Research, finance and business: now innovation is networking

"No, without this tool the investment would not have been affordable for us". Instead, for Emiliano Bacco, Chief Technology Officer of Faro (lamps for medical activities, 15 million revenue), the ambition of incorporating artificial intelligence into business processes became a reality. Crucial was the support of Mia (Manufacturing Innovation Alliance), which followed the project step by step: initial consultancy, technology scouting, identification of the operating partner and finally financial support, amounting to 70% of the outlay.

"In a few days the system will be up and running," explains Bacchus, "and I must say that for an SME like ours to be able to count on this assistance and such a robust invoice discount has been decisive. A network of 12 partners supporting companies in their digital transformation, recognised as a European Digital Innovation Hub and financed through Pnrr funds with almost six million euro, 30% of which has already been committed. Its members are already existing structures, which make their expertise available to the network on the supply side or the network of associated companies in terms of transformation 'demand'. The former includes the Made Competence Centre, the Lombardy Digital Innovation Hub, the European networks Eit Digital-Eit Manufacturing, Afil (Associazione Fabbrica Intelligente Lombardia) and Ecosistema digitale per l'Innovazione di Confcommercio, while on the business side there are the local clusters of Aerospace, Energy and Life Sciences, integrated by Confartigianato and Cna. This system is flanked by the bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, a crucial partner when it comes to translating projects into concrete investment actions. "We strongly wanted this project," explains Made president Marco Taisch, "the European Digital Innovation Hub, of which we are the coordinators: we believe that creating synergies between so many realities already rooted in the territory means increasing the impact that our ecosystem can have on Lombard and Italian manufacturing. The target is mainly SMEs, providing specialised consultancy and targeted solutions even to companies with limited resources.

"DIH Lombardy," explains the hub's president Stefano Poliani, "makes its experience and expertise available to companies hired not only by the Lombardy Confindustrial System, but also by all the other partners in the partnership, enabling more and more companies of all sizes to access targeted and customised digital transformation paths. This is a concrete industrial policy project that aims to close the digital gap by improving the regional economic fabric. The services offered are different, as highlighted by the case of Faro. The first step is evaluative, activating an assessment of the digital maturity achieved and carrying out an analysis for the implementation of Industry 4.0 issues. The second step concerns experimentation, in order to avoid mass application of what may then not work for various reasons. Thus, the rental of equipment and infrastructure for testing and demo development is also financed. Support is also possible in the technology scouting and consultancy phase, thus providing SMEs in particular with guidance in identifying the most suitable solutions in relation to the needs of the specific processes and products involved. Training and access to finance complete the range of services offered.