Hi,
Regarding the question about what DIHs are eligible, let me share
with you the answer from our PO. It is not as definitive as I would
like to but I believe we can build on it.
My interpretation is that we can go more flexible and do not limit
DIHs to those registered in the S3 Platform.
Summarizing all the exchanges, I understand that the following can be
the text describing what we understand as DIHs eligible under our call:
As described in the official page on DIHs by the EC
<https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/digital-innovation-hubs-dihs-europe>,
DIHs are one-stop shops that help companies become more competitive
with regard to their business/production processes, products or
services using digital technologies. DIHs provide access to
technical expertise and experimentation, so that companies can “test
before invest”. They also provide innovation services, such as
financing advice, training and skills development that are needed
for a successful digital transformation. More concretely, DIHs
must meet the following criteria to be eligible under the i4Trust
Open Call:
* be part of a regional, national or European policy initiative to
digitise the industry
* run activities which are non-profit; only non-profit activities
can be funded under this call
* Have a physical presence in the region and present an updated
website clearly explaining the DIHs’ activities and services
provided related to the digital transformation of SMEs/Midcaps
or industrial sectors currently insufficiently taking up digital
technologies
* Have at least 3 examples of how the DIH has helped a company
with their digital transformation, referring to publicly
available information, identifying for each:
o Client profile
o Client need
We can, of course, mention that those DIHs listed in the s3 platform
will be considered to meet the criteria.
We can discuss on the matter during our meeting tomorrow.
Cheers,
Document
Juanjo Hierro
Chief Technology Officer
juanjose.hierro at fiware.org <mailto:juanjose.hierro at fiware.org>
www.linkedin.com/in/jhierro <https://www.linkedin.com/in/jhierro>
Twitter: @fiware <https://twitter.com/fiware> @JuanjoHierro
<https://twitter.com/JuanjoHierro>
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: RE: Request for confirmation, question about i4Trust
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2021 10:25:32 +0000
From: NAGY Annamaria <Annamaria.NAGY at ec.europa.eu>
To: Juanjo Hierro <juanjose.hierro at fiware.org>
CC: cnect-h2020-951975 at ec.europa.eu <cnect-h2020-951975 at ec.europa.eu>
Document
Dear Juanjo,
Sorry for the wrong link, the pdf file is under the “How to get
involved” entry, in “If you are an organisation willing to become a EDIH
please read the detailed instructions (PDF)”. I also attach the
downloaded file.
For me the criterion of having a mission statement is quite vague. I
would rather be more specific. I don’t see that the S3 Platform’s phrase
is more restricting (be part of a regional, national or European policy
initiative to digitise the industry), actually for me that’s also a bit
vague… How can you check either of that?
Regarding the second point, I would suggest: “Run activities which are
non-profit; only non-profit activities can be funded under this call”
I understand that it is not easy to define this, but maybe it helps if
you think about your evaluation procedure ahead. The evaluation of the
submitted proposals should be fair and transparent, the results
communicated to the applicants should be undisputable. If you refuse a
proposal because of ineligibility regarding the definition of DIH, this
would need to be well-defined.
Many thanks,
Annamaria
*From:*Juanjo Hierro <juanjose.hierro at fiware.org>
*Sent:* Friday, March 26, 2021 8:10 PM
*To:* NAGY Annamaria (CNECT) <Annamaria.NAGY at ec.europa.eu>
*Cc:* CNECT H2020 951975 I4TRUST <cnect-h2020-951975 at ec.europa.eu>
*Subject:* Re: Request for confirmation, question about i4Trust
Dear Annamaria,
Thanks for your response and sorry to bother again but we rather
appreciate very much your perspective.
For the avoidance of doubts, do you then agree that we establish the
following as criteria for accepting a DIH?
1.Have a mission statement that aligns with the goals of a regional,
national or European policy initiative to digitise the industry;
2.Run activities which are non-profit, in particular the kind of
activities to be funded under this call;
3.Have a physical presence in the region and present an updated website
clearly explaining the DIHs’ activities and services provided related to
the digital transformation of SMEs/Midcaps or industrial sectors
currently insufficiently taking up digital technologies
4.Have at least 3 examples of how the DIH has helped a company with
their digital transformation, referring to publicly available
information, identifying for each:
oClient profile
oClient need
Point 2, if stated explicitly as we propose, would address your
concern when you say "If you’d like to include commercial entities that
run non-profit activities then the rules for applicants should state
that only non-profit activities can receive funding from the call."
Regarding Point 1, everything depends how we should interpret the
meaning of "be part of" when in the s3 platform they place the
requirement "Be part of a regional, national or European policy
initiative to digitise the industry". We believe that the
interpretation we give that is "be part of" equals to "have a mission
statement that aligns with the goals of" would be valid and less
ambiguous. Would be this more precise way to write Point 1 be ok for you?
