Industry 4.0: INESC TEC and INEGI helped companies address digital transformation

INESC TEC, together with INEGI, organised the Advanced Program in Industry 4.0, which aimed to empower companies from the national industrial sector, helping them address the challenges of digital transformation brought by the ongoing fourth industrial revolution. This initiative took place between October 8 and November 26, at the premises of INEGI and INESC TEC, in Porto.

As Technological Interface Centres, INEGI and INESC TEC focus on sharing their experience and knowledge with companies, addressing the various dimensions and issues associated with the current digital transformation, emerging technologies, methodologies and tools, as well as their impact on businesses.

In this sense, this Program focused on engaging middle and senior managers, as well as the staff of industrial and tech-based companies, in the fields of operations, production, logistics, engineering, technology and innovation; it also targeted managers, engineers, entrepreneurs and consultants who aspire to lead the implementation of Industry 4.0.

Américo Azevedo, coordinator of the Program and INESC TEC’s TEC4Industry, pointed out that this training program was “a unique learning experience that helped understanding the potential and challenges in the adoption of emerging technologies, in the context of Industry 4.0. ‘How to deal with these challenges?’, ‘What to do?’, ‘What to invest in?’ and ‘What are the priorities?’ were some of the questions explored throughout the different sessions. The participants were quite receptive and involved, the majority being top and senior managers of industrial and tech companies”.

With a duration of 64 hours, divided into eight sessions, the Program included nine modules focused on themes identified as crucial to the development of a strategic vision, as a way to support decision-making andimplementation. The key-elements, applications and challenges of technologies that underlie the fourth industrial revolution were also explored; the participants had the opportunity to visit and participate in workshops at companies identified as good examples, in order to meet the main interests and challenges of the group of participants.

The INESC TEC researcher mentioned in this news piece is associated with UP-FEUP.