At the ProcessIT-day on 13-march in Skellefteå, Sweden, parts of the ProcessSME team together with many SMEs and process industry companies learnt more on how to make big technology advances. The ProcessIT-day is a one day industry conference and meeting place for researchers, SMEs, process industry companies and public authorities. The main theme of the conference was how to move from buzzwords to reality, as new buzzwords pop up and need to be explained and put into an process industry context.
Approximately 110 persons attended and were briefed about a number of topics ranging from: 5G and Industry4.0, automation of forestry, UAVs and remotely controlled vehicles in mines, simulation in mining, IoT, cybersecurity and the establishment of new wind power parks.
It became clear that some of the buzzwords which have moved up on Gartner’s hype curve are becoming more mature and used by many companies in the daily business. For instance, artificial intelligence and virtual/augmented reality were discussed as tools and methods to extend the value and use of data, increase productivity, and facilitate knowledge sharing across companies. Further, also sustainability was discussed concerning wind-based energy production and energy storage. Stable and predictable access to energy (and in particular electricity) will become more and more important as nuclear power plants are dismounted.
Photos Fanny Routovaara, ProcessIT Innovations/UmU
The day comprised a general session followed by three tracks in the afternoon: Mining, minerals and metals; the digitalization of the forestry value chain; and finally manufacturing and energy industries.
More information about the event as well as the presentations are available at: http://www.processitinnovations.se/default.aspx?id=5785 .
Petter Kyösti, petter.kyosti@ltu.se John Lindström, john.lindstrom@ltu.se
Luleå University of Technology