Unfortunately, I couldn't access to the pdf you wanted to provide
because I guess it pointed to a local file in your computer:
file:///C:/Users/nagyann/AppData/Local/Temp/1/Digital_Innovation_Hubs_in_Digital_Europe_Programme_25-01-2021_v23pdf-2.pdf
<file:///C:/Users/nagyann/AppData/Local/Temp/1/Digital_Innovation_Hubs_in_Digital_Europe_Programme_25-01-2021_v23pdf-2.pdf>
If the definition you refer to within the DIH site
<https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/digital-innovation-hubs-dihs-europe>
is the following:
/DIHs are one-stop shops that help companies become more competitive
with regard to their business/production processes, products or
services using digital technologies. DIHs provide access to
technical expertise and experimentation, so that companies can “test
before invest”. They also provide innovation services, such as
financing advice, training and skills development that are needed
for a successful digital transformation./
That definition of a DIH is totally ok for us and we can include that
in addition to the 4 points given above. We can even add as sentence
"Such services have to be provided to companies without direct profit"
at the end of the paragraph for the avoidance of doubts.
Looking forward your feedback.
Cheers,
Juanjo
On 26/3/21 12:39, NAGY Annamaria wrote:
Dear Juanjo,
Sorry for the delay in answering.
I think both criteria that you quote from the S3 Platform – to be
part of a regional, national or European policy initiative to
digitise the industry, and to be a non-profit organisation – are
important. On the other hand, if they are not listed on the S3
Platform need not to be an exclusion criterion. If they are not part
of an initiative already, than probably they are start-ups, and then
they would be eligible as a partner in a mini consortium as well.
The non-profit criterion is quite important in my view. Only
non-profit activities should be funded in this respect. If you’d
like to include commercial entities that run non-profit activities
then the rules for applicants should state that only non-profit
activities can receive funding from the call.
As the Work Programme is not straightforward in defining the DIH
itself, I would suggest to use the forthcoming DEP’s definition
which can be found in the DIH site.
file:///C:/Users/nagyann/AppData/Local/Temp/1/Digital_Innovation_Hubs_in_Digital_Europe_Programme_25-01-2021_v23pdf-2.pdf
<file:///C:/Users/nagyann/AppData/Local/Temp/1/Digital_Innovation_Hubs_in_Digital_Europe_Programme_25-01-2021_v23pdf-2.pdf>
DIH site:
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/digital-innovation-hubs-dihs-europe
<https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/digital-innovation-hubs-dihs-europe>
I hope this helps, but let me know if you have further doubts.
Thank you for your patience and best regards,
Annamaria
*Annamária Nagy*
***
**
**European Commission**
*DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology*
*Unit G1 - Data Policy and Innovation*
*EUROFORUM 1/294
10, rue Robert Stumper, L-2557 Luxembourg*
*Tel.: +352-4301-33850*
*annamaria.nagy at ec.europa.eu <mailto:annamaria.nagy at ec.europa.eu>
*From:*Juanjo Hierro <juanjose.hierro at fiware.org>
<mailto:juanjose.hierro at fiware.org>
*Sent:* Thursday, March 25, 2021 5:49 AM
*To:* NAGY Annamaria (CNECT) <Annamaria.NAGY at ec.europa.eu>
<mailto:Annamaria.NAGY at ec.europa.eu>
*Cc:* CNECT H2020 951975 I4TRUST <cnect-h2020-951975 at ec.europa.eu>
<mailto:cnect-h2020-951975 at ec.europa.eu>
*Subject:* Re: Request for confirmation, question about i4Trust
Dear Annamaria,
I hope this mail finds you well and you, friends and relatives
are doing well in this difficult times of COVID.
Have you had time to consider the question I raised in my
previous mail (attached below)? It is a question we are receiving
quite often from organizations that consider they meet the criteria
to be considered a Digital Innovation Hub (as a concept, not meaning
they have been approved to be listed in the S3 platform) and we
actually believe they are organizations which deserve to be
considered as such and may help to build the i4Trust Community
around i4Trust technologies. Besides, it is a question we would
like to address in the Guidelines for Applicants we are finalizing
and we want to send to you soon.
Thanks very much for your time and looking forward your response.
Best regards,
Juanjo Hierro
---- Attached:
Dear Annamaria,
I hope this mail finds you well.
During the month of March we have been conducted a number of
Info Days where we have introduced i4Trust and started to
exchange with DIHs that may join the i4Trust Community. As you
know, engagement of DIHs will be essential since they will
provide local experts who will bring first-hand support to SMEs
that wish to submit experiments in response to our Open Call and
will also act as i4Trust Ambassadors.
During these Info Days, several questions have been
formulated and we would like to be in sync with you regarding
the response to some of them.
In particular, one of these questions have to do with the
requirements to be met by DIHs. In other words, what is our
"definition of a DIH". Note that, within the i4Trust, we ask
for consortium that include at least one DIH among its members.
