HUBCAP

The HUBCAP project aims at establishing a cloud-based center of innovation and collaboration among companies, research institutes and competence centers to help SMEs try and adopt Model-Based Design (MBD) technology. It builds on seven established Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) in seven European countries, each embedded in its regional innovation ecosystem, offering complementary technical expertise, experimental capabilities, and specialist knowledge in Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) application domains. From this base, HUBCAP will create a growing and sustainable European network offering SMEs opportunity to undertake experiments, seek investment, access expertise and training, and form new business links.

HUBCAP will lower barriers for SMEs to realize the potential of growing autonomy in CPS by accessing advanced MBD technology, providing training and guidance, and acting as a gateway to the full network of all registered DIHs specializing in CPS. Half the project funding will go to supporting SMEs, including open call funding for SMEs join the ecosystem and experiment with MBD technology. HUBCAP will extend an existing open collaboration platform to enable SMEs to co-create, analyze and validate new CPS products in a virtual setting, by accessing CPS assets (models, tools, services) and experimenting with new solutions, de-risking investments in skills or resources.

The HUBCAP platform will be established based on the existing DIHIWARE collaboration platform. Initial content is provided by recent research outcomes and dedicated initial SME lighthouse experiments, with special attention to current concerns for handling autonomy, security, usage and trust within the development of CPS. These initial actions shall attract further 3rd party’s participation in subsequent SME fast-track experiments (financial support to third party instrument) in a viral way, ensuring the ramp-up and sustainability of the established HUBCAP-based innovation ecosystem.