Bydgoszcz Industrial Cluster is one of the partners of the project entitled "Better Factory", which received funding under the European Commission's Horizon 2020 program.

The project leader is VTT Technical Research Center of Finland - the largest research institute in Finland, which invited 28 organizations from European countries to participate in the project. Bydgoszcz Industrial Cluster as the only organisation from Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and the one of two Polish organisations is a member of the consortium.

The aim of the project is to provide small and medium-sized enterprises with a methodology for increasing production automation, as well as developing new and personalized products.

The element of the project realisation will be an assignment of high-skilled Technical, Business and Arts experts to analyse jointly the current requirements of enterprises with the core knowledge from manufacturers to redesign customizable products and service portfolios using new digital technologies. This may spark new product designs, business models or brands and digitalise factories to match the production of new or personalized products and also to enter new markets with customizable, personalized product or service portfolio.

The result of the project will be, among others, RAMP (Robotics Automation Marketplace) - a free and open IoT platform (FIWARE) running on state of the art servers, with access to cloud storage and computing, enabling connection with robots, sensors, cameras, AR/VR and other equipment. RAMP will provide 3D simulation tool to create Digital Twin for virtual testing, co-creation space for teams to collaborate online among other digital services. Better Factories will also provide an Open and Standardized Advance Production Planning and Scheduling (APPS) system for manufacturers to test commercial tools to optimize waste, energy, resources and logistics.

The project implementation starts on 1st October 2020 and will last 48 months.