On 2 June 2017, the Concurrent Engineering Research Unit (CERU) of the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering organised a seminar entitled 'Digital Factories for Innovative Product Development'.
The seminar was well attended, by both local experts, researchers as well as representatives from the local manufacturing industry. Several speakers presented topics relating to digital manufacturing and Industry 4.0. The seminar was opened by Dr Ing. Pierre Vella.
On behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, Ms Marisa Xuereb presented arguments for the need of the local manufacturing industry to take up digital manufacturing technologies. Mr Oliver Todorovic presented work relating to a research project carried out at Fraunhofer IAO, Stuttgart, on the use of digital manufacturing in the development of an exoskeleton for use in industrial environments.
Dr Ing. Emmanuel Francalanza gave an overview of ongoing research being carried out at the CERU relating to digital manufacturing. Dr Erwin Rauch from the Department of Production Systems and Technology, University of Bolzano, presented research work in the field of Industry 4.0, with a special focus on the EU funded RISE project titled 'SME 4.0', relating to the use of digital manufacturing technologies by Small and Medium Enterprises. The availability of research funding opportunities was then presented by Dr James Foden on behalf of MCST.
The seminar was concluded with a floor discussion chaired by Prof. Ing. Jonathan Borg. The seminar was funded by MCST’s Technology Internationalisation Partnership Award Grant No. IPAS-2016-017.