Insight Media

📢 We are excited to announce the launch of the latest edition of Projects Magazine. Produced in partnership with EFFRA, this issue features groundbreaking zero-defect manufacturing research, exclusive interviews, and insights into Europe's industrial future. Dive in for a human-centric, sustainable vision! 🌍🤖 #EFFRA2024 #Manufacturing #Innovation #Sustainability #ProjectsMagazine https://lnkd.in/ezxz4wiT SINTEF Chris Decubber ENGINE Siemens Rainer Brehm openZDM HyperCOG European Project OPTIMAI Project MADE - Competence Center Industry 4.0 Fluently: the essence of human-robot interaction FLASH-COMP EIT Manufacturing The Futures Agency Gerd Leonhard PeneloPe EU ZDZW project Thierry Breton

Our team had a great time representing FLASH-COMP last week

🏭 🤝 It has been an action packed day here at the European Manufacturing Conference 2024, co organised by EFFRA, EIT Manufacturing and MANUFUTURE EU #EMC2024 Kicking off discussions about the future of manufacturing in Europe, panellists on the opening session identified the key challenges Europe faces as well as identifying strategic areas of focus for the future. In this article we provide a summary of the opening session and the joint goal of shaping our industrial future. Please stay tuned for further coverage from what has been a very engaging and informative event so far 👇 https://lnkd.in/gVn2sDPs

🏭 🤝 It has been an action packed day here at the European Manufacturing Conference 2024, co organised by EFFRA, EIT Manufacturing and MANUFUTURE EU #EMC2024 Kicking off discussions about the future of manufacturing in Europe, panellists on the opening session identified the key challenges Europe faces as well as identifying strategic areas of focus for the future. In this article we provide a summary of the opening session and the joint goal of shaping our industrial future. Please stay tuned for further coverage from what has been a very engaging and informative event so far 👇 https://lnkd.in/gVn2sDPs

With the COVID inquiry in the UK in full swing as the country reflects on the aftermath of the global pandemic, big questions are being asked about the lack of planning for such situations and the inability of our systems to react decisively to the unexpected. Deaths linked to COVID in the hundreds of thousands, big questions around the way public money was spent, and the extent of the underfunding of our public services laid bare – all of these have significantly eroded people’s trust in political leadership to react swiftly and effectively to protect our most vulnerable members. Looking back at this period reminded me of the stark difference I saw even at the time in how some politicians reacted to COVID compared to the research community. One such example that we at Insight Media were privileged to be a part of was with PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), for which we helped to produce a publication about their pandemic-focused research. In the early spring of 2020, PRACE opened a Fast Track Call for Proposals as an urgent computing answer to the need for fast scientific discovery to find ways to stop the spread of COVID, reduce its impact on our health and economy, and find treatments for people affected by the disease. A scientific committee of five high-level researchers led the review process and evaluated proposals within one week. Selected projects were given access to the Europe’s most powerful supercomputers and received data storage and sharing solutions, e.g. from FENIX and ICEI. Over 80 projects were received and, with an acceptance rate of less than 50%, just over 30 projects were awarded time on one of PRACE’s worldclass systems. In total, half a billion computational hours were awarded over a period of six months. The pandemic brought researchers together like never before, encouraging collaboration across all disciplines to find answers in a time when they were needed most. Projects awarded under the Fast Track Call came from fields such as biomolecular simulations, bioinformatics, epidemiology, computational fluid dynamics, screening and docking, and more. Furthermore, monthly webinars were organised with colleagues in the USA, where project leaders from around the world presented their work and exchanged on solutions and collaborations concerning the pandemic research. From a personal point of view, I had the privilege to interview several of the researchers about the projects they had worked on. Many had dropped what they were working on before to put all of their efforts into helping to solve this global crisis, and I remember being genuinely moved by the passion and sense of duty that shone through when speaking to them. You can read the publication, “PRACE Vs COVID-19: Fighting the pandemic with HPC”, here: https://lnkd.in/ejv4VRtd

eStrategies is an event that helps to drive forward the development of better healthcare services in South Africa and other African countries through the delivery of effective eHealth and eGovernment solutions. Insight Media was responsible for organising and covering the eStrategies Africa events that took place in Cape Town, South Africa, which saw a series of round table sessions that brought together members of the private sector with members from the South African government who were looking to invest in eHealth, connectivity and eGovernance services. https://lnkd.in/efPuXfzH

