ActionPlanT – a project of the Private-Public Partnership “Factories of the Future”  

The ActionPlanT project  is co-funded by the European Commission under the Private-Public Partnership (PPP) "Factories of the Future" within the Seventh Framework Programme  (FP7) (Grant Agreement Number 258617). ActionPlanT aims to develop a vision on the short, medium, and long term role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the European manufacturing industry.  The research project started in June 2010 and will end in May 2012.

The two main activities of ActionPlanT are:

• Establishing a vision for the role of ICT in manufacturing of the future, in cooperation with the European Commission. ActionPlanT also liaises with EFFRA, the Factories of the Future Research Association, as a key industry representing body. ActionPlanT activities include the development of a roadmap to prioritize most promising topics for the next Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (‘Horizon 2020’, covering the period 2014-2020).
• Developing and validating a concept for industrial learning, extensively piloted via Industrial Learning Pilot Events (ILPEs)and workshops amongst stakeholders in industry, academia, and the European technology platforms alike. The related activities include the development of an IL model and methodology, their testing and evaluation through the organization of ILPEs and workshops, and the dissemination of the validated results to reach a wider audience among European manufacturing workers

ActionPlanT - want to contribute?

We are looking for ICT topics which could be perceived premature at this time but nevertheless important for revolutionizing European manufacturing enterprises and their supply chains in ten years from now. Research topics on emerging trends for enterprise collaboration, IoT, mobility, servitizisation, supply chain optimization, and human-centric computing are needed. Gaps in the software development areas such as (markup/programming) languages, Integrated Development Environments, and mashup/composition environments for business processes need to be filled. We also welcome topics in the domain of enterprise security, access control of manufacturing/enterprise data across multiple manufacturing enterprises, and robotics/mechatronics.

As an academic or an expert in the manufacturing & IT industry, you can participate in ActionPlanT workshops, “knowledge cafés”, and interviews on the future role of ICT in the manufacturing industry. To contribute to this project and have your views reflected in the roadmap, please contact us.