- We must be better thinking about disruptive opportunities

Tuesday, 10 May 2022

Digital development must be the driving force for reaching the goal of zero emissions. On Wednesday and Thursday, DigiPro organized a meeting to show what is happening around the digital transition in Agder.

- DigiPro is a national center run by suppliers, the industry and the research apparatus, and Sintef is involved as an important driving force, says Frode Brakstad, chief researcher at Sintef.

Sintef works closely with the cluster and Prosess21 to drive forward important research and development around the digital transition. Getting major R&D projects started that can drive this development in the right direction, so that we are at the forefront all the time, is Sintef's goal.

Development of better systems

- We must become better in Norway thinking about disruptive opportunities with digital means. This does not only apply in production, but can, for example, have to do with the customer experience and the market. Development of better systems for environmental reporting will also be important in the future. We must develop advanced digital platforms that can create the basis for fundamental changes in the way we produce, says Trygve Hanssen, who is responsible for Elkem's technical research centre, and involved in the digitization work in Prosess21. He is also a board member of DigiPro.

The main challenge, as Hanssen sees it, is for us to meet the sustainability targets and become a zero-emissions industry by 2050.

First member meeting

- In order to achieve this, it is a prerequisite that we succeed in developing advanced digital solutions towards the intermediate goal in 2030 with a 55 per cent reduction, says Hanssen.

DigiPro Centre's first physical members' meeting was organized on Tuesday and Wednesday, with gatherings from lunch to lunch in Grimstad and Kristiansand. The event took place at the University of Agder (Campus Grimstad the first day, and Campus Kristiansand the second day), with subsequent company visits.

There were presentations from DigiPro's professional network, the professional community at the Faculty of Technology and Science, UiA, and NORCE. In addition, there was a tour of the Mechatronics Innovation Lab, MIL, including a presentation from the catapult center Future Materials.