Join us in Bologna as it becomes the the world capital of bioeconomy! The International Forum on Biotechnology and Bioeconomy (IFIB) 2024, which takes place next month in Bologna, Italy, promises to position the famous “Italian Food Valley” as a global hub for the bioeconomy – and Insight Media will be there in force to savour all that’s on offer that is helping drive this important sector forward. IFIB brings together thought leaders, investors, and innovators from across the globe to explore the future of biotechnology and sustainable practices. Day 1 The first day kicks off with a welcome by Mario Bonaccorso of SPRING - Italian Circular Bioeconomy Cluster and a message from Italy’s Ministry of Enterprises. This sets the stage for a series of keynote presentations, focusing on planetary health, material innovation, and bioeconomy investment opportunities. Notable speakers include Jens Nielsen from Denmark’s BioInnovation Institute, Christian Lenges from IFF, and Joško Bobanović of Sofinnova Partners. One of the highlights will be the session on “Innovation for Improving Planetary Health,” exploring how biotechnology can provide solutions to global environmental challenges. Industry leaders like Alex Ward from Origin Materials and Ana Ruiz Sierra from the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) will discuss how bio-based industries can transform existing chemical value chains. After the keynote sessions, the forum transitions to a roundtable led by Manfred Kircher of KADIB, addressing the need for a new regulatory framework to facilitate the growth of Europe’s bioeconomy. Day 2 The second day shifts focus to the agrofood sector and new biomaterials. Fabio Fava of the University of Bologna (Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna) will moderate discussions on sustainable innovations, including the production of bioethanol from grape waste and transforming coffee grounds into organic by-products. Presentations from leaders like Buzzi Silvia of Gruppo Caviro and María Díaz Navarro of FOOD i - Cluster Alimentario del Valle del Ebro will explore the circular economy and value-added products from food waste. Networking and collaboration Throughout the two days, there will be multiple B2B sessions and poster presentations, providing opportunities for delegates to connect and explore new partnerships. The event will include a networking cocktail at the end of the first day, and conclude with an awards ceremony recognising the best poster presentations to wrap things up on day two. IFIB 2024 promises to be a dynamic event, where the latest innovations in biotechnology and the bioeconomy will be showcased, fostering collaboration and driving progress towards a sustainable future – and Insight is looking forward to helping to tell the stories of those making all this happen. Visit here for more information about the event and to register: https://lnkd.in/ezGgeDfM

Today we are looking back at Rehap, an EU project we were partners in that aimed to strengthen the European bioeconomy by creating new materials from agricultural and forestry waste. We made a documentary film with interviews filmed at Tecnalia and BBEPP, giving project partners the opportunity to explain the successful developments of products and processes made by the project. This film was designed to promote the overarching technical achievements of the project. We began the shoot at the Bio-based European Pilot Plant (BBEPP) in Ghent, Belgium, where we filmed some of the processes for upscaling to pre-industrial capacity at the impressive facility. Project partners were interviewed at the plant, providing insight into their successful work on developing industry-viable processes for the recovery of tannins, lignin and sugars from agroforestry waste and how this work has been upscaled from lab-scale batch protocols to a continuous process at pilot scale. Our filming also focused on the work of project partner Biosyncaucho and their work in developing a fermentation and subsequent downstream process protocol for the production of 2,3-BDO. The success of the project here is that Biosyncaucho did not have internal resources and equipment to scale up this process, so BBEPP served as a scale-up partner, offering a wide range of flexible process units on the pilot scale, in combination with their experience in upscaling as a whole. Watch the full documentary in the link below: https://lnkd.in/eSHkAiCs

How do PEOPLE fit into the latest industrial revolution? In working on our latest edition of Projects Magazine, which focused on cutting-edge research in manufacturing, it was hard to ignore the fact that much of the new technology being developed would render many factory jobs obsolete. But is this really the case, or are these jobs just changing? Much has been said about the seemingly limitless potential of AI and new technologies to do work for us. But, although some jobs will become less necessary, people will consequently be needed to do new kinds of jobs in manufacturing. With the limited appeal of much current factory work to younger generations, is it possible these new technologies may in fact be transforming manufacturing jobs for the better? To find out more, I spoke to Nikolaos Dimitriou, a postdoctoral research associate at the Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH) and project coordinator of the OPTIMAI Project. “Manufacturing, with its central role in the history of automation going all the way back to the first industrial revolution, is a particularly interesting example when thinking about how jobs might change in the coming years. For my part, I believe the significance of manual labour will decrease, while cooperation between humans and AI will increase. “This collaborative aspect is important. There are some unique features of human experience that AI cannot really learn from – it cannot generalise nearly as well as humans can. Therefore, I think there will be an increasing demand for people who – while not necessarily understanding exactly how AI works – understand how AI operates and can provide feedback.” Indeed, many of the new technologies being developed in the world of manufacturing seem likely to make jobs in this sector more enjoyable. For instance, the OPTIMAI project’s augmented reality glasses, which are used for data visualisation and decision-making support, can provide real-time assistance to workers on production lines and facilitate defect detection and reconfiguration of systems on-the-fly. A sleek user interface and intuitive gestures allow operators to interact easily with the glasses while maintaining their focus on the tasks at hand. “The aim of OPTIMAI is to combine AI, augmented reality and other technologies to optimise manufacturing processes,” says Dimitriou. “By this, we mean we want to prevent defects, or identify defects and mitigate them, but also enhance worker capabilities and perception and help them do their jobs more easily.” Read more about the OPTIMAI project here: https://lnkd.in/ewxRk3mQ

At Insight Media, we are committed to expanding our operations and influence within the bio-based industries sector and the broader manufacturing ecosystem in Europe. As part of this strategy, we have intensified our networking efforts and joined key industry associations that align with our growth objectives. We are excited to announce, therefore, that Insight Media has recently become a full industry member of the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC). Established in Brussels in 2013, BIC is a non-profit organisation representing the private sector in a vital Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with the European Commission. This partnership focuses on strengthening the bio-based industries sector across Europe, covering a diverse range of sectors including agriculture, marine, chemicals, forestry, and technology providers. In addition to our membership in BIC, Insight Media is gearing up for active participation in the forthcoming @European Manufacturing Conference 2024 in Brussels this month. This biennial event is a crucial gathering of key players in the European manufacturing industry, including policymakers, industry representatives, researchers, and innovators. Read more in our latest blog 👇 https://lnkd.in/ebPun4Bq