ICAMCyL launches a European technology platform for the recovery of local economies

ICAMCyL has launched a European technological platform to promote the recovery of local economies after the crisis caused by COVID-19. The platform will have one of its three pilot centres in León, and will serve to relaunch industrial activity in the short term. ICAMCyL's general director, Santiago Cuesta, also director of ISMC (Iberian Sustainable Mining Cluster), leads this international alliance to help SMEs in their recovery through the action of industrial clusters by redesigning industrial plants, work spaces and implementing security measures.

Three technological companies and eight clusters from Spain, Portugal, Austria, Greece, Serbia and Italy will participate in this platform, representing more than 2,000 SMEs and 30,000 workers, with an annual turnover of 4,000 million euros. 'Restarting economic activity safely will be one of the main challenges to confront the crisis, not only in the short term, but also in the medium and long term', remarks Santiago Cuesta.

ICAMCyL will strongly contribute to the redesign of value chains and the implementation of technological advances and automation systems that 'ensure production and protect our industrial system against new epidemics or catastrophes'. Sustainable production of raw materials has been considered as essential by the European Commission, as they are present in almost all industrial value chains and it is a sector in which workers are subjected to complex environments for their health and safety and requires constant innovation and new methodologies.

'Raw materials are the beginning of all products and value chains, they are the building blocks of our economies and well-being system. But not only that, they are also necessary for the technologies that guarantees our future, including challenges such as the fight against climate change or sustainable mobility', claims Cuesta.

In this context, ICAMCyL Foundation 'is working hard these days to coordinate a private European industrial initiative, bringing together the best ideas from technical experts to foster transformation through European industrial clusters'. The idea of ​​the project is based on 'collecting current knowledge in health and safety at work, epidemiology, protection technologies, automation, robotics, production design, biophysics, modeling, computational design and sensorization, among others'.

All aimed at redesigning and reconditioning each sector, workspace and industrial activity, achieving a complete protection of the value chains and a fast and safe restart of economic activity. The project, which will reserve a budget of 3.5 million euros to finance innovation projects in SMEs, will be synchronized with other European activities in which ICAMCyL participates, such as the Interreg SMARTY project for the implementation of industry 4.0 solutions through different industrial sectors in the several European regions.

Synergies will also be sought with the European Smart Specialization Platform (S3P) on the mining industry, associated services and global value chains and the European Platform for advanced materials for batteries. 'We want all the knowledge generated in the project, from the first phases of the proposal to its execution, to be available as good practices for any industry to incorporate them, thus making their environment and operations safer', concludes Cuesta.