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Istanbul Chamber of Industry Brings MIND4MACHINES Project to Life

15.06.2021
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The Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ICI) is launching the MIND4MACHINES project as part of the EU Horizon 2020 Program. Within the scope of the MIND4MACHINES project, it is aimed to support SMEs that develop digitalization technologies and solutions for the manufacturing industry. The project supports SMEs operating in the field of information and communication technologies to initiate collaborations with other stakeholders, develop innovative solution ideas in the digitalization value chain, and perform validation and demonstration activities to turn these ideas into products close to the market. The kick-off meeting of the project was hosted by the ICI Chairman Erdal Bahçıvan with the participation of TÜBİTAK President Prof. Hasan Mandal, and representatives of the joint institutions and stakeholders.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Erdal Bahçıvan, Chairman of the ICI Board, said that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a great impact on both personal and business life. “We would talk about the positive aspects of the business today despite of many negative effects. We focused on working online during the pandemic. Even though we miss face-to-face events, we are able to hold digital meetings from nine different countries today.”

Emphasizing that another impact of Covid-19 is the acceleration of the transition to digital technology, Bahçıvan said that the MIND4MACHINES project has gained even more meaning as a result. “We are proud to be a part of the digital transformation of the industry with this project, which we support smart information technologies for the manufacturing industry. Thee digitalization of the industry has become an important topic in Türkiye and Europe in recent years” said Bahçıvan.

“We train our members with digital transformation mini MBA trainings and support companies in their digitalization journey with the Digital Transformation Office. We are working on the Digital Transformation Center of Excellence and companies and start-ups will benefit from digital transformation with this center.

Emphasizing that sustainability is one of the major issues along with digitalization, Bahçıvan stated that countries that exclude climate change and environmental and social problems from the understanding of development will lose in international competition in the new world order. Bahçıvan said that the digitalization of the industry directly influences sustainable growth and that the MIND4MACHINES project would be an important element supporting this objective.

Later, TÜBİTAK Chairman Prof. Hasan Mandal also gave a speech on the project. Mandal congratulated all stakeholders for the success of the project and the ICI for its coordination. Explaining that the understanding of innovation has transformed, Mandal said that this is the transition from linear innovation to renewable innovation, and that open innovation has come to the fore rather than closed innovation. Stating that TUBITAK wants to transform its innovation ecosystem, Mandal noted that the projects focused on the output from economic, social and national security aspects.

“We want the co-production model to dominate the ecosystem. The companies that want funds and support for their projects should come together and ask for support by working together. ICI is a great partner on the matter and we aim to help SMEs improve their production processes by using digital technology. Digital transformation will drive companies both to develop technologies and develop products," he said.

Then, Eda Çığ, Senior Engineer at Istanbul Chamber of Industry and Technology, made a presentation detailing the MIND4MACHINES project. Milena Stoyanova from EISMEA then gave a presentation titled Project Management at Horizon 2020. Project stakeholders took the floor and shared some insights about the project.