DIH4CAT

Non-profit regional innovation ecosystem formed by the main agents supporting digitisation in Catalonia.

The Digital Innovation Hub of Catalonia (DIH4CAT) connects the main technology infrastructure of the region to accelerate technology transformation towards a more green and digital industry.

DIH4CAT is mainly aimed at Catalan technology start-ups, public administrations and SMEs, with a special focus on manufacturing companies and technology providers.

Catalonia has a strong industrial base with 35.339 companies (99% SMEs), which represent 18.1% of Spanish industrial enterprises. In 2019, data shows that only 16% of those companies had adopted advanced digital technologies.

Besides, Catalonia has more than 1.700 start-ups (66% of Industry 4.0), facing challenges such as access to technological infrastructure, time-to-market and investment.

Eurecat’s Consultancy Department validates and manages the catalogue of technical support services, guaranteeing the adequacy of internal processes in the allocation of technological services and ensuring their execution. For its part, the Training Department provides the necessary digital skills to SMEs and public entities for the total digitisation of their activities.

The New Manufacturing Processes and the Robotics and Automation Units are involved in the robotics node and the CIDAI participates in the artificial intelligence node.

The DIH4CAT consortium is led by the Government of Catalonia and is made up of seven technology partners, a business school and two industrial employer associations. It is complemented by 19 private companies.

DIH4CAT has a very well-defined collaboration strategy at an international level, developed through actions such as presence in most relevant European networks, participation in more than 50 previous projects, five memorandums of understanding (MoUs) specifically developed for this call and seamless collaboration with the Enterprise Europe Network.