Better Factory unlocks access to funding for digital transformation of the European manufacturing industry
The Better Factory initiative, funded under the European Commission H2020 programme, aims to help European manufacturers become more competitive in the global market by providing up to 200K EUR in equity-free funding to develop and deploy collaborative intra-factory experiments.
Manufacturing Companies will discover new business models and digitise their factories to match the production of new or personalised products, thanks to the collaboration with Artists and Technology Suppliers during the lifetime of the Better Factory project and beyond.
Through this Open Call, Better Factory will select 16 finalist consortia to participate in the Jury Day, of which the top 8 consortia composed of 3 members – one manufacturing company, one artist, and one technology supplier – will be selected to participate in a Knowledge Transfer Program.
The selected consortia, referred to as a Knowledge Transfer Experiment (KTE), will be supported by art, technical and business mentors to design new product lines and deploy scalable intra-factory automation solutions.
Open Call benefits
Becoming one of the successful selected consortia will allow manufacturing companies to explore new markets using digital tools, to test and develop new lean-agile production technologies, to make deals through the Robotics and Automation Marketplace (RAMP), to access trainings to re-skill staff, to receive business support and mentoring, and to get up to EUR 200,000 in equity-free funding.
Collaborations between Manufacturing Companies, Artists and Tech Suppliers can take on many forms and deliver a wide variety of outcomes. At a technical level, the focus will be to minimise the impact on production cost and to create more value by reducing waste, energy and other production resources; optimising intra-factory logistics; using robots to support workers; production pre-planning and simulation.
Prioritised sectors are plastic and rubber, furniture and wood, food and agriculture, construction, metal and machinery, and textile and leather. The Open Call remains open until the 15th of July 2021 at 17:00 CEST.
About Better Factory
Better Factory brings together key actors in the European technology, art and innovation landscape to provide an integrated innovation framework and a European network to deliver a standardized solution for Manufacturing SMEs to invent and manufacture new and personalized products and services.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement 951813.
Note to applicants: you can raise all your doubts and questions in the official Open Call helpdesk, project partners will get back to you very soon and, good luck!
