Change2Twin (C2T) is an H2020 I4MS project which has helped manufacturing SMEs in their digitalization efforts to deploy digital twins. Digital twins are one of the big game-changers in manufacturing and allow companies to significantly increase their global competitiveness. A digital twin is a digital replica of an artefact, process or service that is so accurate that it can be used as a basis for taking decisions. The digital replica is often connected with the physical world by streams of data. Therefore, C2T has offered manufacturing SMEs a tailor-made solution reaching from analysis of their potential, Individual Mentoring Plan to ready-to-use recipe for digital twin deployment. Digital Innovation Hubs, and from the end of 2022 also European Digital Innovation Hubs, have been important partners in this process and facilitate the uptake of the latest digital twin technologies across the European Union.
Objective
The main ambition of Change2Twin project has been to ensure that 100% of manufacturing companies in Europe have access to 100% of technologies needed to deploy a digital twin. This ambition continued by the post project Change2Twin community that is being established at the start of 2025.
C2T is adopting the best practices developed so far in I4MS:
• Helping manufacturing SMEs in their digitalization efforts.
• Focusing on local support provided by DIHs.
• Keeping cascade grants as accessible as possible.
Specifically, we have focused on three sub-objectives:
• Developing and providing a truly end-to-end service to the manufacturing SMEs where the end user receives from its local, trusted party (DIH/EDIH) a thorough analysis of the digitalization potential and a cross-border, ready-to-use recipe for implementation involving both components' providers and an integrator.
• Providing an architecture-agnostic technology marketplace with dedicated knowledge models supporting the DIH preparing the recipe for a complete solution in selecting the best components and most suitable providers for the SME.
• Finding the minimal interoperable model facilitating modularity, composability and interchangeability of components used, regardless of the individual architectures or frameworks.
C2T will/has delivered:
• 4 Pilots proving the concept and 2 Open Calls for application experiments with a selection and support programme.
• A new benchmarked service model facilitating DIHs/EDIHs in providing support to manufacturing companies.
• A Pan-European marketplace populated with the state-of-the-art service providers that create coverage for end-to-end digital twinning solutions.
