The project submission phase of the PRIA_I4.0 call for projects ended on June 8, 2020, when more than 175 companies applied to access the three million euro grant that will be activated in July by CIM4.0.

The numbers

More than one hundred projects from 17 regions involving 175 companies, these are the numbers of the PRIA_I4.0 call for proposals. The total value of the projects is more than 40 million euros, with a request for grant funding of about 18 million euros. The available funding, just over 3 million euros, will therefore be able to cover less than one in six requests.

The numbers speak for themselves: the Italian industry, on the Transition 4.0 front, needs to “ground” the results of research, and this is demonstrated by the proactivity of companies and the large number of proposals received during the opening period of the call, which, let us remember, was largely characterized by travel restrictions and operational difficulties for many companies. The proposed projects came from all over Italy, which confirms the national relevance of the Competence Centers.

Evaluation and publication of results

The Competence Center’s commitment is to promptly complete and select the winning projects for which grant funding up to a maximum of 50 percent of the costs incurred will be activated. This is intense and complex work, to be carried out with absolute scientific rigor. The competence center will have a Scientific Committee and an Industrial Committee working in tandem to share a comprehensive evaluation. The two committees are composed of academics and professionals of absolute value.

This is the most relevant call for proposals of CIM4.0, published to select applied research projects in the field of Industry 4.0 and stimulate the digitization of our country. With this Call we are going to exhaust the budget made available to our competence center by the MISE to support technology transfer. Probably, given the numbers of participants, we will be forced to exclude from funding many good projects that would have entailed a certainly positive impact. It is clear that the funds we have available are not enough to cover the real needs expressed by Italian industry, which, especially at this time, needs special attention and adequate investment. Our hope is to intercept still available National or Regional resources to increase the economic capacity of this call. In the coming days, in parallel, we will also start with this verification

Enrico Pisino, CEO CIM4.0