15. December 2020
Since the beginning of 2016, “Digital in NRW – Competence for SMEs” has been successfully supporting medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the field of digitization. Under the direction of the WZL of RWTH Aachen University, the Competence Center “Digital in NRW” offers SMEs in the region a competent point of contact in regards to the digitization and networking of their products, production and processes – as well as for the development of new business approaches, realizing the diverse set of potentials related to Industry 4.0. Thereby, the project successfully supports the transfer of technology to SMEs along the industrial value chain. With the WZL, our cooperation partner, an exceptionally developed infrastructure is available in the form of excellent scientific capacities, demonstration and experimentation environments.
Digitalization offers small and medium-sized enterprises many opportunities to improve their competitive position by increasing productivity and reducing costs. However, the search for information and the actual implementation often poses challenges, especially for companies from the SME sector. It is not always immediately clear how digitalization can be implemented for the respective company, where it will bring the greatest benefits, and how to effectively involve employees in the process of digital change. This makes the demand for support that is specifically geared to the needs of the company even greater.
In the project “Digital in NRW“, the topics of digitalization and connectivity are therefore being addressed specifically to SMEs and concrete, free offers for joint implementation are being created. To this end, companies throughout NRW have access to contacts from strong business and research locations: in the Rhineland, the WZL Machine Tool Laboratory and the Research Institute for Rationalization FIR at RWTH Aachen University; in East Westphalia-Lippe, the research institutions of the OWL excellence cluster; and in the Ruhr metropolis, the Fraunhofer IML and EffizienzCluster LogistikRuhr.
Together with the team of the competence center, interested companies can tackle the digitalization of their products, production and their entire value-added processes and open up new business areas of Industry 4.0. During company meetings and visits, a basis is first created for conducting potential analyses and developing introduction strategies. In demo centers and labs, digitalization becomes a tangible experience, and future-relevant technologies are vividly demonstrated in practical application. Services such as future updates or application training make Industry 4.0 real.
If you are interested in what “Digital in NRW” has to offer, please get in touch with us or visit www.digital-in-nrw.de for further information.
Contact
Tim Janke, M.Sc. RWTH
Head of Business and Software Development
Phone: +49 175 4300711
Mail: t.janke@gpmc-aachen.de
Head of Business and Software Development
Phone: +49 175 4300711
Mail: t.janke@gpmc-aachen.de