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Success for the "Mittelstand 4.0" Competence Centre "Digital with us": Federal government approves further funding

Success for the "Mittelstand 4.0" Competence Centre "Digital with us": Federal government approves further funding

As the first SME 4.0 competence centre, the team from Hanover can continue its work for another two years. It is responsible for companies in Lower Saxony and Bremen and is mainly docked at the Institute for Production Technology and Machine Tools (IFW) of Leibniz University Hannover.

The three-year initial funding of 5.3 million euros from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology will expire at the end of November 2018; the follow-up funding now amounts to 3.6 million euros for a further two years until the end of November 2020. Professor Berend Denkena, head of the institute and CEO of the Competence Centre, is delighted with the confirmation of the work done to date.

In the first three years, the employees of the Competence Centre conducted more than 450 discussions on digitisation in small and medium-sized enterprises and accompanied 18 projects on the implementation of digitisation measures. They offered 160 training courses, invited to 90 live demonstrations, designed 65 information events and were 32 times on the road in Lower Saxony with the "mobile factory", the roadshow bus. Managing Director Michael Rehe is very satisfied with these figures: "We have exceeded our key figures for the first three years".

For the second funding period, the center employees have planned new offers: in order to reach micro and small enterprises, they have developed mobile training courses that take place locally near the company. "In this way, we are countering the obstacle of the long journey to training," says Rehe. The centre''s offer, especially for training courses, will also be expanded through cooperation with other competence centres, so that topics that could not previously be covered can also be addressed.

You can find the services of the Competence Centre at www.mitunsdigital.de