The Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) of European Commission has signed grant agreement with the seven-partner consortium, where Latvian IT Cluster is lead partner, for funding seven Clusters and technological partners of cross-sectorial co-operation Project: „ESCP S3 for speeding up industrial modernization of agrofood packaging sectors towards Industry 4.0 and digital transformation by Cluster-Facilitated X-Industry Hackathons" or "DIGICLUSTERS" implementation, in the frame of European Union's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) competitiveness program "COSME".
The Project implementation started on 1st of October 2018 and its duration is 18 months. The Project's overall aim is to develop European Strategic Cluster Partnership for Smart Specialization Investments (ESCP-S3) to boost digital transformation of agrofood and packaging sectors by Cluster-Facilitated X-Industry Hackathons.
Project budget:
Grant amount: EUR 349 952.00
Total budget: EUR 466 607.74
Lead partner:
Latvian IT Cluster
Project partners:
Food Products Quality Cluster represented by Latvian Federation of Food Companies
SMART food cluster represented by Lithuanian Food exporters association
DIGICLUSTERS is a novel European Strategic Cluster Partnership for smart specialization investments and industrial modernisation of agrofood & packaging sectors towards Industry 4.0 and digital transformation through pioneer concept of Cluster-Facilitated X-Industry Hackathons.
Hackathons are globally recognized tools commonly used in start-up environments and for the first time applied within cluster communities. The consortium of seven partners, six clusters and one technology center, from four different countries and representing 726 SMEs will bridge the gap between high-tech industries and food & packaging sectors introducing new tool – Hackathons – to create new linkages across Europe, connect innovation & territorial ecosystems and prototype new, more advanced products and services.
Intra-regional and interregional hackathons will bring together ICT & electronics and agrofood & packaging, match their needs with solutions and boost new investment projects to jointly empower the emergence of cross-sectoral innovations linked to digital innovation and industrial modernisation. Using co-creation methodologies, collaboration techniques and participative approach that involve SMEs, R&D centers, regional authorities and cluster coordinators, the project will allow participating regions & clusters to join forces to speed up industries development through an entrepreneurial spirit and ’smart’ attitude.
This article is part of the project DIGICLUSTERS that was funded by the European Union’s COSME Programme.
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