Within the EU landscape of DIHs, the pan-EU DIH networks have a distinctive position and mission. Post-project sustainability of the EU project is about creating viable business models for the operation of European networks, as well as addressing issues of governance, positioning and organisation. Often, such networks are based on initial funding from the Commission under an EC Framework Programme (FP7, H2020, or HEU). Many of the Innovation Actions and Coordination Support Actions that are co-funded by the Commission can be seen as precursors to create a network of DIHs that boosts European collaboration on a specific innovation topic. 

This paper addresses several important conclusions and policy recommendations:

1. 1. DIH network projects should be seen as a starting point for a sustainable network
   2. It is important to differentiate between the Network Catalyst and Members and their services
   3. Financing should be connected to the services, related costs and organization
   4. It is important to take a systemic view towards the DIH network and its sustainability
   5. There is a need to discuss the responsibilities of EDIH network and the existing DIH networks

 

This green paper was drafted by TNO as a result of the discussions and background information in the RODIN Working Group (WG) on sustainability in cooperation with the DIHNET project. For more information, download the full paper here. 

Our community of EU robotics projects improves collaboration between European robotics DIHs with a mission to strengthen the competitiveness of the European robotics market. We represent 5 projects from 4 application areas: DIH HERO (healthcare), RIMA (infrastructure inspection and maintenance), agROBOfood (agri-food), TRINITY and DIH2 (agile production). For more news and updates from our community of projects, follow RI4EU on LinkedIn and Twitter and subscribe to our newsletter.