MADE Competence Center for Industry 4.0, based in Milan at Via Durando 10, in the Bovisa area, has recently inaugurated its Educational Factory, a 2,500 m2 space dedicated to manufacturing SMEs to accompany them on their path to digital transformation: 20 demonstrators explaining the use of digital technologies in the factory, classrooms for training, co-working spaces and events.
“Established thanks to the common vision of 48 partners - 43 private companies, 4 universities, 1 public body and with the support of the Ministry for Economic Development - and an investment of 22 million euros, MADE will make its headquarters a true Digital and Sustainable Factory, a platform of resources to bring Italian SMEs into contact with 4.0 technologies, helping and supporting them along the path of technological transition“ - stated Marco Taisch, President of MADE Competence Center Industria 4.0.

The MADE Educational Factory

The MADE Educational Factory space is divided into 20 demonstrators, each dedicated to a particular 4.0 technology: from collaborative robotics to big data, from remote maintenance to digital twinning, from energy efficiency to industrial cyber-security, from lean 4.0 to additive manufacturing, from artificial intelligence to IoT and the 5G network.
The demonstrators are in turn grouped into specific areas of expertise, all integrated and interconnected to form a digital and sustainable factory: Virtual design and new product development; Digital twin, Virtual commissioning, Lean manufacturing; Collaborative robotics and Intelligent worker assistance systems; Quality 4.0, Product tracking and Additive manufacturing; Smart monitoring and control of industrial processes, Smart energy monitoring and control, Smart maintenance; Industrial cyber security and Big data analytics.
All MADE's activities will be concentrated in this factory of the future: from orientation services aimed at companies to learn more about the various components of the 4.0 system, to training activities for companies wishing to approach the enabling technologies for Industry 4.0 directly at the demonstrators.

Orientation seminars and webinars

MADE is already organising numerous orientation seminars and webinars for users and Italian companies, with the involvement of its partners and numerous strategic alliances with trade associations such as Confindustria, Unioncamere, Confartigianato, CNA and Federlegno. From May to the end of November, 60 orientation events have already been held with around 3,000 participants, and many more are already planned.
The seminars and webinars organised by the MADE Competence Center Industria 4.0 cover numerous topics from Industrial Smart Working 4.0 to the Industrial Internet of Things, from predictive maintenance in Industry 4.0 to Industrial Artificial Intelligence. The calendar of events scheduled for next year will be available on the MADE website.  

Innovation, research and development projects for Industry 4.0

MADE Competence Center Industria 4.0 is also implementing 19 projects linked to the first call for bids that was promoted at the beginning of this year, aimed at “innovation, research, industrial and experimental development projects on the themes of Industry 4.0“.  Seventy-one companies from various sectors took part: 60% based in Lombardy and 40% in the rest of the country. Among these projects, subsidised at 50% and with a total value of 3 million, some are nearing completion and others are still in progress, but MADE is already thinking of setting up a second call for proposals that it will launch early next year.
To meet the financial needs of companies, especially in the current difficult situation due to the pandemic, MADE Competence Center Industria 4.0 offers support on the one hand on subsidised finance for investments, planning and training (which will take on considerable impetus according to the current indications for the 2021 Budget Law) and on the other has stipulated a framework agreement with Intesa Sanpaolo concerning funding opportunities for investments in research and innovation for MADE partner companies and those that will turn to the MADE Competence Center.