The new Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Kaiserslautern supports small and medium-sized enterprises in Rhineland-Palatinate specifically by offering free information and support for a holistic approach to digital transformation. The Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Kaiserslautern is a project funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) and continues the successful work of the SME 4.0 Competence Center Kaiserslautern (Mittelstand 4.0-Kompetenzzentrums Kaiserslautern) during the last five years.

Today, there can be seen a high willingness in SMEs in Rhineland-Palatinate to deal with digital transformation. However, SMEs in the region still have a high need for support in this context, especially when it comes to new, innovative aspects like shared production, sharing economy, sustainable digitization and artificial intelligence. Here, SMEs are still in need of (scientific) expert knowledge.

The Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Kaiserslautern is able to bring these new and innovative aspects to bear in regional SMEs with the help of an experienced team of experts with state-of-the-art scientific expertise. The Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum acts as catalyst and enables SMEs of all kind to tackle digitization and artificial intelligence successfully with the help of tailor-made solutions. With this the Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Kaiserslautern contributes to the long-term competitiveness of German SMEs within international competitive markets.

The team of the Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Kaiserslautern consists of four partner organizations: the Technologieinitiative SmartFactory-KL e.V., the Deutsche Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz (DFKI), the Technische Universität Kaiserslautern (TUKL) and Institut für Technologie und Arbeit e.V. (ITA). The partners have already successfully cooperated for many years within the Mittelstand 4.0-Kompetenzzentrum Kaiserslautern and have realized more than 40 projects in SMEs and many – online and offline- workshops and events together.

ITA is as a partner within the Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Kaiserslautern responsible for the following aspects: the (online) qualification portfolio, the learning platform LEA , New Work/ future of work, digital learning, gamification, participatory, human-centered selection, introduction and implementation of digital (AI) technologies, supporting the digital transformation process, digital readiness checks (Link) and the continuous evaluation of the Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Kaiserslautern and its activities.

The so-called “Mittelstand-Digital Network” is a national initiative of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy and includes all the Mittelstand-Digital Centres as well as the two initiatives “IT-Sicherheit der Wirtschaft” and “Digital Jetzt”. The network offers free support for digitization for SMEs which profit from specific best practices and tailor-made, impartial solutions for qualification and IT security. More information on the Mittelstand-Digital Network can be found here: www.mittelstand-digital.de.

Project website: https://digitalzentrum-kaiserslautern.de

Project title

Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Kaiserslautern

Duration: August 2021 – July 2024

Project partners

  • Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz GmbH (DFKI)
  • Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Lehrstuhl für Strategie, Innovation und Kooperation (SIK)
  • Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Lehrstuhl für Virtuelle Produktentwicklung (VPE)
  • Technologie-Initiative SmartFactoryKL e.V. (Konsortialführer)

Funding

Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi). Project management agency is the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

Contact person

Dr. Viola Hellge