Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing for Sustainable Applications at SMEs

Project Information

AIRISE

Grant agreement ID: 101092312

DOI

10.3030/101092312

EC signature date 28 November 2022

Start date 1 January 2023

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• Digital, Industry and Space

Total cost

€ 7 738 776,25

EU contribution

€ 7 738 776,25

Coordinated by

PANEPISTIMIO PATRON
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - AIRISE (Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing for Sustainable Applications at SMEs)

Reporting period: 2024-07-01 to 2025-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

AIRISE creates a framework to support European SMEs in the uptake of Artificial Intelligence applied to manufacturing. Open Calls allow SMEs to easily access AI expert competence through first-stage assessments that identify status and potential, and through further proposals that support them in running Validation Experiments and Pilot Applications. The ambition of the project is to support more than 500 cases from SMEs and mid-caps on key AI applications, reaching a wide geographical coverage across European countries including specific outreach towards EU-13 regions.
AIRISE activities are helping SMEs to achieve real-world AI applications in manufacturing by providing best practices in the digital chain for manufacturing of functional parts, covering certifiable, robust and explainable AI, trustworthy data integration, merging models and data in AI, computational AI hardware and software, decision-making for engineering systems, and AI systems engineering. The AI services offered by AIRISE to SMEs across all manufacturing areas are grouped around four AI technology building blocks, which come together and integrate in each specific SME application context.
Across five completed Open Calls, 75 SME-led Pilot Applications and Validation Experiments assessing the implementation of AI-supported manufacturing have been selected and contracted, drawing from 235 submitted proposals spanning 29 countries. In parallel, the AIRISE ecosystem provides SMEs with a structured entry point into AI adoption, supported by a network of trained Ambassadors acting as regional multipliers. The scale of reach achieved, with over 11,600 SMEs informed and engaged by M36, underlines both the significance of the identified need and the effectiveness of the project's pathway to impact.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During Period 2 (M19-M36) the AIRISE consortium shifted focus from design and setup to full-scale execution and maturation of all mechanisms established in Period 1. Highlights include:
- Update and streamlining of Ethics ALTAI & RDM checklists, simplifying language and procedures to make them more accessible to SMEs, and refining the review workflow to include both the Experiment Controller and a dedicated Ethics expert from TU/e.
- Further development and population of the AIRISE ecosystem across all four areas, with notable additions including the AI Toolbox, the Conformity Assessment Tool, a curated standards landscape section, and a training platform made available through the project website.
- Establishment of a CEN/CENELEC JTC-21 liaisonship, with representation across all 6 sub-committees, providing the consortium with direct insight into emerging AI-related standards and regulations affecting European manufacturing SMEs.
- Identification, classification and documentation of 68 services (57 technical, 11 training) across 6 service areas, covering the full manufacturing landscape from Design & Engineering to Supply Chain, provided by consortium.
- Validation of technical services across 75 Validation Experiments and Pilot Applications, spanning a wide range of manufacturing sectors and AI technologies.
- Execution of Open Calls 4 and 5, each structured around two cutoff dates (every 3 months), receiving a total of 185 proposals across both calls and selecting an additional 36 Validation Experiments and 7 Pilots for funding, bringing cumulative totals to 235 submitted proposals, 60 Validation Experiments and 15 Pilots across 29 countries.
- Full implementation of the Ambassador Programme, with 20 applications received across multiple cutoff dates and 7 Ambassadors selected, trained and deployed. Ambassadors collectively organised or participated in more than 40 events, reaching over 11,600 SMEs and conducting 200 assessments.
- Delivery of 18 training courses and editions to a total of 217 participants directly by consortium partners, with additional training delivered by Ambassadors to their SME networks.
- Introduction of updated experiment tracking and monitoring procedures, including revised Ethics checklist submission milestones, a simplified tutor conference reporting template, and an escalation strategy to address unresponsive SMEs.
- Completion of 4 Ambassador programmes, with final reporting received and KPIs reviewed; 3 Ambassadors still active at M36. SME-reach KPI target significantly exceeded, with 11,628 SMEs reached against a target of 1,260.
- Publication of 9 peer-reviewed scientific outputs (6 conference papers, 2 journal articles, 1 book chapter), with 2 additional papers in the pipeline and a joint white paper planned together with sister projects WASABI and CIRCULOOS.
- Creation of a preliminary exploitation plan, with concepts for paid digital tools and service provisioning.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

AIRISE does not directly aim at developing breakthrough technological solutions in the field of AI; instead, the goal is to transfer what is already known and at the state of art to manufacturing SME shopfloors. That being said, AI services offered to SMEs are further developed and tested, increasing their TRL and maturity through industrial applications. Moreover, AIRISE is developing two tools from scratch (“AI Assessment tool” and “AI Conformity tool”) that are extremely relevant towards assessing current positioning of SMEs in the AI landscape and assisting them in creating a roadmap towards AI implementation. These tools extend beyond the current state of art, and the consortium is already exploring the options for exploitation once these tools are tested.