Boosting Widening Digital Innovation Hubs

BOWI project addresses the challenge of limited capacities among DIHs to support the uptake of SAE/I4MS technologies during the last 7 years in the European industry at large. The overall aim of the project is to create a DIH widening network that supports the collaboration of new DIHs (proto-hubs) in regions where SAE and I4MS technologies are underrepresented and well-established DIHs that are highly experienced in these technologies (mature hubs). BOWI takes the first step towards creating a fully sustainable post-project network by: 1. Strengthening proto-hubs by carrying out actual experiments and facilitating the collaboration between proto-hubs and mature hubs; 2. Ensuring sustainability of BOWI network by developing a blended financing accelerator and membership model; 3. Creating the BOWI community, initiating the participation of proto-hubs, mature hubs, regional stakeholders, and investors. The mechanism will be first tested by supporting 6 pioneer proto-hubs (pioneer stage), which will be later extended to 9 proto-hubs in the second full-fledged strengthening stage, allowing new members of the EU DIH community to participate, including the proto-hubs and mature hubs that are currently not part of the consortium. The post-project BOWI network business model is to be explored, including service and funding needs. To ensure practical experience, all 15 proto-hubs will be supported to conduct 60 (15x4) SAE/I4MS uptake experiments with SMEs in total. For this purpose, an extensive FSTP approach will be used. The consortium includes experienced partners that participate intensively in the SAE/I4MS strategies (Civitta, FBA, VTT, and RWTH). They are complemented by 6 proto-hubs from various countries that act as pioneer hubs to test and validate approaches (TIT, LITC, UWB, KTP, NTNU, ICT).