Agoria, Sirris and six other partners have officially launched the WalHub project, co-funded by Europe, with support from Wallonia. Together, these partners boasting complementary expertise share the ambition to accelerate digital transformation in manufacturing companies in Wallonia, through increased awareness and the adoption of key technologies.
The recent study conducted by Gartner and Roland Berger* takes stock of the manufacturing sector in Wallonia, highlighting the challenges and the obstacles to overcome in order to satisfy the ambitions set forth in the Industry of the Future programme, developed by Wallonia’s digital strategy, Digital Wallonia.
Technologies play a major role. Integrating the supply chain, an important lever for industrial competitiveness, completes the offer and addresses an issue already identified in the region via around 200 audits. It transpires that, in 55% of audited companies, control over the supply chain remains at a low level. WalHub fully intends to reverse this trend.
WalHub is one of the 151 European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) to be selected and co-funded by the European Commission. With support from the Walloon government, via the Digital Wallonia strategy, its mission is to facilitate and promote digital transformation among Walloon manufacturing companies, by accelerating the adoption of 4 key technology enablers:
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Artificial intelligence
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IoT technologies (connected objects)
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High-Performance Computing (HPC)
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Cybersecurity applied to production processes and the supply chain
Unique integrated approach
WalHub is seeking to boost the level of ‘technological maturity’ of supported businesses, through an offer of consolidated services, awareness and demonstration of proof of concept. WalHub’s experts concentrate on manufacturing SME production activities with specific and particular focus on all activities associated with their supply chain. Although often neglected by certain companies, it is an essential dimension for achieving continuity and market resilience. One of the particularities of EDIHs lies in WalHub’s customer journey, opening access to experimentation and test before invest. Hence, it aims at demystifying digital technologies, at reducing risks and facilitating decision-making for accompanied businesses throughout their digital transformation. Thanks to its ‘skills & training’ module, WalHub’s offer also places the human factor at the heart of its approach, by providing specific support in identifying training needs. Furthermore, WalHub pays special attention to identifying and networking with the most appropriate private and public partners, both in Wallonia and throughout Europe. Finally, it offers a genuine approach towards materialisation, reinforced by support to mobilise the necessary financial tools to implement such transformation.
Target market and needs
The EDIH Industry 4.0 WalHub project is targeting six manufacturing sector fields: agrifood, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, chemistry, rubber and plastics, aviation and aerospace, machine/equipment manufacturing technologies, and the wood and construction sector.
In a quest to tangibly demonstrate the opportunities offered to industry by these technologies, WalHub organises its action through physical demonstrators on 3 strategic sites: A6K (Charleroi), the Liège Science Park and Galaxia (Transinne).
Partners
WalHub is backed by a consortium of organisations with complementary expertise: Agoria, the Belgian federation for the technology industry and the project’s coordinator, the MecaTech and Logistics in Wallonia competitiveness clusters, Sirris research centres, Cenaero, CETIC and Multitel, together with Idelux and the Agence du Numérique digital agency. This consortium is the pledge of expertise and a cross-sectoral approach where each partner can muster its own networks whilst reaching out to all sectors in the country, hence optimising exposure and interaction with a maximum of companies.
About WalHub
For further information on WalHub and access to all proposed services, consult our websiteWalHub.
