Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - IoT4Industry (Towards smarter means of production in European manufacturing SMEs through the use of the Internet of Things technologies)

Teaser

The European manufacturing industry represents 2 million enterprises, 31 million jobs, 15% of GDP and 80% of total European exportations. In this landscape, SMEs play a very important role, as they represent 59% of the total employment and 45% of the Added value.However...

Summary

The European manufacturing industry represents 2 million enterprises, 31 million jobs, 15% of GDP and 80% of total European exportations. In this landscape, SMEs play a very important role, as they represent 59% of the total employment and 45% of the Added value.
However, global competition, in particular coming from low labour-costs countries, currently makes the proportion of the manufacturing industry decreasing in developed European countries’ GDP, which endangers the stability fo the European economy.
Industry 4.0 – also called smart manufacturing, digital industry or industry of the future – provides several technological responses to the challenging competitive market. The Industry 4.0 focuses on the development of processes based on technologies and devices autonomously communicating with each other along a value chain. Indeed, the integration of the Internet of Things (IoT) and related technologies – Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), Cloud Computing, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Security – in manufacturing SMEs will improve efficiency and flexibility in production and consumption.
The IoT4Industry project seeks to support EU growth and competitiveness through the development of a new cross-sectoral industrial value chain based on the integration and use of IoT and related components into manufacturing tools, machines and robots, through the cross-border collaboration between SMEs and other RDI actors of the ICT and advanced manufacturing sectors. This will help the European manufacturing industry to gain competitiveness, in particular in SMEs, and increase employment in Europe.

Work performed

In order to set directions for the project activities, several analyses were conducted upon the state of the art in manufacturing SMEs, their readiness to implement IoT-related solutions, the array of solution providers as well as associated landscapes at regional, national and European levels. More than 35 stakeholders along the value chains were interviewed, along the studies of multiple initiatives, plans, etc.
These developments were of utmost importance for operational developments : training workshop materials, formats and contents were defined for mobilising R&D&I stakeholders across the regions involved and beyond, providing them with the opportunity to get info on expected contents as well as to liaise with peers from both IoT and manufacturing sectors. More than 940 stakeholders attended these workshops. Furthermore, 2 calls for Expression of Interests, providing the opportunity to projects proponents or stakeholders to share their ideas, identify potential partners, etc. were organised. About 365 ideas across the 2 calls were processed by partners, providing feedbacks, opportunities to liaise with EU peers, and, when relevant, “match” these ideas with the relevant EU counterparts.
These elements were also essential for dissemination developments: through the identification of targets, an estimate of 2500 SMEs received contents on Industry 4.0 developments. These efforts were led by the partners through web and ‘physical’ communication tools, newsletters, social network activities, web updates, events’ organisation and participation, but also through networks of key stakeholders involved in the developments: Advisory Board Members and Ambassador Clusters, pivotal for reaching out beyond the scope of the partners.
As results of these activities, 149 proposals (128 being eligible) were submitted in response to the 2 Calls for collaborative projects opened. 24 prototyping and demonstration projects are being implemented and more will be funded (3,75m€ are dedicated to SMEs involved in these collaborative projects) once the selection process for the second call is finalised.
Next project endeavours lie in the support and monitoring of Collaborative projects’ developments and outcomes by the partners. Indeed, IoT4Industry project success relies on the actual deployments of IIoT solutions and thus set a framework for shouldering project stakeholders across their developments. Moreover, capitalising upon the collaborative projects success and failures are on the agenda of the next 15 month for project partners, which will communicate upon success stories and further explore the opportunities to exploit these results in conjunction with solution providers and manufacturing companies involved.

Final results

Overall, the IoT4Industry project achieved some impacts foreseen in the project plan as 2500 European SMEs in the manufacturing and digital sectors have been reached through outreach and networking and raised awareness about IoT and Industry 4.0 opportunities. 300 of them have been involved in IoT4Industry project activities (training, matchmaking, project preparation support). In addition, 24 projects have been selected for funding and have started between March 2019 and June 2019. These projects gather 69 entities including 49 SMEs, from 16 countries and 16 vertical sectors (from automotive to pharmaceuticals).
To date, thse 24 projects consisting mainly of prototyping and demonstrations of integration of IoT technologies into factories and production processes have started the implementation. As an example, one project is about the use of connected insoles (using Buetooth Long Range technology) with the objective of protecting the workers of a pharmaceutical factory in France. The system, which provides monitoring and alert when a worker is in a unsual situation (for instance laid down), even in deadzones (like tunnels or undergrounds), will be tested in 2 facilities in France and then deployed over several sites in Europe. The project, which started in March 2019, is well on track in June 2019, as the pre-series of the connected insoles with Bluetooth Long Range capability are back from assembly and the design of the switch enabling the system to use Bluetooth Long Range beacons to cover deadzones is well advanced. In June 2019, few of the 24 projects have progressed in that direction, as most of them had just started. However, substantial progress is expected from these 24 projects by the end of 2020. And a new wave of projects funded Under the second call will start in September 2019.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.iot4industry.eu.