The new competence centre residing at the Hannover Centre for Production Technology (PZH) will be funded with 5.3 million euros for the initial project duration of three years. Headed by the PZH and the Institut für Integrierte Produktion Hannover (IPH), the consortium includes ten associated partners, among others, the Laser Zentrum Hannover (LZH) and the Robotation Academy.
The aim of the competence centre is to support small- and medium-sized companies in Lower Saxony and Bremen in the field of digital transformation, strengthen their competitiveness and open up new business areas in the context of digitalization and Industry 4.0. By the end of 2015, the centre is supposed to be staffed and organized and ready to go. The "Roadshow", with a mobile Industry 4.0 demonstration, is scheduled for the end of the second quarter.
Further information on Industry 4.0 research is available on the PZH website: http://www.pzh-hannover.de/i4_0.html (currently in German language only).