Canary Island Digital Innovation Hub (CIDIHub)

Overview

CIDIHub aims at becoming the cornerstone of Cloud Computing, HPC Simulation, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Systems in the Canary Islands by connecting technology providers with entrepreneurs, SMEs and mid-caps; strengthening their competitiveness and opening up new business areas in the context of digitalization and Industry 4.0 (Digital manufacturing).

In general terms, CIDIHub has the ambition to provide Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Systems’ competences together with a Cloud Computing infrastructure and the associated expertise based on existing technology and standards that allow software vendors to offer their regional customers (being it SME or bigger companies) new cloud services along and across the engineering and manufacturing chain - even vendor independent. CIDIHub provides a ‘single point of access’ to computational (simulation) and data management services on high-performance clusters (HPCs). For that purpose, the CIDIHub relies on a main regional Competence Center (ITER) from the very beginning, addressing needs in the CAD/CAM, CAE, Systems or PLM communities, for whom technological services are executed on the existing infrastructure.

In addition to AI, Cloud and HPC technologies, other technologies CIDIHub will be managing are Internet of Things (IoT), Digital Art & Design, Modeling and Simulation, and of course Digital Manufacturing. On top of that, Future Internet technologies will be an asset together with FIWARE as a curated framework of open source platform components to accelerate the development of smart solutions.

Through the development of activities and the provision of services in the form of technological and consultancy support, training, research and testing, entrepreneurship assistance, etc., CIDIHub is focused mainly on some concrete sectors:

Digital Manufacturing / Industry 4.0
ICT and Audio-visual + Creative Industries (including digital art and design)
Tourism
Blue Economy

In this context, the Hub offers a portfolio of services mainly consisting of the provision of simulation and computing power and digitisation assistance; shared research and fostering of public co-funded and collaborative RDI; contract research, testing and validation; training and education; community building and dissemination activities; and supporting new businesses and startups.

The whole CIDIHub structure and operations are organized to be conducted around an alliance of seven main partners embracing the more representative domains within the regional ecosystem, that is:

Private Sector – technology and manufacturing consultant (AVANTALIA).
Manufacturing SMEs and mid-caps Associations - (FEMETE and FEMEPA).
Research Centre – Cloud Computing and HPC provider (ITER).
Public Institutions – (Canary Islands Government, Tenerife and Gran Canaria Island Councils).
Digital technologies.