Łukasiewicz – PIAP supports innovativeness
The Industry Contact Point Industry 4.0 inaugurated its activities at Łukasiewicz – PIAP. Its aim was to support Polish entities in application for the Horizon Europe programme.
Inauguration of the Industry Contact Point Industry 4.0 whose leader is the Łukasiewicz Research Network – Industrial Institute for Automation and Measurements PIAP took place on 27 April 2022. The Point was established to support Polish entrepreneurs, institutions and scientists in application for the Horizon Europe programme. It is the biggest in the history of the EU programme for support of research, innovative projects implemented by international consortia. In total EUR 95.5 billion will be allocated for that purpose in the years 2021-2027.
ICP Industry 4.0 – advisory services, education and communication
The Industry Contact Point Industry 4.0 expands the possibilities of entering into cooperation in the international scale. The aim is to internationalize the Polish research, development and innovation (R+D+I) activities in the area of Industry 4.0 which is now a dynamically developed sector of economy in Poland.
Enterprises and scientists applying to the ICP may count on advisory services and substantive support – acquisition of partners for projects, searching for a possibility of cooperation between Polish and foreign entities, representation and cooperation with partners on the international arena, support at the stage of writing projects, etc. Also educational support is offered – among other things, specialist training courses and workshops, as well as consultations for scientists and enterprises with regard to a possibility of applying for the programme.
In addition, the ICP performs communication activities, like arrangement of meetings of scientific and business partners, as well as searching for international partners for them, cooperation with domestic and international organisations or representation of Polish entities in Poland and abroad.
The Industry Contact Points (ICP) supplement the Polish system for supporting participation in the Horizon Europe project, and the central unit is the National Contact Point (NCP) at the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR). Apart from Łukasiewicz – PIAP, the group of the institutions forming the industry contact points additionally includes six institutes of the Łukasiewicz Research Network: Non-Ferrous Metals Institute (ICP Sustainable Economy), Łukasiewicz – Poznań Institute of Technology (ICP Digital Transformation), Łukasiewicz – PORT (ICP Medical Technologies and Health), Łukasiewicz – Aviation Institute (ICP Smart and Green Mobility) and Łukasiewicz – Institute of Mechanised Construction and Rock Mining (ICP Low-Emission Technologies and Green Energy).
EIT Manufacturing – innovation community
The meeting in April was also devoted to accession of Łukasiewicz – PIAP and Vigo System company to EIT Manufacturing (EITM) – the youngest community established as part of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT). These are the first Polish entities in structures of EITM. EITM is one of nine institutional partnerships established within the Horizon Europe programme. The main assumptions of EITM include strengthening of production competitiveness in Europe, activating of contacts between European innovators and facilitating the implementation of industrial innovations.
The EIT Manufacturing partnership comprises several dozen organisations, enterprises, research centres and higher education institutions, amongst which there are, e.g.: French Commission for Alternative Energy and Nuclear Energy (CEA), Slovak University of Technology, Universities of Technology in Vienna, Prague, Turin and Darmstadt, Siemens company, as well as Volkswagen and Volvo concerns. Other European partnerships established as part of the Horizon Europe programme are, for instance: EIT Digital, EIT InnoEnergy, EIT Raw Materials and EIT Urban Mobility.
In the photograph (from the left side): Konstantinos Georgoulias, director of RIS and EU Affairs, EIT Manufacturing, Jan Filip Staniłko, director in charge of Strategies at Vigo System, Christian Bölling, director of EIT Manufacturing Central and Piotr Szynkarczyk, director of Łukasiewicz – PIAP