After a successful kick-off in May 2019 and the first events implemented, the DIGI-B-CUBE consortium had to cope with sanitary restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which made in situ meetings, such as matchmaking events, unfeasible or forced these onto a novel online format, which required a certain degree of adaption from the SMEs. Amidst the pandemic, a series of sectoral (involving SMEs from health, medicine and clinical sectors) and cross-sectoral (involving SMEs from health, clinical, IT, ICT, and automation sectors) webinars were organised by DIGI-B-CUBE partners, which covered a variety of topics within the project framework. In addition to discussions on different technological solutions for medical diagnostics, new funding opportunities, including the DIGI-B-CUBE Open Call, were introduced and explained. The webinars also facilitated development of consortia for project applications.
The open call for innovations was launched as originally planned in April 2020 and attracted 426 applications in total from SMEs based in 36 countries, from both European Union member states and Horizon 2020 associated countries.
In line with the Open Call objectives, SMEs submitted 307 ideas for Customised Solution Innovation Voucher (CSIV) projects and 119i deas for Prototyping Voucher (PV) projects. The purpose of the CSIVs was to foster cross-sectoral cooperation between SMEs to support joint development of a novel product or service based on an existing proven concept that addresses a digitalization challenge, while the PVs aimed at supporting the prototyping or conceptualising of a solution (e.g. with a proof of concept or feasibility study) for a digitalization challenge in the Medical Diagnostics and related value chains. With the help of external experts, the consortium selected 15 PV and 17 CSIV projects for funding, financially supporting unique SMEs from 18 European countries. In total, more than 2.4 million euros were awarded to support both PV and CSIV projects.
The DIGI-B-CUBE collaborative platform enabled the SMEs to handle all processes online. For example, SMEs could register for workshops and other DIGI-B-CUBE events and also directly apply for the respective travel vouchers. They could reach out for potential cooperation partners via the matchmaking module, whose semantic search function offered an entirely new experience in finding partners with the right knowledge and core expertise. SMEs were able to apply for all other types of vouchers using the platform and – if successful – they were able to manage the entire contractual and reporting process online. Last but not least, the platform also enabled the SMEs to access services like a digital maturity assessment tool and a knowledge repository to facilitate their digital transformation.
