AI REGIO Final Event

29/9/2023

On October 27, 2023, we took part in the final event in Brussels as part of the AI REGIO project – “Regions and Digital Innovation Hubs alliance for AI-driven digital transformation of European Manufacturing SMEs”. 

The event took place in the spirit of the four key themes of the project, namely artificial intelligence, regions, digital innovation hubs and small and medium-sized enterprises. The results of the project and the success achieved by the partners were presented, among other things, the strong establishment of cooperation within regions and member states, the improvement of the offer of digital innovation hubs with the aim of helping small and medium-sized enterprises, and selected experiments of the project.

In the first part, the participants got to know better the aspect of digital innovation hubs (DIHs), the methodology for the development and operation of DIHs, the DIH4INDUSTRY platform and its use, the Didactic Factory Network and the regional ecosystem were presented. Participants also contributed their opinion in an interactive discussion on how DIHs and EDIHs (European Digital Innovation Hubs) can improve their offer for SMEs.

The second part focused on an artificial intelligence-based data platform for manufacturing called DATA4AI. In addition, one of the results of the project was presented, i.e. AI4Manufactuirng Toolkit, which contains as many as 20 artificial intelligence technological assets, some of which were also used in the experiments of the project. This was followed by an interactive discussion about the challenges faced by companies that decide to implement artificial intelligence in their operations.

In the last part of the event, the visitors learned more about the selected experiments of the project, among them the experiment of the University of Maribor and the Maribor water supply entitled AI for water leakage detection was also presented. The participants were introduced to the 6P methodology, an evaluation tool used in experiments of small and medium-sized enterprises. Furthermore, the participants were also invited to participate in the last part, in which we jointly determined how to effectively inform companies about cascade funding tenders.

All three sections were supported by a panel discussion, where the selected partners of the project reflected on the topics of the individual sections, on the challenges they still bring, as well as on their experiences and advantages arising from the project.

You can see some highlights from the event in the gallery below.