Periodic Reporting for period 3 - RICAIP (Research and Innovation Centre on Advanced Industrial Production)
Berichtszeitraum: 2022-03-01 bis 2023-06-30
RICAIP, the Research and Innovation Centre on Advanced Industrial Production, is a newly established international distributed research centre in the area of advanced artificial intelligence and industrial robotics. RICAIP is hosted at the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics, and Cybernetics (CIIRC) of the Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU) with direct participation of the project partners (CEITEC BUT - Central European Institute of Technology at the Brno University of Technology, DFKI - German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, and ZeMA - Center for Mechatronics and Automation Technology).
The aim of the RICAIP project is to develop a strong cooperation at international level evolving the concept of Industry 4.0 and addressing current needs, gaps and demands of the industrial sector and society. RICAIP will built the very first multi-site/distributed experimental facility in Europe, representing virtually interconnected testbeds (in Prague, Brno and Saarbrücken) into a common integrated R&D infrastructure. The so called RICAIP Industrial Testbed Core will enable new, smart, safe, sophisticated and geographically distributed operations challenging the current manufacturing concepts and evolving a new paradigm for industrial production.
RICAIP Centre is focusing on the prominent research field of advanced manufacturing with strong scientific impact; boosting the scientific excellence and innovation potential (with attention of less developed partners); promoting interdisciplinary research and collaboration with non-technical fields to tackle the societal challenges reflecting gender imbalance in technical fields and changing paradigm of the work alignment; triggering the positive spill-over effect on the industrial and societal ecosystem; enhancing the priority area of Industry 4.0 and industrial competitiveness through a new quality of collaboration and novel scientific, innovation and business strategies of a distributed testbed facility; addressing highly ranked challenges of the EU economy and society; benefiting from top-level governmental support, traditional intensive relations, and strong social and economic ties between the Czech Republic and Germany. The Centre is driven by the quality and excellence, clear social-economic benefits, longstanding sustainability, sound and autonomous management and trust.
RICAIP project has an impact on academia (in terms of research excellence, education, internationalisation and visibility), industry (innovation potential, global value chains and networks, competitiveness) as well as society itself (new job opportunities, gender and ethical dimension of research, public engagement, etc.). RICAIP will also enable strengthened access to creativity, to development of new approaches and research avenues as well as mobility opportunities via mutually beneficial actions with the specific expertise of each partner in the consortium.
The aim of the RICAIP project is to develop a strong cooperation at international level evolving the concept of Industry 4.0 and addressing current needs, gaps and demands of the industrial sector and society. RICAIP will built the very first multi-site/distributed experimental facility in Europe, representing virtually interconnected testbeds (in Prague, Brno and Saarbrücken) into a common integrated R&D infrastructure. The so called RICAIP Industrial Testbed Core will enable new, smart, safe, sophisticated and geographically distributed operations challenging the current manufacturing concepts and evolving a new paradigm for industrial production.
RICAIP Centre is focusing on the prominent research field of advanced manufacturing with strong scientific impact; boosting the scientific excellence and innovation potential (with attention of less developed partners); promoting interdisciplinary research and collaboration with non-technical fields to tackle the societal challenges reflecting gender imbalance in technical fields and changing paradigm of the work alignment; triggering the positive spill-over effect on the industrial and societal ecosystem; enhancing the priority area of Industry 4.0 and industrial competitiveness through a new quality of collaboration and novel scientific, innovation and business strategies of a distributed testbed facility; addressing highly ranked challenges of the EU economy and society; benefiting from top-level governmental support, traditional intensive relations, and strong social and economic ties between the Czech Republic and Germany. The Centre is driven by the quality and excellence, clear social-economic benefits, longstanding sustainability, sound and autonomous management and trust.
RICAIP project has an impact on academia (in terms of research excellence, education, internationalisation and visibility), industry (innovation potential, global value chains and networks, competitiveness) as well as society itself (new job opportunities, gender and ethical dimension of research, public engagement, etc.). RICAIP will also enable strengthened access to creativity, to development of new approaches and research avenues as well as mobility opportunities via mutually beneficial actions with the specific expertise of each partner in the consortium.
The RICAIP project was officially launched on September 24, 2019. The beginning of its implementation was focused mainly on the Centre institutionalisation and on setting up administration and support functions of RICAIP.
Its 4 tenure track holders now have defined the workplans and are actively involved in RICAIP work and cooperate on the use-cases. In this period, active work on use-cases has started in cooperation among all the partners.
