The University of Valencia (UV) participates as a partner in the InnDIH Digital Innovation Centre, a candidacy of which 48 Valencian entities are part of and which was presented to the European Commission in February within the framework of the Digital Europe 2021-2027 Program. The European Commission has approved the incorporation of InnDIH, making it one of the 12 Spanish centres in the European Network of Digital Innovation Centres, out of the 39 statewide that were presented.
This proposal is developed within the framework of the Inndromeda Alliance, promoted by the Valencian Innovation Agency (AVI) and led by the Computer Engineering Technological Institute (ITI), a private centre dedicated to research, development and innovation in Information Technologies and the Communications (TIC) pertaining to the Network of Technological Institutes of the Valencian Community (REDIT) and to the Spanish Federation of Technological Centres (FEDIT). For the UV, this project involves actively participating in the process of digital transformation of the productive fabric of Valencian society, which adds value and offers services to companies and public administrations in the process of integrating innovative technologies.
InnDIH has had the support of universities, technological institutes, private and public R&D centres, industrial and business associations, employers, chambers of commerce, incubators and accelerators, and public administrations. With a budget close to 6 million euros for three years, according to a news release from the platform, it will offer companies, especially SMEs, technological infrastructure, knowledge, training and experience in technologies based on data economy and Artificial Intelligence, in addition to access financing to access this type of technology and develop new business models. The European Commission’s assessment has been “excellent” with 14.5 out of 15 in the score obtained.
InnDIH is, therefore, the largest public-private collaboration of the Valencian Community in the field of digitisation. In total, 48 entities. Among them 12 beneficiary partners (ITI, Inndromeda, Innsomnia, CEV, Council of Chambers of the Valencian Community, CSIC, UPV, UV, RUVID, REDIT, IBV and AITEX), 20 affiliated entities and 16 associated entities.
Specifically, InnDIH will provide access to digitisation services to SMEs and Public Administrations for the adoption of these technologies, as well as support and backing for the definition of new business models. A catalogue of actions that is structured around four blocks (pre-investment analysis, training and skills, support to find investments and ecosystem of innovation and networking). The main digital technologies it addresses are Artificial Intelligence (AI), High Performance Computing (HPC), Cybersecurity, Big Data and Robotics, and focuses on the areas of Health and Quality of Life, and Advanced Manufacturing.
Digital Innovation Hubs
The European Union has since 2016 developed the concept of Digital Innovation Hubs as collaborative ecosystems aimed at providing services that drive the incorporation of solutions for the digitisation of products, services or processes, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises.
Along this line, the executive vice president of the Valencian Innovation Agency (AVI), Andrés García Reche, has stressed that the decision of the European Commission is “excellent news that supports the work done by the different institutions that form our system of innovation to achieve a reference IHL in the region. We have been working for three years from AVI to put together a project for the whole of the Valencian Community that involves Inndromeda and all the main actors in the system in order to face globally and with the essential guarantees of success the great challenges of digitalisation, such as the development of the data economy, Artificial Intelligence and Industry 4.0”, he indicated.
