The DIHBU Industry 4.0 has promoted the development of a feasibility study that highlights the working lines in which the collaborative ecosystem should be oriented to ensure its economic sustainability in the medium term.

From the previous analysis, it is shown the opportunity to design a Digital Innovation Hub oriented to promote the use of the Industry 4.0 habilitating technologies, among the regional production, with a special emphasis on SMEs.

The conformation of DIHBU Industry 4.0 is contemplated within the framework of the Emblematic Initiative: Industry 4.0, which is included in the update for the period 2018-2020 of the Regional Strategy of Research and Innovation for an Intelligent Specialization (RIS3) of Castilla y Leon 2014-2020.

In this sense, the DIHBU 4.0 creation has been supported by a broad relationship of agents that are essential in the industrial digitalization procedure. In this way, around the DIHBU Industry 4.0, a heterogeneous group of entities that can design and implement innovative solutions, as well as entities that formulate demands in the field of digitalization of their production processes was set up.

The entities that have resources and experience to implement solutions in the field of digital transformation have the capacity to act as Competence Centers. In the configuration under which the DIHBU Industry 4.0 was formulated, the entities that assume the role of Competence Centers have different nature:  knowledge-generating centers (university and technologic center), and even highly specialized companies that have the capacity to offer innovative services that may be of interest to address digitalization needs.

Thus, a total of eighteen entities have supported the initial constitution of the DIHBU Industry 4.0. Below, there is a brief review of the profile of these entities (in alphabetic order):

  • Adisseo: an Industrial Group specialized in the manufacture of animal feed products.
  • ASTI Mobile Robotics: a company specialized in mobile robotics, working on the design and manufacture of automated intralogistics solutions and AGVs (automated guided vehicles) development.
  • Bridgestone: Leader Company in the manufacture of tyres and other rubber products.
  • Centro Regional de Servicios Avanzados (CSA), a R&D company specialized in providing new services and solutions on Informatics and Communications Systems.
  • Confederación de Asociaciones Empresariales de Burgos (FAE): Non Profit Business Association of Burgos, integrating 52 local business associations and more than 3,400 companies to different economic sectors.
  • Edscha Burgos: Industrial company, -integrated into GESTAMP Corporation-, is dedicated to the manufacture of metal components for the automobile industry.
  • Fundación Caja de Burgos: A Non Profit Entity with a strategic action to support entrepreneurs and SMEs, to boost social and economic development in the province of Burgos. This support is manifested as programs to back innovative entrepreneurship and strengthening of SMEs with growth potential.
  • Gonvarri I. Centro de Servicios: a company dedicated to flat steel and aluminium transformation. In its facilities in Burgos, it performs different steel and aluminium transformation procedures, which allows its use in sectors such as automotive, household appliances, white line and the industry in general terms.
  • Grupo Cropu: it has several business lines around surface coating and heat treatments. It also manufactures components for braking and automotive air conditioning and manufacturing of zamac injection components.
  • GSK: pharmaceutical multinational. The production center located in Aranda de Duero belongs to the group of factories focused on the production of medicines in the Respiratory and HIV area.
  • Industrias del Ubierna: company integrated on the Belgium industrial group NV Bekaert, specialized in the production of cable and steel wire for tire reinforcement.
  • Instituto Tecnológico de Castilla León (ITCL): a technologic center that accumulates experience in areas of the auxiliary automotive sector, the agri-food industry, capital goods, the chemical sector, and health.
  • Keyland Sistemas de Gestión: it is a firm dedicated to the optimization, development, commercialization and implementation of own or third-party processes and management solutions for companies specialized in the industrial sector. Some products from Keyland: Blade Suite Industrial (production planning, production control, paperless manufacturing, precision geolocalization…). They have a great innovative desire that makes them clearly an innovation and Industry 4.0 company, carrying out several projects in this area, both in Europe and in Spain.
  • Metecno España: industrial group operating on the prefabricated market, being specialized in the production of roofs and facades of industrial and commercial buildings.
  • Sinterpack: company dedicated to the integration of end-of-line solutions, embedded and robotic palletizing, mainly in the world of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).
  • Tacon Decor: a company specialized in providing services of digital printing, especially on decorative coatings for commercial purposes.
  • Universidad de Burgos: public university founded in 1994. The university teaches a wide variety of degrees. Currently, its educational offer is made up of 24 degrees, 8 double degrees, 26 masters, 11 doctoral programs and 20 own degrees. Among this educational offer, there are technical degrees related to the field of technology and Industry 4.0. In 2014, the university obtained a favourable evaluation to be considered a campus of international excellence.
  • Universidad Isabel I de Castilla: it is a university of online and blended learning nature, with pedagogical and research specialization towards computer engineering, and technologies related to Industry 4.0, such as Big Data or cybersecurity.

In addition to the promotional partners, through the formation process of the DIHUB Industry 4.0, numerous entities showed their interest in the initiative and valued the possibility to establish several ways of participation, once the initiative has been launched, and the provision of services begins.

The DIH described in this document is focused on the implementation of the Industry 4.0 enabling technologies, and in particular, on the impact that the application of these technologies can have on companies in the industrial sector, from the point of view of competitiveness improvement.

