Periodic Reporting for period 3 - KITT4SME (platform-enabled KITs of arTificial intelligence FOR an easy uptake by SMEs)
Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2024-03-31
THE PROBLEM
SMEs are among the companies which could benefit the most from the opportunities brought by artificial intelligence solutions while, at the same time, being the ones with the least capabilities and resources to embrace them. Only one of five is highly digitized and only 20% offer ICT training to their employee. AI-based implementations need to work on well-prepared data from credible sources, which the SMEs usually lack of. SMEs and mid-caps in the manufacturing sector need support in the use of secure digital technologies in their production processes, products and business models to enable personalised products and to facilitate cost-effective small-scale production.
KITT4SME specifically targets European SMEs and mid-caps to provide them with scope-tailored and industry-ready hardware, software and organisational kits, delivered as a modularly customisable digital platform, that seamlessly introduce artificial intelligence in their production systems.
OBJECTIVES
1- To make available to SMEs ready-to-use customised digital packages for embracing AI opportunities at affordable prices and proper scale
2- To seamlessly fuse AI and human problem-solving expertise into a single digital brain with unprecedented shop floor orchestration capabilities
3- To build a competence development centre that advances European workforce in line with digital skills trends and workers’ aspirations
4- To extend the offer of local ecosystem so that players with different competencies can thrive while collaborating in the creation of customisable AI kits
5- To support standardisation in the fields of sovereign data economy and characterisation of workers skills and training experiences.
SMEs are among the companies which could benefit the most from the opportunities brought by artificial intelligence solutions while, at the same time, being the ones with the least capabilities and resources to embrace them. Only one of five is highly digitized and only 20% offer ICT training to their employee. AI-based implementations need to work on well-prepared data from credible sources, which the SMEs usually lack of. SMEs and mid-caps in the manufacturing sector need support in the use of secure digital technologies in their production processes, products and business models to enable personalised products and to facilitate cost-effective small-scale production.
KITT4SME specifically targets European SMEs and mid-caps to provide them with scope-tailored and industry-ready hardware, software and organisational kits, delivered as a modularly customisable digital platform, that seamlessly introduce artificial intelligence in their production systems.
OBJECTIVES
1- To make available to SMEs ready-to-use customised digital packages for embracing AI opportunities at affordable prices and proper scale
2- To seamlessly fuse AI and human problem-solving expertise into a single digital brain with unprecedented shop floor orchestration capabilities
3- To build a competence development centre that advances European workforce in line with digital skills trends and workers’ aspirations
4- To extend the offer of local ecosystem so that players with different competencies can thrive while collaborating in the creation of customisable AI kits
5- To support standardisation in the fields of sovereign data economy and characterisation of workers skills and training experiences.
WP1 - The stakeholders of the project and their needs have been identified in detail and the requirements that an AI solution should satisfy are determined. The overall structure of the pilot experiments, the validation framework and the user journey has been designed. The necessary security and privacy requirements for the platform have been listed.
WP2 - The platform backbone was provided, focusing on architecture, data interoperability, security and cloud infrastructure, resulting in an open-source platform. Subsequently, the focus shifted to the operation, maintenance, and support of the platform for Open Calls and pilot implementations, improving the resilience, flexibility and maintainability of key AI applications and infrastructure services.
WP3 -Efforts have focused enhancing the RAMP marketplace with user flow features such as interaction with the platform integrator, customization, refinement of the kit components and negotiation of the contract. These features have been integrated and tested on the KITT4SME live platform, with APIs that facilitate future updates and extensions. RAMP now supports the user journey in three ways.
WP4 - The “Human-aware digital shop floor data model” has been defined and the model that describe the state of the art of shop floor physical elements and worker’s well-being has been developed. AI-based components (AIQuS, FaMS, IM, VIQE, SADS, IG, MPMS) were made available via the catalogue of functional models integrated into the KITT4SME platform.
WP5 - The Worker Profiler, Production System Profiler, and Qualified Learning Experience Catalogue tools have been updated to improve performance and usability. A new tool, IntelliLearn, has been developed to continuously update the training catalogue with new courses from third-party providers. Additionally, a skills matchmaking tool was implemented to identify and recommend customized training paths based on workers' skill gaps.
WP6 - KPIs for each pilot were reviewed, establishing baselines, evaluation methodologies and KPI owners. The validation processes provided unique results, providing strengths and weaknesses. This data was synthesized into comprehensive conclusions and lessons, forming the basis for practical guidelines to optimize the platform. The results thus demonstrated the effectiveness of the platform in various industrial environments.
WP7 -The Type-A and Type-B Open Calls have concluded, and the funds have been distributed as expected. The type A actions were integrated into the KITT4SME platform while the type B open call concluded with 21 proposals, 8 of which received funding. Both Open Calls included technical and business evaluations of the experiments to identify lessons learned, focusing on challenges, obstacles, opportunities, and strengths.
WP8 - The involvement of DIHs began with the development of an ecosystem building strategy, the creation of a management body and collaboration with the I4MS and DIH projects. Efforts focused on leveraging partner networks to engage early adopters, coordinate the KITT4SME community, and ensure its sustainability. By the end of the project, the CRM had registered 761 stakeholders, including AI solution providers, manufacturing SMEs, DIHs, clusters and other entities. Activities included online events, workshops, meetings and events to promote collaboration and engagement.