Following its adopted RICAIP EU Roadmap strategy, the proposal for RICAIP to enter the Czech national roadmap of Large Research Infrastructures was prepared and submitted to the Czech Ministry. However, all partners have successfully been able to join European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs). CIIRC CTU, as EIT Manufacturing Hub for the Czech Republic, is also implementing a series of innovation projects aimed at developing innovative products and services for SMEs in manufacturing.
The approach “Education by projects” is now being applied using a wide range of internal projects with industry-driven topics, and is more explained and defined in Internal Grant Scheme documentation, as an important HR development tool. Also, the Career Development Plan was defined, and the very first internships took place in the Prague and Brno testbeds. In order to strengthen its Scientific Capacity, RICAIP has made an important step towards building the internal capacities and expertise in the various fields so that its target groups can profit in the long run, based on the established Educational and training tools. Also, RICAIP has organized several trainings and workshops for the researchers and shall continue to do so.
Dissemination strategy was defined, followed by an internal update after 18 months. The corporate identity of RICAIP was defined within the Communication strategy, and this period characterizes the several successfully organized RICAIP Seminar Series which continue in future. As a living document, the preparation for the first update of the Data Management Plan has been started after completing the two years of the project.
RICAIP Testbeds were visited by several prominent research experts and important delegations, such as the German Federal Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck at CIIRC CTU, the German Ambassador Mr. Andreas Künne at CEITEC BUT, the Executive Vice-President of EC Frans Timmermans at CIIRC CTU, etc.
Its 4 tenure track holders now have defined the workplans and are actively involved in RICAIP work and cooperate on the use-cases. In this period, active work on use-cases has started in cooperation among all the partners.
Following its adopted RICAIP EU Roadmap strategy, the proposal for RICAIP to enter the Czech national roadmap of Large Research Infrastructures was prepared and submitted to the Czech Ministry. However, all partners have successfully been able to join European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs). CIIRC CTU, as EIT Manufacturing Hub for the Czech Republic, is also implementing a series of innovation projects aimed at developing innovative products and services for SMEs in manufacturing.
The approach “Education by projects” is now being applied using a wide range of internal projects with industry-driven topics, and is more explained and defined in Internal Grant Scheme documentation, as an important HR development tool. Also, the Career Development Plan was defined, and the very first internships took place in the Prague and Brno testbeds. In order to strengthen its Scientific Capacity, RICAIP has made an important step towards building the internal capacities and expertise in the various fields so that its target groups can profit in the long run, based on the established Educational and training tools. Also, RICAIP has organized several trainings and workshops for the researchers and shall continue to do so.
Dissemination strategy was defined, followed by an internal update after 18 months. The corporate identity of RICAIP was defined within the Communication strategy, and this period characterizes the several successfully organized RICAIP Seminar Series which continue in future. As a living document, the preparation for the first update of the Data Management Plan has been started after completing the two years of the project.
RICAIP Testbeds were visited by several prominent research experts and important delegations, such as the German Federal Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck at CIIRC CTU, the German Ambassador Mr. Andreas Künne at CEITEC BUT, the Executive Vice-President of EC Frans Timmermans at CIIRC CTU, etc.
RICAIP has started a successful collaboration with the two new partners: Technical University of Ostrava and the Fraunhofer IWU.
As a part of strengthening its scientific capacity, RICAIP has organized several trainings and workshops for researchers. At the same time, Tenure Track position holders continue to work and contribute to the work on use-cases.
The RICAIP project follows the national strategic priorities of both participating countries, and provides benefits to academia and industry as well as society.
Aimed to reinforce its potential impact, RICAIP has made its first step towards the ESFRI Roadmap by applying for the Czech national call for Large Research Infrastructures (LRI), and RICAIP Partners CTU and BUT are jointly participating, under the Digital Europe Programme, in the unique AI ‘Testing and Experimentation Facilities’ (TEFs) project AI MATTERS.
RICAIP continues to closely cooperate with networks and initiatives such as CLAIRE, ELLIS, EIT Manufacturing, etc.
As a part of strengthening its scientific capacity, RICAIP has organized several trainings and workshops for researchers. At the same time, Tenure Track position holders continue to work and contribute to the work on use-cases.
The RICAIP project follows the national strategic priorities of both participating countries, and provides benefits to academia and industry as well as society.
Aimed to reinforce its potential impact, RICAIP has made its first step towards the ESFRI Roadmap by applying for the Czech national call for Large Research Infrastructures (LRI), and RICAIP Partners CTU and BUT are jointly participating, under the Digital Europe Programme, in the unique AI ‘Testing and Experimentation Facilities’ (TEFs) project AI MATTERS.
RICAIP continues to closely cooperate with networks and initiatives such as CLAIRE, ELLIS, EIT Manufacturing, etc.