Machinery industry in Europe is a basis for employment, growth and wealth, with around 3.2 million people employed. Industrial equipment is considered a key enabler for industrial development and the EU has a historically strategic position in this sector. However, it lives from a technological edge in a very competitive landscape. Hereby, it is crucial to provide all stakeholders of the EU with AI technologies that guarantee a resilient design, deployment and reuse of industrial equipment for an increased global competitiveness and a reinforcement of its industrial strategic autonomy and resiliency. AIDEAS will develop AI technologies for supporting the entire lifecycle (design, manufacturing, use, and repair/reuse/recycle) of industrial equipment as a strategic instrument to improve sustainability, agility and resilience of the European machinery manufacturing companies. AIDEAS will deploy 4 integrated Suites: 1) Design: AI technologies, integrated with CAD/CAM/CAE systems, for optimising the design of industrial equipment structural components, mechanisms and control components; 2) Manufacturing: AI technologies for industrial equipment purchased components selection and procurement, manufactured parts processes optimisation, operations sequencing, quality control and customisation; 3) Use: AI technologies with added value for the industrial equipment user, providing enhanced support for installation and initial calibration, production, quality assurance and predictive maintenance for working on optimal conditions; 4) Repair-Reuse-Recycle: AI technologies for extending the useful life of machines through prescriptive maintenance (repair), facilitating a second life for machines through a smart retrofitting (reuse) and identification of the most sustainable end-of-life (recycle). The AIDEAS Solutions will be demonstrated in 4 Pilots of machinery manufacturers that provide industrial equipment to different industrial sectors: metal, stone, plastic and food.

The Conveyor System market and, in particular, robot segment for the automated material handling are experiencing double-digit growth at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR). EU manufacturers in this sector plays an important role, covering 23% of the market but this technological edge is being challenged due to the astonishing growth of China, Japan and Korea. In real world, many objects to be handled, including food, clothes, bottles, or plastic items, are soft or deformable and robots are not yet efficient and effective in handling these objects. In this context, AGILEHAND aims at developing advanced technologies for grading, handling and packaging autonomously soft and deformable products, as a strategic instrument to improve flexibility, agility and reconfigurability of production and logistic systems of the European manufacturing companies. AGILEHAND will deploy 3 integrated Suites: 1) SMART SENSING SUITE, self-calibrating sensing solutions to grade the quality (both interior and exterior) of delicate objects and to produce a mesh of integrated and overlapping sensors that will improve production-line traceability, agility and reconfigurability; 2) SELF-ADAPTIVE HANDLING, SORTING AND PACKAGING SUITE, robotic manipulation systems that reacts to product quality and that can Pick-Up and Re-Orientated Different Soft and Deformable Products without causing product damage considering collaborative (human-in-the-middle) approaches; 3) AGILE, FLEXIBLE AND RAPID RECONFIGURABLE SUITE, a set of AI based solutions that will allow for monitoring, adaptive control and synchronisation of production and logistics flows in a factory, even when faced with a variability of products, production mix or fresh market, guaranteeing high performance in customer response time, and an efficient use of resources. The AGILEHAND Solutions will be demonstrated in 4 industrial pilots that differ in characteristics of the surface, deformability, and consistency of the products to be handle.

The initiative for Fostering DIHs for Embedding Interoperability in Cyber-Physical Systems of European SMEs (DIH4CPS) will help European enterprises overcome these innovation hurdles and establish Europe as a world leading innovator of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. DIH4CPS will create an embracing, interdisciplinary network of DIHs and solution providers, focussed on cyber-physical and embedded systems, interweaving knowledge and technologies from different domains, and connecting regional clusters with the pan-European expert pool of DIHs. Backed by the IVLab, an experienced and well-established network organisation focussed on Interoperability, DIH4CPS can innately build on an extensive existing network, add value to its existing knowledge transfer capabilities and guarantee the sustainability of the growing DIH network. DIH4CPS expands the already existing network and aims for creating an integrated platform for DIHs from different, especially digitally underdeveloped sectors and regions. A selection of eleven initially starting application experiments guarantees an outstanding funding for European SMEs and Mid-Caps right from the start and demonstrates the high dedication of the consortium to reduce the digital divide. At least ten additional experiments will take up that torch during the project and allow external companies from sectors in need to further exploit the DIH4CPS network and uplift their portfolio, especially by including (semi)-autonomy into their products and systems. DIH4CPS will not only benefit the application experiments but also the individual DIHs by significantly complementing the regional investments made. Implemented in the IVLab structure, the DIH4CPS Network will leverage and sustain its impact far beyond the project duration, creating a vibrant, overarching and cross sector one-stop-shop for collaboration between SMEs, DIHs and Tech providers.

ZeroW has set the ambitious target of playing a key role in the transition of current food systems towards halving Food Loss & Waste (FLW) by 2030 and reaching near-zero FLW by 2050. ZeroW provides significant impacts through the demonstration of innovations in nine real-life food chains, by employing a systemic innovation approach, to effectively address the multidimensional issue of FLW. This involves: (i) pre-identifying systemic innovations, that incorporate multiple interlinked dimensions (process, organisational, strategy, marketing, product, technological, governance, etc.), which are tested and demonstrated; (ii) steering the evolution of innovations towards higher levels of systemic readiness and impact, using a Living Lab co-creation and multi-actor collective learning approach; (iii) enhancing the Living Lab actors’ innovation advancement capability with shared resources facilitating new ways and means of cooperating and co-developing innovations; (iv) developing context-specific trajectories for the systemic innovations (from ideation to scaling-up and commercialisation) leading to the provision of currently missing end products and services that align with consumer attitudes, food actor needs and policy trends. Moreover, ZeroW establishes a clear ‘FLW impact trajectory’, from demonstrator results (2025), scaled up to meet the F2F 2030 goals, and steered through a ‘just transition pathway’ towards a near-zero FLW in 2050.

The EU is the undisputed worldwide referent in the olive oil sector, responsible for 70% of the worldwide production. To face the global competition, olive oil produced in the EU must be a distinguished product by its premium quality and competitive price. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) demand is increasing due to new consumers concerns (healthy, ecologic food) and the incorporation of new, high-income countries (US, Australia, China, etc.). To reach the highest quality oil, only top quality olives should be used. But frequently defective or unwanted olives enter the oil mill. These are frozen, dehydrated, over-mature, insect damaged or ground-picked olives, to name some, which will lead to downgrading the oil quality, i.e. organoleptic and chemical parameters (free acidity, esters, aldehydes, alcohols, ketones, etc.) being affected negatively. Market price will also be lowered. Olive sorting by quality and/or maturity at the reception area in the mill is becoming a need in a sector which is shifting towards intense cultivation, mechanical harvesting and large capacity plants with enhanced technological means. As of today there are no focused solutions in the market. Leveraging on her success in the Table Olives sector, Multiscan will address the next technical challenge impacting olive oil, a huge market valued at 6,000 M€, by developing equipment specifically tailored for the sorting of incoming olives. Through state-of-the-art vision technology, the Multiscan EVOOLUTION will ensure that defective and unwanted olives are removed from entering the mill, consistently obtaining higher quality EVOO. End-user trials in oil mills from both hemispheres will assure the perfect matching of EVOOLUTION to the needs of all oil producers. By 2024, we will put in the market close to 300 EVOOLUTION units, resulting in accumulated net profits of 17 M€ and the direct creation of 20 new job positions in our company.