Digital Manufacturing Platforms for Connected Smart Factories

a) Innovation Action - Develop and establish platforms for the connected smart production facilities of the future including their supply chains, driven by EU actors and safeguarding European interest in an area of key importance for the European economy. Proposals need to address at least two industrial sectors with several different use cases, especially in their piloting activities. In accordance with the strategy defined in the multi-annual roadmap[[See roadmap document ""Factories 4.0 and Beyond"" on http://www.effra.eu/]] of the FoF cPPP, proposals should target at least one of the following ‘grand challenges’:

1. Agile Value Networks: lot-size one (2018 call)
2. Excellence in manufacturing: zero-defect processes and products (2018 call)
3. The human factor: human competences in synergy with technological progress (2019 call)
4. Sustainable Value Networks: manufacturing in a circular economy (2019 call)

Reference implementations are preferably developed in open-source, with (as far as possible) one permissive open-source licence to be selected for all open-source components. Where applicable, APIs and SDKs are made available to third party developers to develop complementary applications.

For the Innovation Actions in this topic, the four activities and impact criteria as described in the introductory section ‘Platforms and Pilots’ have to be applied. For large-scale piloting and ecosystem building activities, proposals may involve financial support to third parties, as explained in the introductory section ‘Platforms and Pilots’, to support SMEs in piloting and developing prototype applications on top of digital manufacturing platforms.

b) Coordination and Support Activities are needed to cross-fertilise the Industrial Platform communities, allowing for easier take-up of digital technologies from ongoing and past research projects to real-world use cases, and supporting the transfer of skills and know-how between academia and industry in both directions. Coordination and Support Activities are targeted in the 2019 call.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU up to EUR 16 million for Innovation Actions and up to 2 M€ for one CSA would allow the areas to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts. At least one innovation action is supported for each ‘grand challenge’. Maximum one proposal will be selected for the CSA.

Digital manufacturing platforms play an increasing role in dealing with competitive pressures and incorporating new technologies, applications and services. Advances are needed in digital manufacturing platforms that integrate different technologies, make data from the shop floor and the supply network easily accessible, and allow for complementary applications. The challenge is to fully exploit new concepts and technologies that allow manufacturing companies (especially mid-caps and SMEs) to fulfil the demands from changing supply and value networks.

• Significant increase in the options for SMEs and mid-caps to integrate different technologies, unlock the value of their data, deploy complementary applications, and to become a more responsive link in changing supply and value networks.
• Strengthened competitive position of European platform providers.
• Increased cooperation between industrial and academic communities; increased synergy and collaboration between projects.