On January 25, the second national meeting of the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) was held at the Bizkaia Science and Technology Park, gathering more than 70 representatives from 21 regional EDIHs. The first meeting was organized by ACCIÓ (The Agency for the Competitiveness of the Company) on May 16, 2023, at its headquarters, acting as coordinators of the national EDIH network on behalf of the European Commission. On this occasion, ACCIÓ, coordinators of the Digital Innovation Hub of Catalonia (DIH4CAT), organized the second meeting in collaboration with Grupo SPRI, the Basque Agency for Business Development, coordinators of the Basque Digital Innovation Hub (BDIH).

The objective of the day was to strengthen cooperation within the network and share the current state of activity of the EDIHs a year and a half after the project was launched, in order to establish general guidelines to address the challenges faced by companies when carrying out digital transformation.

The meeting began with speeches from Susana Larrea (SPRI), coordinator of BDIH, and Sandra Pérez (ACCIÓ), coordinator of DIH4CAT, who provided the institutional welcome to the participants and introduced the day’s agenda. The event also received support from the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, represented by María Jesús García Martín, Deputy Director-General for the Digitization of Industry and Collaborative Environments.

DIH4CAT presents more than 55% of the PADIH applications

After the presentations, Victoria Sánchez Fuentes from the EOI Foundation (School of Industrial Organization) informed the EDIHs about the current status of the Digital Innovation Hubs Support Program (PADIH), an initiative by the Ministry of Industry and Tourism aimed at improving the competitiveness of SMEs through advising on the implementation of digital technologies. It was highlighted that the program opened in January 2023, and by the end of the year, out of 429 project applications, 241 were submitted by the Digital Innovation Hub of Catalonia (DIH4CAT). The PADIH will run until September 2025 and is part of the European Commission’s Digital Europe Program.

Next, David Vidal, representative of the Digital Transformation Accelerator (DTA), presented the latest updates of the DTA, a service initiative promoted by the European Commission to consolidate and expand the EDIH network through networking, dissemination, cooperation, and knowledge transfer. The DTA aims to increase the digital capacity of the EDIHs through training sessions, guidance, and advisory services, so that they, in turn, can contribute to the digital transformation of the European economy.

During this meeting, there was also an opportunity to showcase up to ten success stories of collaborations between EDIHs and other economic agents, such as national and international companies or public administrations. In this space, Joan Guasch, Director of International Development and R&D+i Policies at Eurecat, presented the project “Automation 4.0 to optimize the packing of small flexible packages.”

Workshop on reporting for the project’s 18-month milestone to close the day

To close the day, two parallel sessions were held. On one side, EDIHs heard from Helena Rodrigues, Project Officer from the European Commission, about the first 18 months of operation of the DTA and its future continuity. It was also mentioned that DIH4CAT was one of the first EDIHs in Spain and Europe to report on its activity during these 18 months. Jesús Fernández, Project Manager at ACCIÓ, shared his experience with the first “reporting.” On the other hand, hubs that hold the ‘Seal of Excellence’ qualification and therefore do not receive direct funding from the Digital Europe Program met in a roundtable, moderated by Susana Larrea. Here, they exchanged experiences and knowledge on three central topics: financing, project execution, and European connections.

Additionally, it was announced that DIH4CAT would pass on the role of coordinating the national EDIHs for the European Commission in a rotational routine after this first year, during which the two first national meetings of the European Digital Innovation Hubs were held.