A manufacturing consortium spanning nine countries has been launched to counteract a shortage of vital medical equipment across Europe.
The CO-VERSATILE project, which has been brought forward by 21 partners from across Europe has received more than €5m of funding from the EU’s research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 and is led by Budapest-based research institute SZTAKI.
The consortium of 21 institutions from nine European countries have joined forces to innovate and deploy concepts for repurposing and scaling up flexible and sustainable production methods to address demand for essential medical equipment and supplies.
Project coordinator Dr Robert Lovas said: “We are excited to lead the CO-VERSATILE project and build upon SZTAKI’s expertise to help repurpose and adapt production lines of manufacturers to deliver a 48-hour industrial response and address sudden spikes in demand for medical equipment.
“To facilitate the re-orientation of the production facilities, the consortium of partners will develop a cloud-based platform called Digital Technopole – a commercial marketplace that aims at quickly assisting manufacturing firms with readily available solutions, including software tools, manufacturing capacity and training services.”
During a 24-month period, the CO-VERSATILE project members will leverage their expertise and network to repurpose existing technologies and services to boost the adaptability and resilience of the manufacturing sector.
These services and technologies will be demonstrated within seven manufacturing settings, including industrial production plants and an automated manufacturing system to be then generalised for replication.
