AMUEBLA has applied for an innovative project together with AIDIMME, CETEM, ARVET, and the company SANCAL, which aims to improve the design of the prototype by means of digital twin simulations for legal and industrial compliance before its manufacture, also reducing costs due to non-compliance with the standard.
The initiative is part of the central government’s call for Spanish clusters, which have managed to mobilise more than a thousand SMEs, presenting 446 collaborative innovation projects to this call of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism.
With their proposals, the clusters want to support the green and digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises nationwide. The applications highlight the potential of collaboration between companies through clusters, and they have submitted collaborative industrial innovation projects for twice the available budget.
Digital cufflinks for furniture
AMUEBLA and AIDIMME have presented an innovative initiative, the project ‘Research and development of a predictive model for the simulation of the mechanical behaviour of furniture with digital twin techniques’, GDM.
This project proposes research into an intelligent construction model, based on digital twins and supported by a predictive core that, through artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, is capable of achieving design optimisation solutions based on learning using both historical data and data provided in real time.
The aim of this initiative is to increase the existing knowledge of the technologies for carrying out simulations prior to the prototype validation phases, in order to provide designers with relevant information when developing products that comply with the applicable European regulations.
The momentum of the IEPAs
Once again, clusters have demonstrated their ability to understand business needs and translate them into innovation projects for the green and digital transition. Innovative clusters responded with 446 applications, with a total amount requested of more than 96 million euros from the programme of support for Innovative Business Clusters (AEI) administered by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism. This amount is close to double the amount covered by the call and exceeds the expectations of the innovative ecosystem.
The call for proposals for the Innovative Business Clusters Support Programme (IBSP) was published on 15 April 2023 and has a budget of EUR 54 million, of which EUR 46.44 million comes from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Mechanism. The aim of the programme is to improve the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises through innovative clusters. Supporting the creation and strengthening of clusters is part of the European strategy to promote SME competitiveness and innovation.
Clusters provide services to companies and are an excellent tool for accessing projects of common interest to member companies. 97% of the applications are projects submitted in collaboration between different AEIs and their member companies. Most of the projects seek to foster the digital transformation of companies and aim at incorporating digital knowledge and technologies for industrial research activities, experimental development activities, organisational innovation and process innovation.
