Growing into Industry 4.0 - Accelerate growth in manufacturing SME's

GrowIn 4.0 is an Inter reg North Sea project. The north sea region finance 50% of the expenditures of the project.

The manufacturing industry is very important for the NSR economy and remains a driver for growth. The focus of the GrowIn 4.0 project will be the common challenges manufacturing SMEs throughout the NSR face today. The GrowIn 4.0 project is financed by Interregs North Sea region. Economic crisis, decrease in employment, loss of competitiveness, just to mention a few. However; the challenges also bring a lot of opportunities. Many of these are in the move toward the fourth industrial revolution - Industry 4.0 - which is regarded as the industry of tomorrow.

If the manufacturing industry in the NSR is to remain competitive, we need to capture the potential for productivity and growth that Industry 4.0 appears to offer. There is a profound need for an experience based and smart gathering of efficient methods, tools and knowledge to guide SMEs in their transformation towards Industry 4.0. GrowIn 4.0 aims to build strong competences and tools in the participating regions for the benefit of manufacturing SMEs. The overall objective is to raise the level of innovation and to create more growth within manufacturing SMEs who are heading for Industry 4.0. The approach is to establish a strong partnership which pool knowledge on the manufacturing
industry and Industry 4.0. Main challenges and solutions in regards of implementing Industry 4.0 will be investigated. The results of collections of new or improved methods and tools - developed in interaction with
SMEs - will be universal within different areas of the NSR.

If the manufacturing industry in the NSR is to remain competitive, we need to capture the potential for productivity and growth that Industry 4.0 appears to offer. There is a profound need for an experience based and smart gathering of efficient methods, tools and knowledge to guide SMEs in their transformation towards Industry 4.0

The overall objective is to raise the level of innovation and to create more growth within manufacturing SMEs who are heading for I4.0. Other objectives within GrowIn 4.0 will be to:

Improve and innovate the public service delivery of programmes, tools and methods targeting manufacturing SMEs

Stimulate SMEs demand for innovation and sustain the innovation capacity building in manufacturing SMEs

Establish a strong network of stakeholders locally and internationally

Provide documentation of the expected outputs and results

The participating regions and partners common development of new or improved methods and tools, regional innovation strategies, increased knowledge collaboration and sharing in the project, will contribute to enhance regional innovation support capacity. The participating regions have, based on the transnational cooperation, developed regional innovation strategies
and have specific plans for action and implementation to support manufacturing SMEs heading for Industry 4.0. The overall objective of GrowIn 4.0 will, in combination with the other objectives, enhance regional innovation support capacity and thereby increase long-term innovation levels in
manufacturing SMEs and support their development of smart specialisation strategies.