On the 16 and 17 November Change2Twin organised its first Network Event for Digital Innovation Hubs in Rennes, France. We were happy to invite representatives of hubs from as far as Bosnia and Herzegovina or Kosovo, which shows strong interest in our programme.
Inspire – Focus – Netwok – Valorize
On day one we had several inspirative presentations and panel discussions. The day started with keynote speach by Pieter van Schalkwyk from the Digital Twin Consortium who spoke about unleashing the potential of intelligent digital twins in industrial applications. He was followed by the presentation by Giuseppe Padula who has spoken about the valorization and the “green effect” that digital twins can have on small manufacturers. Insightful talks by Frank Doyle, Thomas Gross and Chris Trochoutsos who have experienced Change2Twin either from the perspective of a DIH or beneficiary. Francesca Flamigni who is supervising the digital twin experiments in Change2Twin discussed with them the benefits that Change2Twin programme brought to them.
Hubs as interface between SMEs and policy makers
The second day brought interactive sessions with DIHs pitching to local SMEs and local authorities. The goal was to exercise the real-life situations in which hubs are expected to act as “door-openers” on both sides. We saw and discussed the approaches DIHs should follow in order to attract local SMEs for their support programmes. The problem is, as many participants noted, managers of SMEs are receiving hunderds of emails and offers on daily basis. Also approaching local authorities to persuade them about a project that is worth funding is a tough work which requires patience and pointed narratives. The workshop was moderated by Maurits Butter, who likes to ask provocative questions and brings discussions to new levels.
Thank you very much to all participants for a lively spirit of this first network event and big MERCI to our hosts in Images & Réseaux in Rennes.
We are now processing the recordings from the event and will publish them on our usual communication channels shortly.