Commission awards €66.000.000 to new robotics and artificial intelligence projects

On 6 December the European Commission awarded €66.000.000 to robotics projects that will help digitise companies across the European Union.

Four projects and one coordination support action have been awarded under the Digitising European Industry Call of Horizon 2020, the EU’s research and innovation programme. They will all help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) adopt new technologies in the robotics and artificial intelligence area. Nearly half of the money dedicated to these Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) projects will be dispatched to local companies by involving them in mini-projects or experiments. Calls for this will open in the following months.

The four awarded projects are:

DIH^2: a network of 26 DIHs, with a target to reach over 170 DIHs. The goal of the network is to spark incremental and disruptive innovations in over 300.000 manufacturing SMEs. It will help SMEs unleash their digitalisation potential by enabling robot solutions that are more cost effective at lower lot sizes.
DIH-HERO: will establish a broad pan-European network of DIHs specialising in healthcare robotics. The network will focus on developing services that help companies develop innovative products and services for the healthcare market.
TRINITY: wants to create a network of multidisciplinary DIHs consisting of research centers, companies, and university groups that cover a wide range of topics. Advanced robotics will be the driving force and digital tools while data privacy and cyber security technologies can support the introduction of advanced robotic systems in production processes.
RIMA: aims to establish a network of 13 DIHs on robotics to facilitate uptake of inspection and maintenance technologies. They want to increase competitiveness, enhance productivity and make critical infrastructure available to reduce hazardous substance emission and foster sustainable industrial networks.

One CSA, RODIN, led by euRobotics will gather information from the networks and develop collaboration with and between the DIHs.