Representation, Promotion
This service category encompasses dissemination activities aiming at advertising and promoting the companies, organizations, and activities in the DIH ecosystem to stakeholders both within and outside the DIH ecosystem (see figure below). The promotion of the DIH and its ecosystem participants is an essential activity for the sustainability of the DIH. In fact, promotion activities are paramount to give visibility to the potential use of robotics in I&M. Moreover, the promotion activities can also be used to promote the DIH and to attract new partners, as well as to attract new customers and collaborators for the companies and organizations within the DIH.
A possible way to do so is to attend trade fairs, workshops or conferences outside the DIH ecosystem with the aim of presenting and promoting the activities carried out by the DIH ecosystem and the region as a whole. More specifically, attending technical conferences and workshops to share and discuss technical results and achievements obtained through the activities in the DIH. The aim is to encourage cooperation with the DIH and to attract new potential partners. Such conferences and workshops outside the DIH ecosystem may be national and international.
Another good practice is to join technical exhibitions to showcase the technical achievements and the technical capabilities of the DIH ecosystem. There are many benefits connected to exhibitions — for instance, the audience may include several companies interested in a specific technological area in which the DIH excels. The service category of representation and promotion may be funded as a collaborative effort – by the revenues of the activities which have produced the technical achievements that are exhibited, by ongoing projects as they promote their work, by smaller companies promoting their relevant products, and/or by contributions from municipalities and regions.
Promotion and representation activities can focus on the DIH itself and the DIH partners.
Roadshows to showcase new I&M robotic technologies and services have been proven as a way for suppliers to reach out to potential customers. These roadshows can serve several important purposes including building trust in new technologies, suppliers can advertise their products and services and get feedback from potential customers on new features and systems. Roadshows can be a key enabler for asset owner personnel to get live demonstrations of new technologies, end user representatives can gain an idea of what modern technology can achieve, and potential investors can consider new tech in an informal environment. Organization of visits outside the region of a DIH is also included in the range of services within representation and promotion. Such visits also can have a component of ecosystem learning.
Example: SPRINT Robotics has organized roadshows where companies can show-case new I&M robotic technologies and services in Europe and the asset owners can learn about the new possibilities with such technologies and services. An important part of the roadshows is to include live demonstrations of I&M robotics so real robot solutions need to be amongst the exhibition material transported between locations. The roadshow is moved between asset owner’s facilities. This enables key personnel from the asset owners to see the exhibition. Many of these personnel would normally (in case of, e.g., international trade fairs) not be able to attend such an exhibition as it would have required too much time for travelling and attending. The suppliers are responsible for their own travel and accommodation and pay a participation fee to SPRINT to cover some of the costs in connection with the roadshow.
