by Ketty Segatti, former chair of the IP4FVG Steering Committee

2022 was a year of consolidation and growth for IP4FVG, the regional Digital Innovation Hub. During the past period of chairmanship of the Steering Committee, I had the pleasure of walking IP4FVG – which is playing an increasingly key role for digitalisation – through a development process geared towards the European model of Digital Innovation Hub.

What I mean specifically by consolidation is providing support to the establishment and launch of 70 digital workstreams (transformation or matching projects started with businesses), the completion of 85 digital assessments, the confirmation of hubs as demonstration facilities with 235 visits by businesses or institutions and 354 visitors. The Test4Digitalization call should be added to these services. It is designed to fund projects to demo, test and validate digital systems and technologies under real operating conditions on products or processes. These projects are carried out by SMEs with the support of qualified ICT consulting providers, and resulted in the submission of 32 applications worth more than € 1 million and in 15 projects being funded.

The goal of this effort is to make the research sector and the employment market increasingly interwoven and complementary, the mission being to facilitate liaison between those who study new technologies and those who work in the area with a view to creating development and employment. In this connection, support was provided to the region’s Institutes of Higher Technology in the creation of two new courses of study to meet precise demands from the productive fabric, which require highly specialised professional profiles.

As for growth, training was delivered through the AI-DLDA Summer School – which reached its 5^th edition in 2022 – where 46 participants attended, including 17 PhD Students from Italian universities and 29 businesses from 6 regional companies, and 7 scholarships were granted for the 3^rd edition of the 2021/2022 Intelligence and ICT Master’s at the University of Udine. Thanks to the resources of the European Social Fund, 45 training courses for businesses and professionals in the form of webinars and 4-hour in-person seminars were launched and attended by 422 participants. Through the PCTO – FUTURELAB project, 47 courses were conducted for 21 high schools with the participation of 953 students. Additional 8 PCTO courses were delivered – secondary school educational guidance for 7 high schools, where 136 students attended.

Investment in communication was also impressive, with especial reference to the social and network-related sphere: on YouTube we reached 250 hours of views with more than 3 thousand connected users, on Facebook we have about 3 thousand followers and on LinkedIn we have well exceeded the one thousand follower barrier, with an impressive increase in 2022 alone of about 30%.

Unfortunately, 2022 saw the unsuccessful outcome of the “IP4FVG-EDIH”project submitted in February 2022 under the Digital Europe Program (DIGITAL-2021-EDIH-01 call). Therefore, in the second half of 2022, efforts got underway to submit a new “IP4FVG EDIH” project proposal filed in November 2022 as part of the “European Digital Innovation Hubs” notice – DIGITAL-2022-EDIH03 of the Digital Europe 2021-27 Programme. The results will be disclosed in early 2023. In the new proposal, greater emphasis was placed on the goal of adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI), High Performance Computing (HPC), and Cybersecurity (CS) solutions to increase digital skills and accelerate reliance on the best advanced digital technologies by SMEs and start-ups as well as in leading sectors for the Friuli Venezia Giulia economy, such as Manufacturing, Agrobiotech, Energy and Environment.

The additional regional resources available in 2022 made it possible to (i) make an extraordinary additional investment on the equipment of the IP4FVG hubs in the region of € 85,000 and (ii) launch a second Test4Digitalization call to fund demo projects, testing and validation of digital systems and technologies under real operating conditions on products or processes carried out by SMEs with the support of qualified ICT consulting providers, with a total budget of € 400,000.  A total of 35 applications worth about 1.2 million were received.

In conclusion, the year under review proved broadly positive in terms of results achieved and I welcome this opportunity to thank those who lent substance and credibility to IP4FVG and the new Chairman for the year 2023, Roberto Siagri, to whom I had the pleasure of handing over the baton.