- The EU-funded research project Change2Twin aims to make digital twinning technology accessible to all European manufacturing SMEs
- A first Open Call is now accepting proposals from SMEs and midcaps that wish to have their digitalization potential assessed by local Digital Innovation Hubs
- A digital twin enables manufacturing companies to create digital copies of physical products, processes or even entire plants, offering enormous cost-saving potential
Vienna, Austria, February 08, 2021 Change2Twin is a European project, funded under the Horizon 2020 scheme, which supports manufacturing SMEs in their digitalization process by providing digital twin solutions. The concept of digital twins is one of the big game-changers in manufacturing and allows companies to significantly increase their global competitiveness. Now the project consortium including Vienna-based high-tech company TTTech, has launched its first open call, which will provide 25 successful applicants in Europe with assessment and guidance on their way to their first digital twin.
First Open Call launched to assess potential for digital twins
Interest in the project is already skyrocketing: “When the project was introduced at the Austrian Summit Industrie 4.0 in December 2020, it generated a large audience and a high level of interest,” Marcela Alzin, Communication and Exploitation Manager for Change2Twin at TTTech, elaborates. “We believe that this interest will only increase on a European level. Digital twinning really is one of the most important trends in industrial tech right now.”
The Open Call that launched in January will provide successful applicants with an “Assessment Voucher” worth up to 10,000€. This voucher can be exchanged for a thorough assessment and three “recipes for implementation” by one of the Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) certified by the European Commission. The Call is open until 29 March 2021 and is specifically addressed to SMEs and midcaps from the EU and associated countries. A second Open Call, scheduled for June 2021 will then provide “Deployment Vouchers” worth up to 90,000€ to turn these recipes into digital twins.
Digital twins are game changers for manufacturing businesses
What is a digital twin exactly? “In simple terms, a digital twin is a digital reproduction of a physical object – like a product, a machine or even a complete production plant.” Dr. Francesca Flamigni, Technical Project Manager for Change2Twin at TTTech, explains. “Combining the digital representation with real-time data from an Edge/IoT platform makes digital twinning a very powerful technology for enabling predictive maintenance applications, preventing operational downtime, developing innovative products or improving the customer experience.”
TTTech Industrial contributes to the project by providing its open edge computing platform Nerve Blue for collecting real-time data from the machine or industrial line and by implementing it in several pilots to demonstrate its capability to support the deployment of the Digital Twin.
What makes a digital twin special is that it can serve as the basis for more effective business decisions. Making important decisions based on digital data can save costs in all lifecycle phases, especially for SMEs and midcaps. For example, maintenance or replacement work can now be carried out as needed, no longer following a fixed schedule. The entire production process can be set up digitally before physically producing anything. The aim of the EU-funded Change2Twin Project is to provide as many European enterprises as possible with the required technological know-how and resources and thus accelerate industrial digitalization across the continent.
Next to TTTech, the project consortium includes research and technology organizations such as SINTEF, TNO and the University of Bologna, technology providers such as Jotne EPM Technology AS, CloudBroker GmbH and BOC GmbH and company accelerators and incubators such as Funding Box and Images&Reseaux, among others.
*Change2Twin has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program under grant agreement No 951956.
About TTTech
The TTTech Group consists of globally-oriented high-tech companies, founded and headquartered in Vienna, Austria. It builds on 20 years’ technology leadership with extensive experience in collaborating with market leaders.
With its real-time networking platforms and safety controls, TTTech Group’s solutions improve the safety and reliability of electronic systems in the industrial and transportation sectors and help to make the Internet of Things and automated driving a reality. TTTech Group transfers proven aerospace network technology to mass markets like automotive and manufacturing. TTTech is the innovator of Deterministic Ethernet and a driving force behind the IEEE TSN standard and SAE Time-Triggered Ethernet standard.
About 2,300 employees from more than 40 nations work in 20 offices in 14 countries for TTTech Group companies, ensuring proximity to its international customer base as well as to its valued partners around the globe.
Further information
Press contact
Eva Haslauer
External Communications
Tel: +43 1 585 34 34-0
Email: pr@tttech.com
