11 micro, small and medium manufacturing Italian companies, mainly from the manufacturing of machines and textile sectors, participated in the event, aimed at identifying the issues and barriers of the manufacturing companies regarding digitalisation, not only with an Industry 4.0 approach but also looking at the new paradigm of Industry 5.0.
The meeting started with an Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0 overview. Followed by the company Nissha Metallizing sharing its digitalisation experience in the recovery of industrial waste and energy efficiency. It showed that environmental sustainability is not only a question of protecting the environment, but also brings important financial results for the business.
After that, the participants were divided in two sub-groups to better address participant’s needs and interests. The main topics that arose from the discussions included: many companies don’t consider themselves ready to embrace completely Industry 5.0 topics, they are in the first steps of digitalisation, so topics such as Resource efficiency and the concepts connected to I5.0 are considered “futuristic” and for the “long-term”. The main issue is the integration of data from different solutions, which should be more open and standardised, which also represents an opportunity for cybersecurity solutions to protect data. An interest in getting to know what other similar companies with similar issues are doing was also manifested, so most appreciated was the opportunity to exchange information and thoughts with other companies. Taking this to an European level, communities, such as the ReStartSMEs community, where companies from all around Europe can interact with each other and talk about issues, plans and needs were also of interest.
The workshop was organised by Fondazione Torino Wireless, partner of the ReStartSMEs project and managing body of Piemontes’ ICT Innovation Cluster (Polo ICT) in collaboration with the other Piedmontese Innovation Clusters: Agrifood, bioPmed, CGreen, Clever, Mesap and Po.In.Tex.