14.06.2020 – 15.00 – DIHNET, the European Commission’s reference project to support the development of the digital hub network at European level recently published a report entitled “Defining Digital Innovation Hubs as part of the European DIH network“, in which only three concepts are mentioned as models of innovative regional system that integrate and develop the characteristics that a hub must have to support the digital transformation of businesses, one of which is the IP4FVG project from Friuli Venezia Giulia.
This makes Friuli Venezia Giulia a reference point both at national level, since the other two examples mentioned are the Dutch SMITZH and the Basque BDIH, but also at European level, in an area that has become increasingly important over the years and therefore, according to Brussels, needs harmonisation.
In fact, even though the first DIH only came into being in 2016 (at that time, there were less than a hundred), there are now more than 1,500 all connected in a single European network, known as DIHNET. The digital innovation hub of Friuli Venezia Giulia has been indicated because it operates through the Hub & Spoke model (referring to the wheels of a bike) in which a central control hub coordinates access to services, infrastructures and skills present on the territory.
What a Hub & Spoke system is, can be more easily understood by thinking about the area in which it was born: air traffic, where the companies make flights between a central hub and smaller airports, where passengers can take flights to other airports both smaller and larger. For example, if you want to fly from Trieste to Sydney you will probably first have to stop over at one or more hub airports such as Rome Fiumicino or Paris CDG.
The hub & spoke model guarantees a coordinated and widespread management of limited resources.
Specifically, IP4FVG consists of a partnership of 26 public and private entities that, since 2018, have been working together to support local businesses in the digital transformation.
For Dino Feragotto, president of IP4FVG, the Commission’s mention “is a demonstration that excellent results, with direct repercussions on the territory, can be obtained by pooling the skills of companies that are active in different fields, such as research, innovation and industry“.
The objectives of the hub are five: to aggregate and enhance existing resources and initiatives, to optimize already made investments, to enhance skills in areas of interest, to address cultural change and the new paradigm of training and finally to generate a critical mass thanks to a unique and recognized governance.
If, as the Commission believes, they are progressing well towards these objectives, this could represent an important resource and goal for Friuli Venezia Giulia.
Especially considering how this is an age where the ability to adapt to an increasingly digital and technologically advanced market is not only a necessity, but an obligation for all those who wish to remain competitive in an increasingly ruthless economy.
Michael Guggenbichler translation
