The European Commission has recently launched the “Smart Factories in new EU Member States” project, whose main objective is to develop 30 Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) across the EU13 Member States. The service contract has been awarded to PwC – in cooperation with Oxford University Innovation (Oxentia). The financial scope of the project is €1.8 million and it will run for 18 months. Interested candidates are invited to fill out the Application Form by 22nd October. The 30 selected organizations will be offered a specialized training program that will include different types of activities aimed at developing them as efficient and sustainable DIHs.

About the project

The public procurement project “Smart Factories in new EU Member States” will contribute to the efforts of EC to build a network of DIHs across Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, or Slovenia, where companies – especially SMEs – can have access to expertise, development and testing facilities of digital technologies, as well as finance and innovation services.

Main Activities

• Identification of organizations which can become “Digital Innovation Hubs” (DIH);
• Support for the 30 selected DIHs to develop the competencies and activities needed to be sustainable and efficient DIHs. The project will provide a training program designed by PwC and Oxford University Innovation (Oxentia) which will include different types of activities such as the development of a specific business plan, training and coaching, provision of manuals and relevant documentation, establishment of potential funding schemes, as well as organization of regional workshops.
• Analysis of the Eastern Europe digital infrastructure state of play and development of clear and targeted policy recommendations to uplift industrial production capacity

Who can apply?

• • Universities and research and technology centers (RTOs), generally referred to as ‘competence centers’ (CCs) or ‘centers of competence’ (CoCs);
  • Incubators and accelerators that help start-up companies to grow and scale;
  • Cluster organizations and industry associations representing private sector companies;

• Public administrations that are aware about the importance of innovation and are developing their smart specialization plans.

How to Apply?

The call for the project has been published (https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/call-digital-innovation-hubs-eu13-member-states) and interested candidates are invited to fill out the Application Form (https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/ApplicationForm) by 22nd October.

After an initial review, the selected organizations will be invited for individual interviews that will take place in October and November. In December, an independent Evaluation Committee, composed of representatives from the European Commission will select the final list of 30 DIHs that will be invited to participate in the training activities.

About PwC

At PwC, our purpose is to build trust in society and solve important problems. We’re a network of firms in 157 countries with more than 223,000 people who are committed to delivering quality in assurance, advisory and tax services. Find out more and tell us what matters to you by visiting us at www.pwc.com.

PwC refers to the PwC network and/or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details.

About Smart Factories

More information about the “Smart Factories in new EU Member States” project can be found on: https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/implementing-digitising-european-industry-actions/digital-innovation-hubs-smart-factories-new-eu