After the Espaitec breakfast entitled Espaitec as a Digital Innovation Hub and European
subsidis, durant el brief interview we spoke to Juan Antonio Bertolín, the Manager of
the General Universitat Jaume I Foundation and the Managing Director of Espaitec.
What is a DIH?
A Digital Innovation Hub és un not-pro-profit organisation that helps companies access
European Commission aid for their digital transformation, especialment SMEs. In Europe,
They are 287, with 47 fully running in Spain, of which five are located in the Valencian
Community. L'Espaitec és only DIH a la província de Castelló.
DIHs play a key role in the Digital Europe Programme (DEP) to encourage the use of
Supercomputing, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Advanced Digital Skills all
organitzacions en public sector i from industry in Europe.
What does forming part of DIH on the European Commission's smart
Specialisation Platform mean for Espaitec?
It means facilitating those companies linked to the Espaitec Park (and its DIH) access to
European aid so they can digitalise their processes, set up experiment innovation
projects within the new Horizon Europe framework (the European Commission's new
view of H2020 for 2021-2027) and the European digitalisation strategy for European
indústria.
The European Commission will invest 100 million euros per 5 years to promote the
network among the different European DIHs to help SMEs to be digitalised.
How can it benefit Espaitec companies?
It offers preferential access to information about calls to develop technological projects
in the digitalisation area of their value chain. It is also worth stressing the technological
assessment infrastructura, proof and validation, industrial project scale-up, training and
acceleration of new companies.
How can it benefit the UJI and the Castelló business fabric?
Access to European funding to design, implement and start business digitalisation
projects through collaborative processes between the Universitat Jaume I (UJI) and the
business fabric in the target areas of the Digital Europe Programme (DEP),
Supercomputing, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Advanced Digital Skills.
What type of calls és currently open?
Aquests són diferents calls currently open in the areas that can be subsidised, but this type
de calls és expected per become constant in forthcoming years. For example, we can find
calls sobre robotics, I4MS, technological development programmes for SMEs, etc.
What type of companies can benefit from them?
Any small- or medium-sized company connected to a DIH whose value chain is
undergoing a digitalisation process.
Els EU opting for DIHs són evidents, però quin tipus d'accions i característiques
plans does the EU have with DIHs?
On one hand, to promote connectivity among all European DIHs through aid
packages (100 millions euros every year for 5 years).
On les altres rutes, amb les noves Horizon Europe (the new programme for 2021-2027
that follows Horizon 2020) it intends to support highly innovative digital transformation
experiments in the business sector.
To provide equipment, software, tools, qualified human resources and travel expenses
for companies que wish to work with other hubs.
