International Research Projects on Social Innovation Receive EU Funding
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In the PURESCRAP project, researchers will develop new solutions for better use of poorer quality scrap metal in steel production. They intend to use innovative sensor combinations and analyses, supported by artificial intelligence. The Social Research Center Dortmund will analyze users’ requirements with regard to training and human-machine interfaces and evaluate the social impact of the technologies. As Dr. Michael Kohlgrüber from the center points out: “The steel industry plays a pivotal role in achieving the goals of the European Green Deal with regard to the circular economy as well as the reduction of CO2 emissions. PURESCRAP makes an important contribution to the strategic research and innovation agenda of the Clean Steel Partnership, to which the center became associated in 2021.”
Project: PURESCRAP – Purity Improvement of Scrap Metal, from 1 November for three years
The ONE4ALL project is coordinated by a Spanish research institute. The international consortium wants to encourage the transformation of manufacturing companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in the direction of Industry 5.0. To this end, the project partners want to develop and use technologies such as collaborative robots and an AI-based support system. To prepare the workforce for this transformation too, it will be integrated in the technical development processes and undergo further training in digital skills. “We want to find out how the factory of the future needs to look not only in terms of technology but also for meeting social requirements and the challenges of sustainable development,” says Dr. Michael Kohlgrüber, describing the center’s role in the project.
Project: ONE4ALL – Agile and Modular Cyber-Physical Technologies Supported by Data-Driven Digital Tools to Reinforce Manufacturing Resilience, from 1 November for four years
For an inclusive and sustainable Industry 5.0
In the BRIDGES 5.0 project, a consortium coordinated by a Dutch research partner aims to gain new insights into the current and future skills required for an inclusive, digital and green Industry 5.0 and to develop learning concepts for the workforce that build on these results. To this end, the international team will carry out a quantitative mapping of job-related transformations and new sustainable and digital job profiles and conduct a qualitative study of the associated requirements. For this they will establish training and qualification offers and integrate stakeholders from different sectors into the project via a digital platform. “To achieve the project goals, we need to understand regional learning spaces better and further develop them in public-private partnership,” says Antonius Schröder from the Social Research Center Dortmund.
Project: BRIDGES 5.0 – Bridging Risks to an Inclusive Digital and Green Future by Enhancing workforce Skills for industry 5.0, from 1 October for four years
The ultimate goal of the CHESS project is to develop a Social Innovation Action Manual and apply it in four European regions in Slovenia, Italy, Lithuania and Greece. The objective is to master concrete regional challenges through social innovation (SI) and to network SI stakeholders with the innovation ecosystem already in place. The Social Research Center Dortmund will lead the development of a conceptual approach for ecosystemic social innovation as well as monitor and compare the regional results. As Dr. Karina Maldonado-Mariscal points out: “This is a great opportunity to put into practice our ecosystem approach to social innovation, which is based on our theoretical and empirical work over the past years, and to monitor how it works in very different European contexts.”
Project: CHESS – Change Hubs for Ecosystemic Social Solutions, from 1 October for two years