About 50 Técnico professors and researchers are involved in Produtech R3, a consortium of 108 companies, universities and research centres created to bring about a structural change in the production technology sector. The project is funded by the European Union under the NextGeneration EU programme through the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (RRM) and the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP).
Active since 2022, the initiative aims to exploit the investments that the industry sector will make with the green and digital transition, reducing external technological dependence, increasing the added value generated in the country and contributing to a change in the specialisation of the Portuguese economy.
Of the 85 new products and services that will result from this consortium, Técnico is involved in 19, focusing on four of the five areas of Produtech R3 – product customisation and proximity production; adaptive, collaborative and competitive production; interoperable, intelligent and autonomous production systems; and efficiency in the use of resources and direct integration of renewable energies into production processes.
Practical examples of the Técnico’s role in this initiative include ‘installing production management software in the demonstrators and collecting and analysing data to feed optimisation tools, collaborating in the development of other intelligent tools’, explains Marco Leite, a professor at Técnico and a researcher at the Mechanical Engineering Institute (IDMEC).
The Produtech R3 innovation pact brings together a national consortium of 108 partners from different areas and sectors of national industry, including 45 Production Technology Suppliers, 37 User companies in the Manufacturing Industry and 26 ENESIIs (National Scientific and Technological System Entities, Technology Centres, Sector Entities).
Produtech R3 was one of the projects funded by the RRP to attend the Técnico Innovation Summit on 4 and 5 November. The summit brought together researchers and company representatives to showcase the work developed within the various consortia.
