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.
