A little bit of context
As part of Ropardo’s initiative for the digital transformation of the Romanian business landscape, we joined forces with FitEDIH partners and became an active player in the only European Digital Innovation Hub in Romania – Regiunea Centru.
European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) are one-stop shops supporting companies and public sector organisations to respond to digital challenges and become more competitive. Under the concept of Futures of Innovation Technology (FIT), they promote technology as the vehicle to take the journey to a sustainable and prosperours future. In this sense, FIT EDIH’s main areas of interest are: Smart City, Industry 4.0 (Manufacturing), and eHealth.
What is FitEDIH
A Digital Innovation Hub (DIH) is a EU support facility that helps companies – especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups and mid-caps – to become more competitive through improving their business and production processes, their products and services using digital technology.
Each DIH is integrated into a European network, led by the European Commission, which allows for the sharing of knowledge, expertise, and resources across Europe. The ultimate goal of these hubs is to ensure that every business, regardless of its location or size, has access to the digital technologies and skills it needs to innovate and stay competitive.
For Romania, FitEDIH is the only digital innovation hub in the Center Region, focused on digitalizing mainly the domains of public administration, manufacturing and health, by leveraging technologies, cooperation and innovation.
FitEDIH Services
Ropardo and FitEDIH provide the following core services:
- Test before Invest: we provide access to digital technology testing facilities (such as digital innovation labs) where companies can experiment with advanced technologies.
- Skills and Training: we offer training sessions for companies to develop their digital skills.
- Support in finding investments: we help companies to access funding for their digital transformation.
- Networking: we ensure an innovation ecosystem where companies can connect with other businesses, research centers, and universities.
- Innovation Services: we cover various other services that support innovation, such as mentoring, coaching, and consulting on legal, regulatory, and standards advice, as well as market intelligence.
You can learn more about FIT EDIH services on the official website.
Application Areas of FitEDIH Services
Futures of Innovation Technology (FIT) promotes technology as the vehicle to take the journey to a sustainable and prosperours future. In this sense, FIT EDIH’s main areas of interest are: Smart City, Industry 4.0 (Manufacturing), and eHealth.
- SMART CITY
For smart city initiatives, FIT EDIH supports city administrations in the transition towards sustainability and digitalization by fostering innovation in general, and particularly by helping promote, develop, and implement smart city technologies and principles.
FIT EDIH achieves this by following core EU directives and regulations on smart cities, promoting green communities, as well as sustainable mobility and citizen engagement, Tourism 4.0, and ensurign training programs so that evey city administration has access to and embrace the smart city ecosystem.
- INDUSTRY 4.0
In essence, Fit EDIH assists regional manufacturing SMEs in their integration into industrial ecosystems that follow the new European Industrial Strategy.
For this, FIT EDIH offers services centered on enhancing digitalization and competitiveness of such SMEs, providing them with necessary support and opportunities, optimizing industrial processes, and promoting their digital and green transition. It also facilitates access to a range of key competitive technologies such as Advanced Manufacturing, AI, IoT, Robotics, Cybersecurity, and Digital Twin.
In terms of business development, FitEDIH services aim to increase the Romanian SMEs’ access to cross border business through digital means and to implement a comprehensive yet customized client journey in line with the regional needs.
- e-HEALTH
In healthcare, FIT EDIH’s services revolve around promoting data governance, ensuring data quality, fostering interoperability, integrating health research and innovation efforts, and maximizing the potential of digitalisation and data exchange.
For this, FIT EDIH’s activities align with the European Health Data Space Initiative that bets on the health data exchange as accelerating healthcare delivery and enabling research and policy making. As part of the FIT EDIH partnership, Ropardo also aligns its software solutions to European standards in all the business digitalization initiatives, such as the Ropardo Digital Innovation Hub.
You can learn more about digital hubs and the European digital strategy here.