The Digital Innovation Hub (DIH), managed by Luxinnovation has procured a yellow bus--from travel firm Sales-Lentz--for its national tour which will start on 20 September and run until 6 October. An idea originating from Industry federation Fedil, the DIH allows companies to step up their transition to industry 4.0, where cloud computing or the industrial internet of things play an important role in manufacturing.
“You don’t come to us, we come to you”
The idea to tour Luxembourg on a bus and provide sessions in the vehicle stems from the fact that 70% of the 455 industrial companies from Luxinnovation survey are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) characterised by having less than 50 employees. Recognising that traveling from one side of the country to the other might be unappealing for a company with a smaller team, Luxinnovation decided to take the digital transformation sessions to the firms. “You don't come to us, we come to you. That is the concept of the DIH on tour,” said Arnaud Lambert, DIH director at Luxinnovation, during a press event.
Pairing up the right companies
Luxembourg counts 455 industrial companies with manufacturing at the core of their activities and over 300 firms who provide digital solutions, according to a Luxinnovation’s survey. Taking into account that not every pair of industrial and digital companies is a match, Luxinnovation aims to put the right partners together to fast track them through their 4.0 journey. While last year’s edition focused on cybersecurity, the campaign starting this September is focused on artificial intelligence’s use in industry and how companies can attain financial support more easily.
“Some companies that start the journey [with DIH] get inspired by companies further in the journey. After that, it's also about getting inspired by what other companies do in Luxembourg, but also abroad. And the last part, hopefully, when they go from a having a concept to an idea to a project, we put them in contact with service providers that can help them activate this project,” said Lambert.
Robots stepping up their role in industry
Fanuc, a Japanese robotics and manufacturing company, with its Luxembourg operations in Contern has taken on the role of ambassador of this year’s Digital Innovation Hub. Fanuc’s 35,000m2 customisation and distribution centre was set up in the grand duchy with the advantage of being close to main transport routes and now serves as Fanuc Europe’s main logistics and product customisation hub. The implementation of robotics in industry is not about replacing humans but relieving them from dirty, dull or dangerous task while also helping companies deal with a labour shortage, explained Thomas Arens, head of marketing Europe at Fanuc.
The DIH will kick off on 20 September in Hosingen with Luxembourg-based medical products storage company B Medical Systems--known for producing cooling devices used for vaccine storage during the pandemic--acting as the host of the day. Thierry Goniva the company’s CTO will give a keynote speech, following B Medical’s investment in Internet of Things services which allows them to connect to all cooling systems’ across the globe and verify that the required temperature is maintained.
“That shows that technologies like IOT coming from the industry 4.0 can help you to level up your customer services in the digital format so that’s a nice fitting keynote to inspire other companies,” Joachim Clemens, senior advisor digital transformation at Luxinnovation told Delano. Companies will be able to register for the DIH from the end of the week of 29 August.