Change2Twin 1st Open Call: 25 Assessment Vouchers for SMEs to implement digital twin solutions

Change2Twin is a project funded by the European Union which supports manufacturing SMEs in their digitalization processes by providing Digital Twin solutions.
The first Assessment Voucher open call will select up to 25 SMEs and mid-caps, which will receive a lump sum of up to €10 000 to get a digitization assessment from a certified Digital Innovation Hub that will help them implement digital twins in manufacturing environments.

The concept of Digital Twin is one of the big game-changers in manufacturing and allows companies to significantly increase their global competitiveness.

28th January 2021 – The H2020 project Change2Twin launches the first Open Call to support European manufacturing companies on their digitisation using digital twin technology. SMEs and mid-caps looking to implement a Digital Twin can now apply to the first Assessment Voucher Open Call. The Open Call is receiving proposals from 28th of January 2021 at 09:00 CET until 29th of March 2021 at 17:00 CEST.

For this First Open call, Change2Twin is addressing SMEs and mid-caps interested in developing and implementing technology and systems applicable to digital twins. Up to 25 manufacturing SMEs and midcaps will be selected to receive a detailed analysis of their situation from a certified Digital Innovation Hub of their choice, as well as 3 “recipes” containing the list of different technologies fitting the use case and details of an integrator willing to implement them.

This Assessment Voucher is worth up to 10 000 Euro to cover the costs of contracting the selected certified Digital Innovation Hub (DIH) among a given list. The DIH will perform a thorough analysis of their digitization potential, along with a report detailing achievable improvements with digital twin technologies and a complete recipe for their deployment.

Who can apply?

The project is aimed at manufacturing SMEs and mid-caps that are in search of finding solutions to digitise their processes and are established in the EU or other eligible countries. However, the ideal use case should be the use of digital twin technology for one or several of the following purposes:

Virtual Design: Model-based system engineering, including analysis and design, ensuring that requirements are met and providing for seamless integration, test, verification and validation.
Customer Engagement: Interactive display of the system and its capabilities, for customers to understand how it meets their needs and how they will use it.
Commissioning: Checking the on-site implementation of a system against its design as captured in the digital twin to detect commissioning faults or anomalies.
Feedback to Engineering: Capturing usage characteristics with the digital twin to inform engineering of needs to change designs, or for future designs, or of operational risks.
Monitoring: Monitoring of a system’s operation by the digital twin that is then able to, e.g., detect anomalies, performance degradation, etc.
Optimization & Best Quality: Process control with the digital twin to optimize a systems operation for best performance and efficiency.
Scheduling: Organization of workflows based on actual data and insights provided by the digital twin.
Diagnosis: Investigation of the cause or nature of a fault condition, situation, or problem in the physical system by reasoning on live data within the digital twin.
Preventive Maintenance: Maintenance and service of a physical system that lessens the likelihood of failures based on the observed and inferred system state as visible in the digital twin.
Smart Logistics: Logistic processes that adapt to live data of needs and options as visible in the digital twin.
Smart Systems: Systems that adapt to their dynamic environment, state, or tasks and potentially learn how to do that best. The digital twin is then a core part of the system’s control.

How to apply?

The eligible candidates, SMEs or mid-caps, can submit their applications through the FundingBox platform microsite created for this purpose by filling up an online application form between 28th January 2021 (9:00 CEST) until 29th March 2021 (17:00 CEST).

For the time the call is open, applicants can access a dedicated Help Desk at FundingBox Spaces Platforms, an easy Guide for Applicants and a Frequently Asked Questions document created ad hoc. A supporting webinar, organised by the project partnership will take place to assist the interested SMEs and mid-caps to make the best out of their application.

If you have the status of an SME or midcap and you are in an eligible country, the next steps are:

Go to the Open Call application site!
Read the Guide for Applicants to understand the application and evaluation procedures of the Open Call
Have a look at the Frequently Asked Questions in order to see if there are answers to the doubts you may have.
Join the Q&A Webinar on 23rd February 2021!
Go to the application, fill it up and get ready to boost your business with digital twinning technology.

If you still have doubts, go to the Change2Twin Help Desk Community or contact [email protected]

About Change2Twin

The European Commission’s Horizon 2020 innovation framework under which Change2Twin was created has clearly identified that “The challenge is to accelerate the design, development and uptake of advanced digital technologies by European industry – especially SMEs –, notably in sectors where digital technologies are underexploited”.

As an Innovation Action under the frame of the I4MS Coordination and Supporting Action from the EU, its general objectives align with the I4MS ones by ensuring that 100% of manufacturing companies in Europe have access to 100% of technologies needed to deploy a digital twin.

The Change2Twin project was launched in 2020 and will last 48 months, during which it will run four open calls, two Assessment Voucher calls and two Deployment Voucher ones. Open Calls (OCs) are funding rounds in which entities can submit proposals in the hope of being selected to receive funds to get their technological ideas evaluated, deployed and/or tested.