- Objectives
Europe’s position as an industrial key player is a strategic goal for European Commission. Since 2016, with
the communication “Digitizing European Industry Reaping the full benefits of a Digital Single Market” 1, there
are several actions started to implement it. One of the pillars of this support are Digital Innovation Hubs.
Digital Innovation Hubs appear as a new ecosystem organization model, where companies can fully benefit
from digital innovations to upgrade their products, improve their processes and adapt their business models to
the digital change in any region of Europe. During the period of 2016-2018, a catalogue of Digital Innovation
Hub (DIH) initiatives has been developed2 where regional DIHs fulfilling a set of requirements are registered
and can be easily located around Europe.
But a new level of interaction is necessary to build a strong Digital Economy, connecting DIHs across Europe
in networks, improving cross-border collaboration, knowledge sharing and common good practices avoiding
any kind of social exclusion. Specifically, DIHs must aim towards increasing manufacturing and technology
readiness in all domains, especially those not adequately represented.
An especially relevant technological service offered by all DIHs, is the testing and experimenting facilities.
This service provides companies (and especially SMEs) the possibility to develop pilot actions and technology
tests, before deploying a complete solution inside them. With this DIH support, the service offers a minimum
risk for companies (in terms of economical effort and solution readiness), while preparing them to incorporate new technologies in their everyday business processes and products as well as skills for their workers.