The work of Bologna’s Competence Center, Bi-Rex , the first and largest private-public consortium, continues at a fast pace. Bi-Rex is among the eight Competence Centers of the Ministry of Economic Development Industry Plan 4.0 , dedicated to the implementation of Big Data and digital additive innovation for the mechatronic industry. The construction sites

” the to realize the pilot plant have already started within the “science citadel” of the Golinelli Foundation, the first suburb to the west of the Two Towers: an investment of 2.3 million euros just for the hardware that is part of the 24 million financial endowment with which the Bologna center faces the start-up phase, out of the 9 million allocated by the Ministry of Economic Development and put on the plate by private partners. […] «Calling it a pilot plant is an understatement, it is actually a complete center that encompasses 11 4.0 technologies and will connect the physical and digital world. We plan to place the machinery in the autumn so that the competence center will be available to the community by the end of the year “, explains Domenico Bambi , president of the Executive Committee of Bi-Rex [Sacmi Imola]. Once the three-year public-funded start-up phase is over, the structure aims to support itself independently through market activities.”

Bi-Rex brings together 57 players in a public-private partnership between Universities, Research Centers and Companies (about 30 large-scale industries and 12 small and medium-sized enterprises divided between 28 end users and 17 providers, including DataRiver ). Part of the consortium are also a bank, a personal management company, a consulting company.

5.4 million euros, co-funded with the MED, will spur about thirty collaborative projects of innovation, industrial research and experimental development that Bi-Rex will devise by focusing on connectivity, automation, advanced manufacturing and big data. Through the Competence Center, companies will be able to create new products and processes, or improve the existing ones, by developing and adopting Industry 4.0 enabling technologies or by consulting and training. In a short while the internal workshops will begin to start evaluating the thirty projects and the first public tenders are expected to be issued before the holidays.

Bi-Rex already expects to start production by the end of 2019. As matter of fact, the first pieces of machinery could already be introduced between September and October. Training will start only when the pilot plant is ready.

Finally, Bi-Rex is ready to start the engines and begin all those operations necessary to spur companies towards the Industry 4.0 goal.

[Source: Innovation Post]

The new premises of the Golinelli Foundation where the Bi-Rex Competence Center is being built