The BIND 4.0 Smart Industry Open Innovation Platform has closed its sixth edition. A total of 772 projects registered, 3% more than the previous year (748 last year). Nominations come from 82 countries. In addition, there are 620 international projects, which is 80% of those registered. The participating startups will be announced in January 2022. Participants will be selected by 65 BIND 4.0 partner companies specializing in smart industry, clean and sustainable energy, food and health.

On the other hand, 10 cooperatives are participating in the platform, in addition to the corporate Promotion Center. They are: Batz, Cikautxo, Danobat, Eroski, Fagor Ederlan, Maier, Orona, Ulma, Matz-Erreka and Onnera Group.

The BIND 4.0 program is a public-private initiative in Industry 4.0, created by the Department of Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment through the SPRI Group, and has become an international reference program since its inception in 2016. Every year, the platform manages to attract the interest of technology startups from all over the world -the main goal of these startups is to market faster from the hands of reference customers-; as well as promoting the innovation and digital transformation of Basque companies through their work with these startups.

Artificial Intelligence, IoT and Big Data

40% of registered projects have opted for revolutionary technologies, such as the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence or Big Data, in developing their solutions. The remaining candidates are in the field of additive manufacturing and then in the field of virtual and / or augmented reality. Many registered startups apply these new technologies to develop innovative solutions that enable quality control through artificial vision, facilitating human-machine interaction through language processing, clean energy storage, digitization of medical devices, and a digital twin that will improve efficiency and production times. to create, among other things. The aim is to make progress in making the industry smarter, more efficient and more sustainable in the future.

On the other hand, in terms of technology application areas, it is worth noting that 65% of startups have a solution that can be applied in the field of smart manufacturing. This is followed by technologies that can be applied to clean and sustainable energy in 31st place, with 31% in third place in the health sector and another 21% in the food sector.

More than 54% are from Europe

Of the registered projects, more than 54% are from Europe (418) and 46% from the rest of the continent. Specifically, after Europe, the largest representation comes from South America, with 110 nominations, which is 14% of all nominations. Then, in third place, comes Asia.

54 projects have been registered in the Basque Autonomous Community, 28 of which are from Bizkaia, 17 from Gipuzkoa and 9 from Álava, and the highest number of candidates has been submitted from the rest of the State, 98 in total. In this sixth edition, Italy has the highest number of candidates among European countries; then come the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Portugal, and Finland, among others.

In January 2022, the finalists

One of the main attractions of BIND 4.0 is the large number of partner companies participating in the platform. This sixth edition brings together 10 other members: Arteche, Celsa Group, Cofares, Hitachi ABB, Erreka Group, Onnera Group, Osakidetza, P4Q Electronics, Ramondin, and Suez Treatment Solutions. These large companies join companies that were previously in the program, such as Angulas Aguinaga, Gestamp, Sarralle, Sidenor, Iberdrola, Bridgestone, Quirónsalud and Siemens Gamesa. Specifically, these 65 traction companies will be responsible for selecting the startups that will participate in the sixth edition of the program.