Digital Innovation SMART eHUB

Overview

Digital Innovation Smart eHUB (hereinafter Smart eHUB) is a non-for-profit consortium created by three non-governamental organisations in collaboration with relevant stakeholders in the regions of Bucharest-Ilfov and South-Muntenia. After its creation, the DIH benefited from the co-financing of the European Commission through DIHELP.

Smart eHUB mission is to provide digital services to private sector companies, in particular, but also to public sector, able to offer the best expertise and skills in technologies needed for digital transformation, such as: Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS), Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Digital Services Outsourcing, data processing, IoT, IIoT, Industry 4.0, M2M, Artificial Intelligence, robotics, cloud computing, laser technologies, 3D printing, blockchain, systems of spatial or geographical information and others.

Smart eHUB founding members are three non-governmental/ non-for-profit organisations:

“APTE - ELINCLUS Cluster”,

“University Entrepreneurial Center USH ProBusiness” and

“Smart Alliance Innovation Technology Cluster”

(all 3 are the DIH founding members and coordinators).

The Smart eHUB Consortium includes also a series of regional and national organisations, such as: Regional Development Agency Bucharest Ilfov, Regional Development Agency South-Muntenia, University POLITEHNICA Bucharest, ROMANIAN ASSOCIATION FOR ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS, Association for Promoting Electronics Technology, CETTI, Clustero - representative body of clusters, PROSME, National Union of Employers in Romania, IND-AGRO-POL Cluster, Magurele Science Park, etc.

Smart eHub addresses regional digitisation issues by providing SMEs one-stop-shop for tailor made digitalization services in their regional proximity. The coordinators offer at their best the suitable capacity and competences to provide digitalisation services to the regional ecosystem which do not have a clear perception of digitalisation benefits. In this static environment, lagging behind European countries, Smart eHub comes as a cost-effective and high scaling solution which help companies to be more open towards digitization. 

The three partners have a rich experience in organizing the know-how and technology transfer activities and benefit from the interaction between business and the academic environment, as follows:

1. APTE-ELINCLUS - Electronic Innovation Cluster is a cluster whose industrial composition is represented by SME companies involved in the development of electronic products for various fields, such as: telecommunication, intelligent systems, automation, monitoring and control, high precision measurements, and so on. ELINCLUS Cluster has been formed starting from the structure of economic relationships existing between CETTI (Center for Electronic Technology and Interconnection Techniques), who has developed a Technological and Business Incubator, entity accredited in National Innovation and Technology Transfer Network– ReNITT and companies from the Bucureşti-Ilfov region, by associating with Bucharest-Ilfov Regional Development Agency, ARIES and APTE. The Association for Promoting Electronic Technology - APTE realised several surveys, studies, strategies and policy papers to support the innovation process and culture for the electronic and software industry of Romania. For its activity APTE has received the Silver Label from ESCA (The European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis) since 2016. APTE is member of the Romanian Cluster Association CLUSTERO, being in the managing board of the association and being actively involved in the annual organization of the National Cluster Conference.

APTE received since 2015 the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification for Quality Management System. The evaluation was done by TÜV (Technische Überwachung Hessen GmbH), an international certification body.

To be continuously in contact with the newest standards regarding electronic industry worldwide, APTE became in 2014 an IPC member (Association Connecting Electronics Industry). The contact with IPC allowed, by receiving the needed information, to build up a professional education and training environment, strong support for creating a proper human resource, mandatory to enhance the competitiveness of the electronic industry in the European Union.

2. USH Pro Business has a unique position in the region and nationwide, as a university entrepreneurial centre. USH ProBusiness experience and the permanent connection with both the academic environment and the business environment allows for the optimal connection of scientific and academic resources to those of the business environment, as we find that the biggest problem for putting in the value of Romania's immense potential in the innovation area is market cooperation between the scientific resource (researchers) and entrepreneurs. USH ProBusiness has actively contributed to the creation, development and promotion of clusters: BIO DANUBIUS, BIO CONCEPT PRAHOVA VALLEY, CERMAND (Renewable Energy Center on the Black Sea and Danube), DANUBE ENGINEERING HUB and CREATIVE BUCHAREST. 

3. Smart Alliance Cluster (Bronze label, Cluster Management Excellence) addresses innovation and digitalization issues through various initiatives, partnerships and events directed towards the SME ICT sector and through the Smart Alliance Innovation Summit, an annual event, that brings together a continuously increasing number (+500) of C-level business people

The goal of Smart eHUB partners is to create a platform of networking and connectivity between successful SMEs, leaders in the Romanian ICT landscape and companies that need to become more competitive and innovative through digitalisation.

The smart specialization in the region is still a policy target (in 2019), designed at the top, not yet fully understood by the SMEs sector. Through DIH we act as a catalyzer of a better entrepreneurial specialization process in the region. Pursuing an assessment and selection process in the strategy, six sectors of smart specialization that have the highest potential for innovation and development have been selected. Each sector may be capitalized through multiple economic, technologic and scientific activities:

Agriculture and food industry: with emphasis on traditional bio products; Bioeconomy, Biomedicine and precision farming (GIS services, large data processing and imaging)
Tourism and cultural identity: there is a huge potential for management and information management for integration of tourist offers on Curtea de Argeş – Câmpulung – Rucăr – Dâmboviţa – Bran Bridge in a regional value chain
Smart Cities: Information management and management technology, computing and imaging; Production of solar panels; Urban Mobility Plans; Waste management plans.
Wood Processing & Furniture: Production& Implementation of assistive technologies for production processes, quality & design
Textile and apparel
Automotive: Production of automotive subassemblies; Production of wiring; Engineering and related technical consultancy activities, research development in other natural sciences and engineering.

The DIH’s objectives (similar to Coordinators’ objectives) are fully aligned to the smart specialization areas of the region, considering the existing ecosystem of innovation such as university education infrastructure of Polytechnic University/ Electronic Faculty, Spiru Haret University, knowledge transfer centers of USH Probusiness (located in Bucharest, Ploiesti, Craiova, Constanta, Brasov, Campulung), ICT competencies and expertise in software development of Smart Alliance members, and ELINCLUS Cluster.

Smart eHub strategy is focused in strengthening the innovation ecosystem, creating and implementing regional strategies in order to promote digitalization and smart specialization.

All coordinating partners are focused on ICT based creative industries:

-           The USH ProBusiness has experience in providing business services, and developing an innovative ecosystem. The center's activity is aimed at entrepreneurial development services for facilitating the market access of its clients. It was authorized for creative industries through the Order of the Minister of Research and Innovation no.150 / 15.03.2017.

-           Production, distribution, utilities, financial services, telecommunications, public administration, education or human resources are just a small part of the economical, administrative and educational areas that Smart Alliance Cluster covers with IT products and services.

-           ELINCLUS Cluster has experience in supporting companies active in the field of electronics, sensors, ICT, applied mainly to automotive IoT space, mechatronics, precision agriculture, telecommunications for the entire innovation projects lifecycle.

In February 2019 Smart eHUB was selected by DIHELP Academy to be part of their coaching and mentoring programme.

 

The main targets of Smart eHUB are:

SMEs in the South Muntenia & Bucharest region - with 56,908 SMEs in South Muntenia and 131,334 SMEs in Bucharest-Ilfov, out of which to focus on innovative Start-ups (that lack resources for digitalisation) and SMEs which have issues to scaleup their business. The SME sector in target is split following smart specialisation domains: Agriculture & Food processing, Furniture & wood processing, Textile & apparel, etc. At the same group are targeted cluster managers which can act as brokers to reach the companies inside their