Overview
As part of the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL), the European Commission and EU member states agreed to establish and co-fund a network of European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs).
These hubs are to support digital transformation in SMEs and public sector organisations by encouraging the adoption of the latest advances in the three DIGITAL key technologies of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.
EDIHs will serve as 'one-stop shops' providing access to technical expertise and experimentation, as well as innovation services, and the training and skills development necessary for successful digital transformation.
National designation process
For the purposes of the establishment of the network, the Commission asked member states to designate candidate entities for the EDIH Programme through a competitive process. These designated national EDIHs would then be invited to respond to a restricted European Commission call for proposals.
An Expression of Interest for EDIH designation was launched by DETE and Enterprise Ireland in December 2020. Nine submissions were received. The evaluation process included a proposal document and an interview, both of which were reviewed by an Evaluation Committee comprising representatives of the department, Enterprise Ireland and independent experts. Four submissions were designated to go forward to the European restricted call. These four candidate EDIHs were:
- FactoryxChange (FxC) led by the EI funded Irish Manufacturing Research in Mullingar to accelerate factories to become ‘Factories of the Future’ embracing the ecological, digital and societal challenges
- CeADAR led by Ireland’s EI/IDA Technology Centre in Applied Data Analytics and Machine Intelligence (based in UCD) which will aim to focus on supporting artificial intelligence (AI) transformation in SMEs and public service organisations
- ENTIRE led by Tyndall National Institute Cork to help SMEs and start-ups to become more competitive in their business/production processes using digital technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) and sensors
- Data2Sustain led by Atlantic Technological University Sligo, which aims to increase the transformation capacity of SMEs in the Northern and Western Region with a focus on circular economy, operations and sustainability areas
Ireland’s four EDIHs, listed above, were designated and informed to the European Commission in April 2021. The European Commission published their restricted call for EDIHs in November 2021, with results issued in June 2022.