The Digital Innovation Hub INNOVATE is Austria's center for digitalization in agriculture, forestry, timber and energy

Aims of INNOVATE

The Digital Innovation Hub INNOVATE is manifold. Hence, this is mirrored in goals and offered formats accordingly. Firstly, it aims to ignite the pioneering spirit in SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and raise awareness regarding the essence of digital transformation among members and employees. Secondly, it focuses on the further development of innovations in the field of key technologies and link the business world with today’s various work environments. Lastly, one core value of INNOVATE is targeting the many concerns of SMEs, providing and sharing fundamental knowledge by establishing customized formats and this way creating a significant and definable value.

Activities of INNOVATE

INNOVATE fosters to create opportunities which enable small and medium-sized enterprises in the agriculture, timber, forestry and energy industries to exploit their full digital potential.

1. Best-Practice visits: The first of the four formats usually takes place within the course of one day, by organizing not only an on-site event but connecting experts, researchers and pioneer SMEs to discuss promising trends in technology in application as well as paving the way for joint research initiatives.

2. Prototype bootcamp: The second format is embedded in a very intensely time-limited setting, for instance a period of one to two weeks, which ensures a maximum focus on the creation of a first version of a product, a business plan and a roadmap with the final step of presenting the results in front of a jury of experts.

3. Idea generation workshop and innovation: This third format offers a setting to generate ideas by applying design thinking approaches with selected SMEs on specific topics extracted from real-life-examples with the goal to display an overview of possible ideas and recommendations for the future.

4. Trend radar: The last format focuses on raising awareness in light of developments and research in the technological field by offering condensed expert talks or webinars, facilitating the process of mapping out technological trends and transferring the knowledge to real-life scenarios.

For more information on the activities of INNOVATE please visit www.dih-innovate.at.