Thus, partners considered Competence Centers have the capacity and experience to address projects based on some of the main Industry 4.0 enabling technologies. Among them, the following stand out:

  • Artificial Intelligence: one of the most important pillar within the Industry 4.0, since it enables manufacture processes automatization, resulting as a key element among connected factories.
  • Collaborative robotics and autonomous systems: this technology offers a solution for repetitive jobs while unifying human and robots’ efforts, as it can be worked without the safety restrictions that traditionally limited the use of this technology.
  • Cloud Computing: it represents an evolution in computing by completely modifying the way in which the use of resources and tools is established. Thus, instead of making large investments in physical structures, thanks to this technology, companies have data centers in the cloud in an agile and functional way.
  • Cybersecurity: the high connectivity required by Industry 4.0 has led to the introduction of more open systems, compared with those used in ICT several years ago. The increasing connectivity offers multiple advantages but also increases your visibility and exposure to certain risks. The business fabric, and in particular, SMEs, find difficult to improve cybersecurity capacities since they do not usually have specific equipment, nor affordable turnkey solutions
  • Big Data:  this technology is intrinsically linked to Industry 4.0 since it allows the management and breakdown of huge amounts of data that are impossible to process using conventional tools. This massive and growing amount of data allows prediction patterns to be obtained.
  • Internet of Things (IoT): under this pillar of Industry 4.0 different technologies converge allowing all types of devices o have individual access to the internet with which they are able to interconnect, which expands management possibilities and improves production processes.

In this sense, industrial activities increasingly see their competitiveness determined by the optimal application of information and communication technologies in their production process. In this context, the paradigm of knowledge-intensive manufacture, an exponential phenomenon that receives the name of Industry 4.0 emerges.

The industrial activities of Castilla y León are decisive in the socio-economic development of the region, since according to the INE[1] data, they have an important weight in the regional economy, stated as 20.6%, in comparison to 16.4% register for the whole Spanish economy.

When defining the configuration of DIHBU Industry 4.0, several specificities must be taken into account:

  • Extensive territorial scope: the natural area of activity of DIHBU Industry 4.0 extends to the Autonomous Community of Castilla and León, so it will incorporate partners and establish alliances to facilitate the exploitation of the services of the Hub by the whole regional productive framework.
  • Role of coordinator: in an initial phase of creation of the DIHBU Industry 4.0, it is proposed that the Hub will largely act as an orchestrator of the services provided by other partners of the Hub, rather than offering new specific services developed by the DIHBU itself, so that the Hub has since the outset, a consolidated portfolio of services among the productive framework.

Based on this vision, the interrelationships presented by DIHBU Industry 4.0 members can be represented as follows:

DIHBU Industry 4.0 configuration

Overall, the consortium promoting DIHBU Industry 4.0 presents a detailed overview of the current market situation and an in-depth analysis of the prospects, threats, and strengths of the Hub. As a result of this vision, the Hub will offer services aligned with Industry 4.0 enabling technologies.

The key value proposition that will guide the workflow of the Hub will focus on increasing the use of these technologies in the productive framework and especially in the industrial sector, as a way to improve productivity in highly competitive sectors, such as the industrial one.

Based on the proposed configuration of the service offer, through a scheme supported by the capabilities of the partners, the resources required for the Hub’s structuring are limited and could be classified as follows:

  • Fixed assets: The dependence on physical resources will be reduced, mainly concentrating on their facilities where the headquarters of the DIHBU work team will be located. For its part, the equipment of the fixed assets assigned by the partners to the project will be a matter for specific agreements establishing their specific conditions of use and location. .
  • Intangible assets: The need to have such fixed elements is not contemplated. 
  • Human resources: High dependence on specialized and highly qualified human resources due to the development of knowledge-intensive activities. Initially, there is a limited allocation to the project manager, which is expected to increase in the medium term. The material provision of services will essentially be carried out by the staff of the partners involved in the service, with the relevant agreements between the parties.
  • Financial resources: Resources to finance operational activities and initial funds for the launch of the DIHBU and the start of its activities.

DIHBU Industry 4.0 has been designed since its inception considering its sustainability, hence this Hub Business Plan document. Thus, the Hub is expected to obtain funding for its activities from funds derived from the provision of services, initial contributions from partners and available public funds. In addition, the in-kind contributions to be made by the partners, in the form of a temporary transfer of resources for the realization of projects of common interest, are contemplated.

DIHBU Industry 4.0 funding source

The Business Plan identifies and enumerates possible sources of funding, both public and private, both those derived from the provision of services and a recurring revenue scheme by partners, limited in time by the HUB’s linked income to various TIER that entail the right to be benefited from certain economic advantages.

In addition, DIHBU Industry 4.0 has a powerful ecosystem, a joint work dynamic for the implementation of new technologies and, with the commitment of the regional government to support this initiative, which is contemplated in the Update for 2018-2020 period of the Regional Research and Innovation Strategy for an Intelligent Specialization (RIS3) of Castilla y León 2014-2020.


[1] INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE ESTADÍSTICA 2017.