Italian National Plan for Industry 4.0: Sant’Anna School launches ARTES 4.0 Competence Centre focused on Robotics. 13 research centres  & 146 companies’ representatives meet in Pontedera

Sant’Anna School is ready to launch its own Competence Centre to provide support for businesses in the digital revolution. Today, 13 universities, research centres and 146 public and private companies met in Pontedera Museo Piaggio to develop an effective plan for Industry 4.0 through the ARTES 4.0 (Advanced Robotics and enabling digital TEchnologies & Systems 4.0) Competence Centre.

ARTES 4.0 will provide training and research to support companies in assessing their level of maturity in digital technology. This Competence Centre will also provide the implementation of innovation projects, industrial research and experimental development, together with technology transfer services in the area of Industry 4.0. The guidance for businesses, in particular SMEs, takes place through a range of instruments, education programs and skills development to ensure investments in innovation and the supervision of international markets. Artes 4.0 Competence Centre is led and supervised by Professor Paolo Dario of the Biorobotics Institute. The Italian “Industrial National Plan 4.0” focused on the creation of Competence Centres and Digital Innovation Hub as a point of contact between companies, research centers and public – private investors.

The Italian Ministry of Economic Development made available government funding to eight Competence Centers; partners of Sant’Anna School ARTES 4.0 project are the Scuola Normale Superiore, Scuola IMT Alti Studi Lucca, Università di Pisa, Università di Firenze, Università di Siena, LENS, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Università di Sassari, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche and Istituto Nazionale Assicurazione Infortuni sul Lavoro.

Pontedera is home to many of Tuscany’s largest high-tech corporations (Piaggio), research centres (Biorobotics and TeCIP Perception Technologies Institutes) and startup incubators (Pont-Tech). The Pontedera area was chosen to participate in the project as a digital innovation hub to support key technologies such as robotics and nanotechnologies. Other infrastructures are located in Pisa, Livorno and San Giuliano Terme area.