WEBINAR: The Future of Manufacturing in Europe
Explore the changing digitisation of manufacturing, what this means for the future, and the available support programmes for SMEs.
This free webinar from innovation consultancy Bax & Company and EU innovation project COTEMACO will take a look at the current state of automation, digitalisation of manufacturing across Europe, and future consequences on jobs. We will explore both local and EU-wide support programmes which allow manufacturing SMEs to get hands-on experience with collaborative robots (cobots) and other digitalisation technologies, so they can fully embrace automation.
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Meet the speakers:
Sergio Torrejón works as an economic and policy analyst in the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission. His research interests lie in the area that exists between economics and sociology, focusing on topics related to social stratification and labour market dynamics. He has a PhD in Sociology, and before joining the JRC he worked at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of Spain, and as an analyst (doing social and market research) in a private company. In our webinar, Sergio will dive into the current state of industrial automation in Europe and its impact on jobs and labour productivity.
Dr. Minna Lanz works as a professor of Mechanical Engineering at Tampere University, focusing on Production Systems and Technologies. Her research interests are in Manufacturing ICT solutions, Semantic modelling of manufacturing systems, and in robotics; especially Human-Robot collaboration. She is a member of the Finnish Robotics Association, EFFRA, ManuFuture, the Vanguard Initiative and euRobotics, and actively contributes to Visions and Strategic Research and Innovation roadmaps originating from these networks. She has published over 100 research papers, articles and/or book chapters. Minna's presentation will explore the potential of digital innovation hubs (DIH). The thematic DIH actions can play an important role in supporting the R&D&I technology leaps that are strongly tied to the competitiveness and sustainability of individual companies acting as the backbone of the European economy.
Ger van den Kerkhof is the project coordinator of EU-funded project COTEMACO and Senior Account Manager at Flanders Make, a strategic research centre for the manufacturing industry. He has been at Flanders Make since 2008. Prior to this, he worked for 22 years at Philips Electronics in the manufacturing division. Ger will present the COTEMACO SME Support programme that’s allowing manufacturing SMEs to get hands-on experience with collaborative robots and other digitalisation technologies.