As part of EIT Manufacturing’s strategy of ensuring adoption of innovations, improving market reach and promoting impact, the Empowering SMEs call aims to attract, select, and support SMEs willing to innovate their existing solutions to adapt and expand the market beyond their current applications.
The activity will provide financial support to the selected SME (in case of single applicant) or to the SME and the end-user (in case of small consortia).
Topic Description
Selected proposals are expected to bring existing solutions (already launched in the market with a proven market traction) to new industrial contexts, applications, or sectors that they have not yet reached.
The existing solution must be already available in the market and applicants are expected to provide references from existing clients and quantify the revenue already generated. The solution shall fit at least one of the following topics:
- Optimising production processes and increasing resources efficiency through digital solutions
- Socially sustainable and human-centric manufacturing
- Environmentally sustainable manufacturing through circular business models and new technologies
Based on the specific context and needs of the new target market, SMEs will have to innovate their solutions, testing new ideas and approaches with some degrees of experimentation.
Expected outcomes & impacts
Proposals should demonstrate that the new solution will contribute to one or more of the following expected outcomes:
- Enhance overall factory efficiency
- Shift to flexible manufacturing and rapid response to changes and need for adjustment
- Improve decision-making, prediction and anticipation of needs in energy and resource use
- Develop effective human-machine interaction
- Increase workplace safety and performance.
- Facilitate the recycling, reuse and transformation of resources
- Enable and scale a circular business model
Proposals should set out a credible pathway to contribute to one or more of the following expected impacts:
- Increase competitiveness of manufacturing companies in the global economy
- Create new value streams thanks to circular economy
- Reduce waste of resources and environmental burden through optimised production processes
- Create safer, more accessible and inclusive work environment that increase employees’ well-being.
- Make manufacturing seen by a large part of society as an attractive, clean, safe, and high-status job.
- Decarbonise manufacturing industries, in compliance with the Green Deal strategy.
Examples
Some examples of activities that can be addressed include:
- Robotics-assisted assembly technology used in automotive manufacturing line, innovated and adopted by food and beverage industry.
- IoT-enabled inventory management system for clothing manufacturers, innovated and extended to their entire value chain.
- Production-as-a-service management software designed for metal industry, innovated and applied to wood sector.