5th Innovation 4.0 Award to the italian manufacturing companies that invest in research

Turin, 12th February 2021 – there is a direct line linking the research results of Digital Innovation Observatory in the SMEs of the Politecnico of Milan presented at the opening of the A&T Fair and the 5th edition of the Innovation 4.0 price awarded today: the two ex aequo winners, in fact, are two companies that have been able to transform the value of research as a factor of competitiveness and success.

These are Bonfiglioli Riduttori, with the IoTwins project, thanks to which Big Data becomes a modelling and prediction tool also accessible to the SMEs; and Rollwasch® Italian Spa, with the VibroBLAST technology, a patent for a revolutionary vibro-blasting technology, which combines the kinetic potential of sandblasting with special elastic abrasive supports that accompany the workpieces to be treated three-dimensionally.

Bonfiglioli Riduttori is a Bolognese family company established in 1956, leader in the design and production of gear motors, drive devices, planetary gearboxes and inverters. Bonfiglioli Riduttori participated in the Innovative 4.0 award in the University and Research category with 23 European partners with whom they won the Horizon 2020 funding.

IoTwins reproduces digitally a system (infrastructure, process, machine, etc.) together with its performance, creating Digital Twin. Digital twins allows to modelling the system and its dynamics, the prevision of its evolution and optimization of its functioning, management and maintenance. The simulations already carried out and replicable are concerning the monitoring the production in industrial plants, the management of the flow of crowds within large entertainment facilities, such as the Barcelona stadium and the creation of a digital twin of a wind farm, aggregating simulation models and ML of single turbines for predictive maintenance.

Rollwasch® Italiana S.p.a., founded in 1950 in Albiate (MB), is a PMI company, specialized in the surface finishing, such as vibratory finishing and robotic finishing and competing for the Award in the Companies category. Rollwasch® Italiana S.p.a is already holder of 15 patents, in June 2019, patented the VibroBLAST technology, developed with the French competence center HALL32 with the aim to reduce the typical bottleneck of post processes and finishing that follow 3D printing processes. VibroBLAST rounds and attenuates the relevant surface roughness of the metal components facilitating the subsequent finishing or post-processing phases, drastically reducing manual work and process time. The technology applies to polymers, metals, ceramics and many other materials, not necessarily manufactured in 3 D.

The winners that have recieved the Innovation 4.0 Award – this year sponsored by HP Italy, a design object that reproduces the A&T logo created with additive manufacturing technology by Elmec 3D.

The Competence Industry Manufacturing 4.0 CIM4.0 has also awarded them a voucher of 2.000 Euro each, which will give them the right to access the training courses of the Learning Hub or the CIM4.0 Academy. 51 projects were selected and admitted, among which the A&T Industrial Scientific Committee designated 8 finalists. The 2021 edition of the Prize awarded by the A&T Fair saw growing interest especially from companies, including Edison, Autostrade, Iren and Enea.

“The Innovation 4.0 Award confirms how Italian creativity and technological talent are fundamental strategic levers to enhance and raise awareness and the benefits of digitization within our companies and at the same time strengthen competitiveness on global markets. All the projects presented showed great technological potential, as A&T Industrial Scientific Committee we found ourselves in great difficulty in identifying a short list and a winner. In fact, in the end we opted for an ex aequo. There is only one way to follow: networking and promoting also through events such as the A&T Fair, organized through an never seen but winning formula, the culture of digitization towards Italian manufacturing, a plus of skills and professional skills that have always distinguished us on foreign markets” declared Alberto Baban, President of the A&T Industrial Scientific Committee.

This year the event has been digital, recorded over 4.000 single accesses in the three days, 150 exhibitors present with digital stands, more than 150 speakers involved in about 50 appointments including events, conferences, round tables and workshops. A concreate example of how it is possible, through the courage of experiment, team working and planning, to create an innovative Fair also in its way of fruition.

“We are proud that we were able to face such a difficult challenge, the one to confirm a complex event in a difficult era by bravely choosing the digitization mode. It was not easy but, together with our exhibitors, visitors and all the actors who followed and supported us in the previous months, we demonstrated that innovation and technology are essential and functional elements to update established habits and to show new opportunities. The future of Fairs, certainly ours, will be the hybrid mode, where language and online accessibility will be an integrated part of the next edition, in February 2022“, said Luciano Malgaroli, Founder and CEO of A&T Fair.

Link to A&T: https://www.aetevent.com/comitato-scientifico