Good practice:

Support for the development of platforms for collaborative R&D: Integrated and user-centered design

The initiative promoted since 2018 by the Marche Region intends to support the implementation of large collaborative R&D and innovation projects of strategic importance for the economic growth and competitiveness of the Marche System.
Their goal is to facilitate the matching between supply and demand for innovation by intensifying the transfer of scientific research results into production processes, also by increasing the skills and knowledge of human capital.
The beneficiaries are clusters of companies networked with universities, public research bodies, technology transfer centres and other public and private entities active in R&D.
The Industry 4.0 Platform is divided into different action lines:
a) a common laboratory,
b) two R&D projects dealing with robotics, artificial intelligence and sensors,
c) a technology transfer project,
d) the territorial dissemination.
The laboratory is the key point of the Platform; it offers innovative solutions based on:
• collaborative robots,
• quality control systems,
• smart factory management systems,
• flexible systems to manage different productions with a short setup time,
• data security systems,
• smart environment monitoring systems which implement the principle of human-centered manufacturing.
It is estimated that at least 25% of local companies will benefit from the adoption of these technologies; they will be able to support the development of high quality, customized products at an affordable cost.

The Marche Region has made 5.1 million euros available for a seven-year development plan, which provides for a total investment of 9 million euros and a public-private aggregation consisting of 23 subjects.

The project is in its implementation phase:
-it promotes large collaborative R&D projects which respond to the needs of
the industrial system
the most innovative SMEs that do not have enough means to carry out independent research;
-it enhances the regional specialist skills through the creation of two poles for R&D;
-it promotes the integration between the scientific and the production system, the inclusion of highly qualified personnel, the development of lasting collaborative networks

The learning and transfer potential of this practice lies in its organizational and implementation model.
From an organizational point of view, its key aspects are:
• putting together different tools in a single project (a laboratory that will continue its activity beyond the first 3 years of public co-financing, the R&D projects, the technology transfer activity, the dissemination of results)
• involving in a collaborative model a public-private aggregation made up of different subjects (universities, innovation and technology transfer centres, clusters, companies belonging to different sectors).