One first answer we are giving to this question is that DIHs
listed in the S3platform DIH catalogue
<https://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/digital-innovation-hubs-tool>
will be considered valid DIHs (therefore, they will be eligible
in the open calls). HOWEVER, we believe that the requirements
listed in the s3platform catalogue regarding DIHs is too
limiting. Currently, all the DIHs in the catalogue are being
verified (based on the provided information) if they comply to
the following 4 criteria (copied from the website):
1.Be part of a regional, national or European policy
initiative to digitise the industry;
2.Be a non-profit organisation;
3.Have a physical presence in the region and present an
updated website clearly explaining the DIHs’ activities and
services provided related to the digital transformation of
SMEs/Midcaps or industrial sectors currently insufficiently
taking up digital technologies
4.Have at least 3 examples of how the DIH has helped a
company with their digital transformation, referring to
publicly available information, identifying for each:
oClient profile
oClient need
oProvided solution to meet the needs
Clearly criteria 3 and 4 provide a good description of
requirements we want to ask to DIHs joining the i4Trust
Community. However, we would like to interpret the first two
criteria as follows:
·Regarding criteria 1, we want to simply require that the DIH's
goals *aligns* with the goals of some regional, national or
European policy initiative to digitise the industry. Here
confusion comes with how we interpret the term "be part of".
But we don't want to exclude DIHs that because of their recent
creation or whatever reason have not yet been engaged in any
program in place or have received yet funding within an existing
program.
·Regarding criteria 2, we want to simply require that the DIH
activity should be non-profit, i.e., activities of the DIH
should not be for-profit. HOWEVER, we want to accept as part
of our i4Trust Community those DIHs that may be operated by a
consortia of companies and organizations, some of which may be
individually a for-profit company. If we don't follow such
criteria, we would be excluding DIHs that, for example, are
result of some Public Private Partnership between some companies
and some regional governments, targeting to foster digitization
in the region. Or DIHs which are built around Accelerators from
some corporate companies. We would be limiting our perimeter
only to DIHs that are linked to a technology center, university
or non-profit association, and that may exclude some DIHs which
would be ideal from our perspective.
Perhaps this interpretation is precisely the one that is
being applied in practice by the organizations verifying the
DIHs applying to be part of the catalogue but we believe that
the original text is then not that good and clear.
Bottom line, the criteria we want to apply within i4Trust
would be:
1.Have a mission statement that aligns with the goals of a
regional, national or European policy initiative to digitise
the industry;
2.Run activities which are non-profit;
3.Have a physical presence in the region and present an
updated website clearly explaining the DIHs’ activities and
services provided related to the digital transformation of
SMEs/Midcaps or industrial sectors currently insufficiently
taking up digital technologies
4.Have at least 3 examples of how the DIH has helped a
company with their digital transformation, referring to
publicly available information, identifying for each:
oClient profile
oClient need
oProvided solution to meet the needs
Note that all DIHs in the s3platfom catalogue would still
meet that criteria. However, we would be more clear and not that
limiting.
We would like to confirm you are ok with this more precise
(and pragmatic) criteria definition.
Looking forward your response.
Cheers,
--
*Juanjo Hierro*
Chief Technology Officer
juanjose.hierro at fiware.org <mailto:juanjose.hierro at fiware.org>
www.linkedin.com/in/jhierro
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.linkedin.com/in/jhierro__;!!DOxrgLBm!Ra3ER2eUeCBGOkDUP4e-9XosBEzBTSegKfQrLtfZU6bNbNTtnnrwIlR33L4t22nFOXcjg8o$>
Twitter: @fiware
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/twitter.com/fiware__;!!DOxrgLBm!Ra3ER2eUeCBGOkDUP4e-9XosBEzBTSegKfQrLtfZU6bNbNTtnnrwIlR33L4t22nFO6_a5k0$>
@JuanjoHierro
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/twitter.com/JuanjoHierro__;!!DOxrgLBm!Ra3ER2eUeCBGOkDUP4e-9XosBEzBTSegKfQrLtfZU6bNbNTtnnrwIlR33L4t22nFWrrnwoc$>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.fiware.org/private/i4trust/attachments/20210405/5aafba55/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: foundation-logo.png
Type: image/png
Size: 8201 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.fiware.org/private/i4trust/attachments/20210405/5aafba55/attachment-0002.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 3898 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.fiware.org/private/i4trust/attachments/20210405/5aafba55/attachment-0001.gif>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 8201 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.fiware.org/private/i4trust/attachments/20210405/5aafba55/attachment-0003.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Digital_Innovation_Hubs_in_Digital_Europe_Programme_25-01-2021_v23.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 3775052 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.fiware.org/private/i4trust/attachments/20210405/5aafba55/attachment-0001.pdf>
You can get more information about our cookies and privacy policies clicking on the following links: Privacy policy Cookies policy