Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - I4MS-Go (I4MS Going to Market Alliance)

Teaser

SMEs and mid-caps tend to experience difficulties in adopting new-generation ICT to improve their production processes and develop new products. Many lack access to digital solutions and in most are not able to afford or engage in digital transformation initiatives. To...

Summary

SMEs and mid-caps tend to experience difficulties in adopting new-generation ICT to improve their production processes and develop new products. Many lack access to digital solutions and in most are not able to afford or engage in digital transformation initiatives. To alleviate these issues the I4MS initiative provides opportunities to SMEs and mid-caps to run small-scale experiments to test digital innovations through the help of the Innovation Actions (IAs) funded under I4MS.

To this end, I4MSGo will attract and connect the largest on-line community of stakeholders: DIH, END-USERS (manufacturing SMEs & Mid-Caps and ICT suppliers), FACILITATORS (training suppliers, industries/corporates, investors and regions) and ECOSYSTEM PLAYERS related with the DSM including also national and regional initiatives responsible for Industry 4.0.

I4MS-Go will carry out the following actions:
●reinforce collaboration and joint brand visibility between the actions supported. Also, providing visibility by awarding the best examples of AEs supported by the IAs [I4MS Disruptors Awards].
●increase outreach of I4MS IAs and impact by creating the online Community.
●leverage cooperation with related ecosystems and initiatives, such as EFFRA, SAE, FIWARE, and other PPP ecosystems of the DSM.
●aim to enhance the self-sustainability of the I4MS ecosystem by means of providing access to finance and access to training, and specific links with national and regional initiatives, based on:
*I4MS-Acceleration for best-in-class I4MS experiments
*I4MS-Regions to ensure an interregional mobilization of ESIF funds
*I4MS-Catalogue of Skills

Work performed

WP2: I4MS Community Building
The I4MSGo project launched the I4MS central information point, consisting of a website and online Community on February 2018. The I4MS website integrates the legacy of the former site i4ms.eu, along with new functionalities to facilitate a deeper capability of engagement with online visitors, having received more than 22,000 pageviews in 8 months.
The Community has reached 525 community members sharing 723 messages in the 6 available Community spaces. Two newsletters have been sent to more than 553 recipients. In addition, and as a way to attract new members to the Community and the IAs Open Calls, 2 Q&A, 11 email campaigns, 1 AdWord campaign, 3 interviews and 3 Webinars were organised.

WP3: Clustering I4MS: joint brand visibility and skills
The purpose of the clustering activities is to ensure coordination among the IAs running under Phases 2 and 3. At present, 5 monthly calls have been organized to discuss a shared agenda. I4MSGo was also promoted via joint participation in 6 events, 2 being World-Class events at Hannover Messe 2018 and MWC 2018. The first Disruptors Awards Open Call was launch to give visibility to digital technological initiatives within I4MS, 20 applications were started and 6 submitted.
As part of the clustering activities, I4MSGo project has published 40 events in the news sections and 24 articles related to activities of the IAs. 32 new experiments were added to the experiments section, and the summary of 8 Open Calls were created.
In addition, a map of the DIHs and CCs linked to the I4MS initiative was developed and 16 new updates published in the I4MS website. Finally, it has been agreed with the IAs the approach to be followed to create a catalogue of trainings available in the four technology areas supported by I4MS.

WP4: Communication and dissemination plan
The I4MSGo strategy has been to continue disseminating the brand of I4MS. While the website, social networks and newsletter followed a similar visual identity, new elements and visuals were also incorporated. With the I4MS online Community created and achieving:784 social media followers, 525 community members and 553 newsletter subscribers during this period). 7 PR were published in 162 media appearances with more than 36M impacts and a total value of 371,091€. The participation in joint events has also been an important part of the joint collaboration plan. Additionally, the DIHs were invited to join the I4MS community to increase their visibility by participating actively (interviews, articles).

WP5: Sustainability plan: Mobilising ESIF and Private Funding
Sustainability of the project is based on two main points:
●The sustainability of the AE through private investments. The I4MSGo created an Acceleration Programme offering Boot Camps to the most promising experiments.
●The sustainability of the AE: through public funding. Two main actions have been done to achieve this goal. First, the possibility for Regions to use ESIF to fund further phases of the AE. Second, launch joint open calls for conducting application experiments.

WP6: I4MS Impact Evaluation and Observatory
This WP is focused on analysing the results of the communication and dissemination activities, ranging from the impact of the digital marketing actions to disseminate I4MS project, website, social media, I4MS blog and activities to populate I4MS Community, to identify weaknesses and best practice. The activities focused to identify tech gaps and opportunities and to measure the impact of the work carried out by the I4MSGo as CSA were developed with the contributions of the IAs.

Final results

The most important goals of the clustering activities has been the optimization of synergies between the I4MS IAs, avoiding unnecessary overlaps and efforts and, gaining visibility for activities carried out by each of the projects to promote the use of the key technologies under I4MS. The coordination and support activities that are driven by the I4MSGo project were agreed upon with the IAs. A joint plan for collaboration was developed, establishing 10 different activities. Activities will be adjusted to accommodate IAs need in the future.

Regarding the visibility of the IAs and the entire I4MS initiative, I4MSGo carried out an important dissemination strategy campaign to promote Open Calls and opportunities offered by the IAs and the I4MSGo opportunities. In terms of participation in events, project partners participated in 24 events. The 7PR generated reached 36M impacts and were published in 162 media appearances streams relevant to the smart manufacturing. The project team foresees the activation of Community members and the engagement of SMEs by increasing the number of interviews, Q&A sessions and offering exclusive content to reinforce cross-dissemination activities. Participation in regional and local events should be strengthened as it has shown very good results in terms of SMEs reach.

Another key activity to promote the I4MS initiative are the Disruptors Awards. The first Open Call closed on September with 6 submitted application. A second call is planned for next year with the objective of selecting the best cases or experiments illustrating a company\'s ability to innovate and implement ICT technologies.

In terms of project sustainability, activities in this WPs started recently. The support of the Regional Advisory Board has been positive. The need to offer additional tools to Regional Authorities to drive digital transformation strategies in their territories seems to position the experience gained under the I4MS initiative as very valuable. Also, as part of the sustainability activities, the I4Ms acceleration programme can offer new opportunities.

Website & more info

More info: http://i4ms.eu/.