SMARTY, Smart SMEs for Industry 4.0

SMARTY is an interregional cooperation project for improving innovation infrastructure policies.

20 January 2020

SMARTY is an interregional cooperation project of European partners facing a common challenge: how to support Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in their awareness and adoption of Industry 4.0 solutions. SMARTY will organise structured policy learning among its partners with a view to supporting new initiatives and learning from best practice to support SMEs as they embrace the Industry 4.0 revolution.

Industry 4.0

The concept of Industry 4.0 or the Fourth Industrial Revolution, sits at the heart of the UK’s industrial strategy grand challenges. According to the 2017 Industrial Strategy White Paper:

“This fourth revolution is characterised by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological worlds. It will disrupt nearly every sector in every country, creating new opportunities and challenges for people, places and businesses to which we must respond.”

 

Why is the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership involved? 

This project contributes directly to the region’s priority of boosting productivity to create better-paid jobs and improved quality of life. The project will address common barriers to adoption and take up of new technologies, ultimately contributing significantly to our productivity ambitions as set out in our emerging Local Industrial Strategy.

Driving innovation and the diffusion of industrial technologies is also a central element of the new Leeds City Region Digital Framework that focuses on harnessing digital opportunities to improve businesses productivity. 

Being part of the SMARTY project will: 

  • Provide opportunities to showcase best practices in the Leeds City Region on Industry 4.0 
  • Give opportunities to learn from other regional partners about successful policy and interventions
  • Align strongly with the work of the Leeds City Region Digital Framework and Local Industrial Strategy  
  • Provide a framework for engaging with regional partners and residents on what Industry 4.0 means for our local economy and people 

The aims and expected results of the SMARTY project across the partner regions are to: 

  • Increase innovation 
  • Unlock barriers and address bottlenecks in specific sectors and geographies
  • Increase SME competitiveness
  • Transition to a low carbon economy
  • Increase the proportion of SMEs that are innovation active
  • Increase the number of businesses actively innovating to bring new products or new processes to the market

 

Project Partners

Municipality of Prato (IT)

Flanders Make (BE)

International center of advanced materials and raw materials of Castilla y León (ICAMCyL) (ES)

i2CAT Private Foundation, Internet and Digital Innovation in Catalonia (ES)

Regional Government of Catalunya (ES)

Institute for Business Competitiveness of Castilla y Leon (ES)

Regional Council of Lapland (FI)

Next Technology Tecnotessile (IT)

The Institute for Sustainable Technologies – National Research Institute (PL)

Mazowieckie Voivodeship/The Office of the Marshal of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship in Warsaw (PL)

TECOS – Slovenian Tool and Die Development Centre (SI)

Government Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Development and European Cohesion Policy (SI)

Textile Centre of Excellence (Huddersfield & District Textile Training Company Ltd) (UK)

West Yorkshire Combined Authority on behalf of Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (UK)

 

SMARTY is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the umbrella of the European Union programme Interreg Europe with around 1.99 M EUR ERDF (2.42 M EUR Total Budget). It runs over a period of four years and started on 1st of August, 2019.

 

For more information visit: www.interregeurope.eu/smarty