Catalonia Digital Innovation Hub (DIH4CAT)

ongoing

This proposal primary targets Catalan SMEs (with a special focus on manufacturing companies and technology providers), technology start-ups and public administrations. Catalonia has a strong industrial base, with 35,339 companies (99% SMEs) which represent 18,1% of Spanish industrial enterprises. Data from 2019 shows that only 16% of those companies had adopted advanced digital technologies. Additionally, Catalonia counts with more than 1,700 start-ups, (66% of Industry 4.0), facing challenges such as access to technology infrastructure, time to market and investment. In this context the Digital Innovation Hub of Catalonia (DIH4CAT) is born, as a non-profit regional innovation ecosystem formed by the main agents supporting digitisation in Catalonia and connecting the main technology infrastructure of the region to make them available for SMEs, start-ups and public administration, with the objective of accelerating technology transformation towards a more green and digital industry. The consortium is led by the Government of Catalonia and composed of 7 technology partners (RTOs and university) leading the 7 technology areas (AI, HPC, Cybersecurity, Robotics, Photonics, 3D Printing and Connectivity), 1 business school, 2 employer’s industrial associations. It is complemented with 19 Associated Partners so far which include, among others, private companies contributing with infrastructure and know-how. DIH4CAT has a clear focus on test before invest services but complements its offer with services related to innovation, ecosystem, digital skills, access to finance and business. The Consortium has also a very well-defined collaboration strategy at an international level, developed through the presence in most relevant European networks, participation in more than 50 previous relevant projects, 5 MoUs specifically developed for this call, to develop common infrastructures/services, and seamless collaboration with EEN (Catalan node is also coordinated by ACCIÓ).