WP9 - All dissemination and communication actions achieved their KPIs, increasing public awareness through social media (1,482 followers, 100,350 impressions) and the project website (41,485 visitors, 59,499 views). A new data model has been approved for standardization and a multi-pronged sustainable business model has been developed to support the commercial use of the platform.
WP10 - Activities initially focused on implementing the recommendations of the review, organizing a further review meeting and preparing use cases to demonstrate the value of the platform to end users in the manufacturing sector. The final reopened results were improved, including extended validation, and resubmitted as required.
WP2 - The platform backbone was provided, focusing on architecture, data interoperability, security and cloud infrastructure, resulting in an open-source platform. Subsequently, the focus shifted to the operation, maintenance, and support of the platform for Open Calls and pilot implementations, improving the resilience, flexibility and maintainability of key AI applications and infrastructure services.
WP3 -Efforts have focused enhancing the RAMP marketplace with user flow features such as interaction with the platform integrator, customization, refinement of the kit components and negotiation of the contract. These features have been integrated and tested on the KITT4SME live platform, with APIs that facilitate future updates and extensions. RAMP now supports the user journey in three ways.
WP4 - The “Human-aware digital shop floor data model” has been defined and the model that describe the state of the art of shop floor physical elements and worker’s well-being has been developed. AI-based components (AIQuS, FaMS, IM, VIQE, SADS, IG, MPMS) were made available via the catalogue of functional models integrated into the KITT4SME platform.
WP5 - The Worker Profiler, Production System Profiler, and Qualified Learning Experience Catalogue tools have been updated to improve performance and usability. A new tool, IntelliLearn, has been developed to continuously update the training catalogue with new courses from third-party providers. Additionally, a skills matchmaking tool was implemented to identify and recommend customized training paths based on workers' skill gaps.
WP6 - KPIs for each pilot were reviewed, establishing baselines, evaluation methodologies and KPI owners. The validation processes provided unique results, providing strengths and weaknesses. This data was synthesized into comprehensive conclusions and lessons, forming the basis for practical guidelines to optimize the platform. The results thus demonstrated the effectiveness of the platform in various industrial environments.
WP7 -The Type-A and Type-B Open Calls have concluded, and the funds have been distributed as expected. The type A actions were integrated into the KITT4SME platform while the type B open call concluded with 21 proposals, 8 of which received funding. Both Open Calls included technical and business evaluations of the experiments to identify lessons learned, focusing on challenges, obstacles, opportunities, and strengths.
WP8 - The involvement of DIHs began with the development of an ecosystem building strategy, the creation of a management body and collaboration with the I4MS and DIH projects. Efforts focused on leveraging partner networks to engage early adopters, coordinate the KITT4SME community, and ensure its sustainability. By the end of the project, the CRM had registered 761 stakeholders, including AI solution providers, manufacturing SMEs, DIHs, clusters and other entities. Activities included online events, workshops, meetings and events to promote collaboration and engagement.
WP9 - All dissemination and communication actions achieved their KPIs, increasing public awareness through social media (1,482 followers, 100,350 impressions) and the project website (41,485 visitors, 59,499 views). A new data model has been approved for standardization and a multi-pronged sustainable business model has been developed to support the commercial use of the platform.
WP10 - Activities initially focused on implementing the recommendations of the review, organizing a further review meeting and preparing use cases to demonstrate the value of the platform to end users in the manufacturing sector. The final reopened results were improved, including extended validation, and resubmitted as required.
KITT4SME aims at facilitating the uptake of AI solutions by European SMEs exploiting a platform-ecosystem to lower AI adoption barriers and to get the most out of the data coming from the production systems. This is done by contributing to establish a European-wide ecosystem exploiting a leverage effect brought by the collaboration with existing initiatives and the launch of several open-call’ experiments. SMEs are thus guided in their digitalisation journey; their human competences are kept aligned with the technological progress and digital gaps preventing them to keep pace with the big organizations are reduced.
Digital Platforms and AI marketplaces:
KITT4SME tackles the current barriers preventing the widespread use of these B2B platforms acting at both technical and collaboration level: (i) a trustable and interoperable platform is developed by implementing a Powered by FIWARE Middleware for AI, (ii) to overcome the problem of fragmentation and vendor lock-in, Model-Driven Methodology for Modules Composability, and (iii) concrete programmes to achieve a critical mass of platform users are developed relying on the establishment of close collaboration with existing European DIHs.
AI for process optimization, quality improvement and reconfigurability:
KITT4SME goes beyond AI techniques inspection and improvement (e.g: computer vision), to build an AI model that identifies configuration issues in real-time to becomes aware of potential inconsistencies and errors earlier in time.
Digital Platforms and AI marketplaces:
KITT4SME tackles the current barriers preventing the widespread use of these B2B platforms acting at both technical and collaboration level: (i) a trustable and interoperable platform is developed by implementing a Powered by FIWARE Middleware for AI, (ii) to overcome the problem of fragmentation and vendor lock-in, Model-Driven Methodology for Modules Composability, and (iii) concrete programmes to achieve a critical mass of platform users are developed relying on the establishment of close collaboration with existing European DIHs.
AI for process optimization, quality improvement and reconfigurability:
KITT4SME goes beyond AI techniques inspection and improvement (e.g: computer vision), to build an AI model that identifies configuration issues in real-time to becomes aware of potential inconsistencies and errors earlier in time.