The European Commission has selected the Catalan public-private consortium DIH4CAT as one of the European Union hubs responsible for the digital transformation of SMEs, making it one of the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH). The aim of the project is to contribute to the 75% of European SMEs having carried out advanced digitalisation processes by 2030.
EURADA welcomes this news since one of our working groups, the Digitalisation Working Group, is dedicated to this topic. In fact, we are also project partners of DIHWorld.
The Commission will allocate 2.8 million euros to the Catalan project, which is promoted by the Department of Enterprise and Employment throughour memberACCIÓ, the Catalan Agency for Business Competitiveness, the Department of the Vice-Presidency and Digital Policies and Territory, Foment del Treball, PIMEC, Eurecat, the CVC, ICFO, i2CAT, Leitat, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BCS) and IESE Business School. In addition to this 2.8 million, Generalitat de Catalunya, the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the project partners will contribute up to 4 million euros more to the initiative. In addition, DIH4CAT also plans to apply for a Next Generation funding line through the EOI Foundation of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, which provides grants between 30,000 and 60,000 euros to each company.
Set as a network service centre through which companies and public institutions can access technological capacity, solutions, and infrastructures to boost their digital transformation, DIH4CAT will make it easier for Catalan companies to test advanced technologies before making an investment and implementing them in their businesses. Said tests are related to fields such as 3D printing, robotics, supercomputing/chemistry, cybersecurity, blockchain, artificial intelligence, big data, IoT, 5G and photonics. Grants of up to 10,000 euros will be allocated to 100 Catalan companies this summer to carry out concept tests of advanced technologies, the development of prototypes or visits to laboratories and infrastructures of DIH4CAT members. Additionally, it will also offer technological consultancy services such as specialised technological training, connection with the innovation ecosystem or advice on finding funding, prior to testing.
Moreover, the DIH4CAT also provides their companies with a self-guidance tool to analyse their level of digital maturity in a quick, simple, and easy way. The tool provides a personalised report with the digital maturity assessment, followed by recommendations and steps to advance in the digital transformation and an identification of the main resources of interest of the DIH4CAT and the technological nodes that integrate it.
We believe DIH4CAT to be a replicable model of what a Digital Innovation Hub should be, and we congratulate our member ACCIÓ on their involvement in this project.
