DIH DATAlife is a non-profit association founded in December 2019 that was born with the vision of turning Galicia into a reference Bioregion in Europe through the connection, coordination, and creation of synergies between the agents of the innovation ecosystem and the productive sectors of the region. After almost three years of work, the European Commission selected DIH DATAlife as a European digital innovation hub, granting it a seal of excellence and financing its project "EDIH DATAlife project" of almost 5,5 million euros, in which a large part of its associates accompanies the association.
The project begins its journey on January 1, 2023. It focuses on implementing disruptive technologies in validation and demonstration phases with great potential to increase the competitiveness of Galician companies and public administration, but little widespread at present. It is, therefore, necessary to support companies - especially SMEs - to facilitate their knowledge and adoption. The services will be collected in a catalogue and free for SMEs. These will include advice for implementing new technologies and proofs of the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI), High-Performance Computing (HPC), or Internet of Things (IoT). The project also continuously maps commercially available digital solutions and providers to complement the technology offers.
The EDIH-DATAlife project is formed by a consortium of 15 members of the Galician innovation ecosystem. It has research, scientific and technological centres (8 partners), sectoral clusters (5 partners), a knowledge transfer centre, two universities and a driving company. They represent all agents of demand, supply, and technology transfer. List of partners:
- DIH DATAlife
- ANFACO-CECOPESCA
- Bioga
- CESGA
- CETIM
- Cluster de la Acuicultura
- Cluster da Madeira e o Deseño de Galicia
- Cluster Saúde de Galicia
- Clúster TIC Galicia
- EnergyLab
- FEUGA
- Gradiant
- Televes
- University of Santiago de Compostela
- University of Vigo
During the next three years, the mission of DIH DATAlife and its project partners will be to facilitate the adoption of these new technologies through a catalogue of services and capabilities for SMEs, large companies, and the public sector in Galicia. The service catalogue of the EDIH-DATAlife project is based on the capabilities and facilities of its members, designed to support the entire innovation process: from the detection of needs, the idea or proof of concept to the definition of the business model, pilot tests and support in the search for the financing of the commercial process.
In addition, the creation of federated data spaces and their collaborative exploitation will be encouraged. And through different activities, the project will collect the training demands to improve digital skills and the use of disruptive technologies. All this in sectors of the value chains covered by DIH DATAlife: agro-seafood, forestry-wood, biotechnology, and health care.
In short, DIH DATAlife and its partners will become a one-stop shop for services, providing companies with access to advanced digital solutions through modern infrastructures for technology experimentation and validation.