More than 65 people attended the EACN High-level conference held online today. The President of the European Clusters Alliance (ECA), Antonio Novo, and the Head of Unit Advanced Technologies, Clusters and Social Economy at European Commission, Ulla Engelmann, participated in the event to expose the role of clusters in the recovery process to face the Covid-19 pandemic.

The event was held with the aim of promoting the results of the project, presenting the EACN Association Agenda and discussing cooperation opportunities with other European Thematic Associations and Networks. Groups wishing to join the Association were able to attend; companies (cluster members); technology centers, universities and other R&D organizations; technology providers; other European thematic associations and networks, regional and national authorities.

During the conference, the project partners highlighted the added value of interregional cooperation, the role of the EACN Partnership in industrial modernization processes and the benefits of European cooperation. The event was attended by the European projects manager at Pôle Véhicule du Futur (PVF), Clotilde Nadé, the Animator of EACN partnership and European Programmes Manager at PVF, Thomas Röhr, and the Project and event manager at Automotive Cluster Bulgaria (ACB), Miglena Miteva.

In addition, the winners of the EACN Best Practices Awards were announced at the event. These awards are created with the aim of identifying success stories on industrial modernisation implemented by small and medium-sized enterprises.

The award winners are listed below:

In the Robotics & Artificial Intelligence category:

• Ingeniería y Control Merasys. Project: Dynamic positioning system for containers in industrial plants.

In the Elasticity of production processes category:

• Inplasor Galicia. Project: Creation of an “Autonomous work unit” easily integrated into the different production processes.

In the Virtualisation for planning processes category:

• Norlean Manufacturing & Productividad. Project: Digital twin of coating lines.

In the Skills and competences category:

• PRODEO. Project: Check point operator.