ShiftLabs

The objective of the Swedish EDIH for smart manufacturing industries, Swedish network for Sustainable Digitalisation and Human-Centric Factory Transformation (ShiftLabs) is to strengthen, generate and promote services targeted at manufacturing SMEs that support their digital transformation and work towards sustainable manufacturing industries. The proposed EDIH is based on a national hub with regional nodes. The consortium supports a structure of regional nodes with a comprehensive offer of services to SMEs. Each regional node follows the template of a “one stop shop”, a single point of contact with verified experience and expertise in supporting SMEs, paired with an academic partner that has relevant state-of-the-art production research as well as training and education for professionals in the field. Each node also maintains a local network of relevant collaboration partners to ensure the supply of applicable services, for example through local science parks. The nodes are supported cross-sectionally by core partners with wide and specific expertise in digital technologies, as well as testbeds, data centres, and facilities to support SMEs with their individual needs related to, for example, artificial intelligence, cyber security, industry 4.0 related technologies, and HPC. The hub partners already maintain a strong European connection, with several of them already being fully operational Digital Innovation Hubs. The strong national and European integration ensures that the ShiftLabs will be a valuable resource for the manufacturing SMEs, as well as an effective partner in the European network of EDIHs. To ensure the relevance of the hub, the proposal has letters of support from the involved Regions (Region Västmanland, Region Sörmland, Västra Götalandsregionen, Region Stockholm), Produktion2030 (national funding programme for production research), the Scandinavian Automotive Supplier Association (FKG), IUC (industrial development center), and ALMI.