Together with 10 European partners, for 3 years, ADR Nord-Vest will implement starting today, June 14, 2021, the project MIND4MACHINES – New value chains in the manufacturing industry by ensuring the connection of machines with people, processes and technologies financed from the Horizon 2020 research - development - innovation program, component INNOSUP-01.

Through the project, grant schemes will be developed for businesses, especially for factories, which through innovation vouchers with a maximum value of 60,000 euros will be able to benefit from external expertise for process automation, robotics, assimilation of digital and advanced technologies.

From a budget of 3.3 million euros, at least 55 cross-sector projects will be financed, through which companies in the manufacturing industry will benefit from artificial intelligence, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Blockchain, IoT and cybersecurity solutions.

150 SMEs from the partner regions will benefit from support services and training packages from 40 experts from the partner organizations, through a program to accelerate innovation and the introduction of innovations to the market, as well as ensuring the connection with private investment funds for the continuation of the development of innovative solutions. 

Nine workshops to identify the challenges faced by companies from the perspective of new technologies will be organized in the partner regions, with the aim of ensuring the participation of potential beneficiaries and experts in the targeted fields when developing the content of the voucher schemes, in order to reflect their real needs.

To facilitate the interactions between technology supply and demand, 12 regional and 3 European match-making events will be organized in online or hybrid format, preceding the Innovation Voucher calls, calls planned for 2022 and 2023.

The partner regions are:

• Istanbul Province in Turkey, by Istanbul Chamber of Industry, project coordinator and Istanbul Development Agency
• The Baden-Württemberg region of Germany, by bwcon, private technology transfer center, of the Steinbeis foundation
• The Madrid region of Spain, by THERE, Association of Metalworking Industry Companies 
• The North-West region of Romania, by North-West Regional Development Agency and associated partners Transilvania IT cluster to facilitate linkages with IT and technology solution providers and Teccelerator for maturing innovations and attracting private funding. Software solutions providers Arobs and Brinel will be part of the project's Advisory Board as ICT industry experts. 
• The Bucharest-Ilfov, South-West Oltenia and South-East regions of Romania, by IPA SA, private institute for research, design and production of automation equipment and installations
• The Saxony region of Germany, by Silicon Saxony, high-tech association representing firms and clusters in the ICT and microelectronics industry
• The Piedmont region of Italy, by MESSAP, Cluster of intelligent products in the manufacturing industry
• Sofia region of Bulgaria, by AVOID, Electric Mobility Cluster
• The Uusima region of Finland, by VVT, Technical Research Center in Helsinki, under the coordination of the Ministry of Labor and Economy of Finland
• Ireland, by F6S, global accelerator for start-ups, with UK associate partner F6S UK.

Project team:

Project manager – Ioana Dragoş

Implementation experts – Ioana Pavel, Raluca Drob, Cătălin Timiș

Head of Department – Dorin C. Domuța