimed at an audience of research and innovation groups which might create a DIH, and policymakers who might support them in doing so. Groups which might provide digital innovations via DIHs or groups which might seek support from DIHs in implementing digital innovation are also welcome to attend.
Date, time & location
The seminar presentations will be in English, but simultaneous translation into Japanese will be provided. The first online seminar will be held on Thursday 15th September at 16:00-17:30 JST (09:00 – 10:30 CEST) via Zoom. Please email meetings@eu-japan.ai to register to attend or with any questions.
Program
16:00 – 16:15 Sergio Gusmeroli (Politecnico di Milano)
The DIH concept: a successful European methodology to digitalize the region
16:15 – 16:30 Sergio Gusmeroli (Politecnico di Milano)
The AI-REGIO Project
16:30 – 16:45 Isidora Trucco (Politecnico di Milano)
The METHODIH Methodology
16:45 – 17:00 Steve Bageritz (SEZ/FZI)
DIHs in practice: Case studies
17:00-17:30
Q&A/Discussion
Project references
??EU-Japan.AI: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 957339. The focus of the EU-Japan.AI (https://project.eu-japan.ai/) project is to foster improved EU-Japan cooperation in the development and deployment of AI in manufacturing.
?? EU-Japan.AI: プロジェクトはEUのホライゾン2020研究・イノベーション・プログラムから資金助成を 受けています（助成承認No. 957399）。このプロジェクト（https://project.eu-japan.ai/）は製造業における AIの開発と展開についてEUと日本のより良い協力関係を促進することを目指しています。
??AI-REGIO: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 952003. The focus of the AI-REGIO (https://www.airegio-project.eu/) project is to enhance the adoption of AI in Industry, with AI-oriented DIHs being one of their main threads.
??AI-REGIO:プロジェクトはEUのホライゾン2020研究・イノベーション・プログラムから資金助成を受 けています（助成承認No. 952003）。このプロジェクト（https://www.airegio-project.eu/）は製造業におけ るAIの導入を促進することを目的としており，AIの導入を主目的とするDIHの構築と運用を一つの重 要な研究テーマとしています。