Deadline: 31-Jul-23
EIT Manufacturing launches the “Teaching Factory on Deep Tech, 2023 – Call for Companies” to identify companies with a Deep Tech business challenge to be solved.
The Teaching Factory Competition (TFC) promotes the use of the Teaching Factories educational methodology (a collaboration between industry & academia through challenges) and the benefits of academia-business partnerships to reach an authentic innovation in Manufacturing.
A Teaching Factory is a collaboration space where practitioners bring experience from the factory to teach students, while students and professors/teachers bring knowledge from the classroom to teach practitioners. This collaboration is supported with a web conferencing platform and is an ongoing process, with regular sessions and continuous interaction between the factory and the classroom. The EIT Manufacturing Teaching Factories Network enables companies and learners to interact on a wide variety of challenges and disciplines.
Purpose
- Teaching Factory Competition (hereinafter, “Competition”, or “Initiative”) is an initiative of advanced training dedicated to university students and Vocational Education and Training (VET) students promoted by EIT Manufacturing (hereinafter, “EITM”). The initiative aims at:
- allowing companies to learn about and experience the benefits of using advanced knowledge and methods taught in the Universities to improve their processes/products, as well as addressing business challenges through the application of the Teaching Factories paradigm and framework.
- allowing university and VET students to test their competencies by applying them to real industrial problems and challenges, improving preparation for their future work (Challenge-Based Learning-CBL).
- offering teachers and industrial mentors an opportunity to support the students in generating solutions in a collaborative environment facilitated by the Teaching Factories methodology.
- This collaboration framework allows participating companies to benefit from solutions and ideas to provide advanced and emerging technology solutions responding to their challenges.
Funding Information
- The shortlisted applicants will receive the following benefits & awards:
- All shortlisted companies will enjoy networking, visibility, and international publicity through EIT Manufacturing’s communication channels.
- All shortlisted companies will be involved in Training Workshop aiming at improving leadership and mentoring skills.
- The top 3 (three) companies/ challenges (the Winners) will receive the cash prizes as of the following: 1st place: 15 000 EUR, 2nd place: 10 000 EUR, 3rd place: 5 000 EUR. The prizes are given to the companies to develop innovative solutions in manufacturing.
Topics
- The application is open to small, medium, or large enterprises (including social enterprises) in the manufacturing sector.
- In particular, the application should tackle a business challenge within a deep technology field (Deep Tech).
- The indicated list of Deep Tech fields includes (among others):
- advanced materials and manufacturing.
- aerospace, including drones.
- artificial intelligence and machine learning.
- biotechnology.
- blockchain.
- Web 3.0.
- electronics.
- photonics.
- quantum computing.
- robotics.
- semiconductors (microchips).
- sustainable green energy and clean technologies.
Activities
- Before awarding the financial prizes, the following activity will be carried out: teams of students from Universities and VET Schools (hereinafter, “Solver Teams”) competent in Deep Tech will analyse and propose solutions to challenges presented by companies. (“Challenges” mean corporate objectives related to the enhancement of specific industrial processes to improve business performance.) For approximately 7 weeks, the Solver Teams will be supported by professional mentors from the companies & universities.
- Companies interested in participating should commit to the delivery of the following tasks:
- To share their Challenges with the Solver Teams
- To support the Solver Teams with guidance during the solving phase (approximately 7 weeks). Companies are expected to provide at least 4 hours of mentorship in a form of 30-minute weekly/1 hour biweekly online interactive sessions with the Solver Teams. The sessions will take place on AGORA (EITM’s online community platform).
- To participate in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) Training Workshop, aiming at improving leadership and mentoring skills.
- To participate in the TFC coordination meetings online with EIT Manufacturing to provide feedback about the competition development and discuss any issues.
- To participate in Kick off & award ceremony and present a company/challenge.
Eligibility Criteria
- To be eligible for applying, applicants:
- must be a public or private, small, medium, or large enterprises (including social enterprises) in the manufacturing sector. Applicants must be a registered “legal entity”: any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality, and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
- must be established in one of the following countries:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
- the EU Outermost regions linked to the Member States of the European Union.
- the countries associated with Horizon Europe and the low- and middle income countries ;
- All EIT Manufacturing partners are eligible to apply for financial prizes, nevertheless, an entity does not need to be an EIT Manufacturing partner to apply for the competition.
- Access to AGORA, EIT Manufacturing’s online community platform, is provided to all participants. AGORA will be used as a main communication platform among companies and Solver Teams.
- Beneficiary entities must register in the EU Participant Register before submitting their application, to obtain a participant identification code (PIC).
For more information, visit Teaching Factories Competition.