-
5 comments
Following the High-level governance meeting of the European platform of national initiatives on digitising industry led by Commissioner Mariya Gabriel on the 21st of November 2017, 3 new Working Groups were established in order to advance the digitisation of the European Industry.
The Working Group 1 held its second Working Group meeting of Digital Innovation Hubs in Europe on 21 February 2018.
The aim of this second Working Group meeting was to bring together Digital Innovation Hubs, who are part of the European Catalogue of DIHs, to discuss how to finance DIHs and how to improve access to finance for SMEs.
During the day we gave the opportunity to all Digital Innovation Hubs that wanted to share how they finance their DIHs and which business models they are using, as well as how they support SMEs in finding funding for their business innovations to give a short presentation about it.
A recorded version of the event is available here and the participants list here.
The third Working Group meeting of Digital Innovation Hubs will be held on 25 May 2018 in Brussels and will focus on networking and collaboration models for DIHs.
You are kindly asked to fill in the Digital Innovation Hubs Survey that can be accessed here. Your input will allow us to shape future programmes for Digital Innovation Hubs, financing the digital transformation of SMEs and state aid.
Furthermore, you are kindly invited to participate to the Digitising European Industry Stakeholder Forum 2018 which will take place on 27 and 28 March 2018 in Paris Nord-Villepinte, France.
Please find the agenda of the event with all presentations as follows:
Agenda
09.15-10.00: Welcome coffee and registration
10.00-10.30: Setting the scene: Access to finance for Digital Innovation Hubs and SMEs – objectives & expectations
Anne-Marie Sassen, European Commission (5') - presentation
Soren Gigler and Alberto Casorati, European Investment Bank (EIB) (15') - presentation
10.30-11.30: Session 1 – Financing Digital Innovation Hubs and business models
(Individual presentations of 7' and 20' discussion)
University of Oulu (FI), Jukka Riekki - presentation
Experience from the Super IoT and AI Innovation Hub
Digital Catapult (UK), Marie Claire Tonna - presentation
The business model of Digital Catapult in the UK
CEA LIST (FR), Gregorio Ameyugo - presentation
DIGIHALL – Building links at local, regional, national and European level to finance DIH
Politecnico di Milano (IT), Sergio Gusmeroli - presentation
Regional Manufacturing DIHs in the Vanguard Initiative Efficient and Sustainable Manufacturing pilot
TNO (NL), Maurits Butter - presentation
Business models for DIHs
Athena Research and Innovation Center (EL), Jorge Sanchez - presentation
Financing and Business models of a DIH in Greece
Discussion
11.30-12:15: Session 2 – How to avoid state aid when publicly financing DIHs and SMEs
European Commission, Irina Orssich - presentation
Introduction to State Aid
Discussion
12.15-13.15: Networking lunch
13.15-14.30: Session 2 – Challenges for SMEs to access finance
(Individual presentations of 7' and 30' discussion)
Jožef Stefan Institute (SI), Robert Blatnik - presentation
How do we offer SMEs access to finance?
SPRI (ES), Cristina Oyon - presentation
Innovation vouchers for accessing the Basque DIH in an interregional cooperative scheme
CEA Technologies, (FR), Pierre-Damien Berger - presentation
Cascade funding: an agile finance tool within a full ecosystem/DIH dedicated to SME. What are the results in the long term?
Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF, (DE), Christian Blobner - presentation
Financing-mix for the VDTC Digital Innovation Hub
TCS – Toolmakers Cluster of Slovenia, (SI), Anton Sagadin - presentation
DIGITECH SI-East Slovenia; Consulting SMEs on Funding Opportunities, experience with Eurostars
Wageningen University & Research, (NL), Sjaak Wolfert - presentation
SmartAgriHubs - Connecting the dots to unleash the innovation potential for digital transformation of the European agri-food sector
SmartEEs (FR), Jerome Gavillet - presentation
DIH dedicated to Organic and Large Area Electronics (OLAEs)
14.30-15.00: Coffee break
15.00-16.30: Session 4 – Break out in smaller groups to discuss topics of common interest
During the day all participants will be able to fill in post-its with themes they would like to discuss further with the other participants. In this session we will break out in smaller groups that discuss these topics. The objective will be that the participants learn from each other and everyone can go home with one or two ideas on how to improve the business model of their hub or how they can help SMEs find finance for their digital transformation.
16.30-17.00: Reporting back from the break-out groups of Session 4 & Closing