“Night of Industry 4.0 model factories” goes online due to pandemic

By project INNO PROVEMENT

Published on 26 February 2021

Hungary

About this good practice

High share of SMEs is not open to learn the advantages that Industry 4.0 solutions can yield therefore one needs find innovative ways to raise their attention. To this end the event called “Night of Industry 4.0 model factories” was launched in 2017 with growing success from year to year. However, COVID-19 forced the event in the virtual space in 2020. Seeing this as an opportunity rather than a constraint brought even higher attendance than the previous years.
Aim of the practice is threefold: (1) raise the visibility of transforming companies for each other’s attention to facilitate future collaboration; (2) introduce the practice of digitalisation to the potential employees and also to the local community; (3) prove that digitalisation improves working environment of industrial business for white- and blue-collar workers, too. Pre-selected companies open up their shopfloors to SMEs and any other interested participants for one night all over Hungary. The online implementation includes high-quality, 360-degree camera made “virtual tours” of the shopfloors, video-aided introductions to I4.0 solutions, online knowledge library, mini-interviews, follow-up online games using social media support with trendy prizes to winners of the games.
Stakeholders include participating I4.0 model companies. IFKA non-profit Ltd and ICT-H (the No.1. digital SME association of HUN) implement the practice. Main target groups are SMEs and youngsters that are about to enter the labour market.

Expert opinion

“Night of Industry 4.0 model factories” is an initiative launched in 2017 by IFKA Public Benefit Non-Profit Ltd. to promote the development of Industry 4.0 in Hungary. The initiative offers people the opportunity to visit the most modern factories and learn about innovative solutions based on digital technologies for the manufacturing sector. As COVID-19 emerged, the on-site visits have been cancelled and the event moved to the virtual space. Despite that, in 2020 the initiative registered a level of participation of both visitors and demonstrative companies even higher than previous years, reaching an audience from all over the country. The online format is easy accessible and cost-free and provides high-quality services such as 360 degree camera virtual tours of the shopfloors, introductory videos to I4.0 solutions, actors interviews, online knowledge library and virtual games. The good practice successfully illustrates a flexible example of promoting virtual visits of Industry 4.0 Smart Factory and demonstrators.

Arnault Morisson

Works at Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform

Resources needed

Cost of the online event is comparable to that of the physical one (~ EUR 200,000/event). The professional technical and promotion solutions needed to run the event smoothly (pre-recorded videos, online streaming, online and offline media promotion) offset savings from lower organisational costs.

Evidence of success

The online event attracted somewhat higher number of both demonstration companies and visitors as the last physical event from 2019. In 2019, when the event was run physically 73 demonstration companies and 6500 visitors participated. In the online format 76 demonstration companies and approx. 7000 visitors took part, significantly higher than in the first year of the event in 2017 (25 companies, 2000 participants).

Potential for learning or transfer

The online format put the otherwise low entry thresholds to participation even lower, which is crucial for the easy accessibility of the event. Moreover, it became possible that participants can visit all the companies of their interest in one night let them be in distant points of the country. The online format further strengthens the fair geographic spread insofar as participation is not Budapest-focused (neither in terms of demonstration companies nor in terms of participants) but it covers the whole country. Registration and participation were very simple: visitors choose their preferred model factory on a webpage and make a simple, cost-free registration online.
In order to reach broad audience, cross-sectorial representation of participating model factories is essential. Sectors included car and machine manufacturing, furniture, packaging, electronics, food, construction, metal processing, pharmaceuticals, ICT, plastics, printing, aircrafts, sports equipment, chemicals.