Dihgigal is made up of a wide variety of partners representing the whole of the Galician industrial fabric from different points of view of knowledge (industrial clusters, technology centres, universities and companies) and its aims include promoting a long-term strategic industrial vision for competitive improvement and sustainable development. In collaboration with the Xunta de Galicia, the entity will be responsible for drawing up the industrial map of Galicia, a tool provided for in the Draft Law on fiscal and administrative measures to ascertain the reality of Galician industry and define intervention measures.

What is Dihgigal's mission and what are its functions?

Dihgigal was created to drive the digital transformation of industry in Galicia, and this is its main mission. The Dihgigal ecosystem is made up of large tractor companies and more than 500 SMEs that, together with the main innovative agents in the region, constitute a unique forum where industry sets its priorities for competitive improvement.

Dihgigal also brings together all the tools a company needs to transform itself digitally: ideas, technology, training and financing. Access to and use of these tools is channelled through projects and services that connect technological supply and demand.

What kind of services do you offer to companies and which sectors or value chains do you mainly support?

At Dihgigal, it is the industry that establishes its needs and priorities to drive the digital transformation of its companies and, for this reason, we have a portfolio of services fully focused on meeting these needs. 

In this sense, Dihgigal defines four main areas of action, such as advisory services, which include from the definition and monitoring of a global digital transformation plan for the company to specific advice in areas such as cybersecurity or digital marketing; the use of 4.0 technologies through proofs of concept, mainly with the use of artificial intelligence, being these tests essential for companies to have opportunities to test the technology before making large investments; professional training, aimed at both managers and technical staff; and support in the search for funding, whether regional, national or European. 

I would like to point out that the provision of these services is currently subsidised up to an amount of €30,000 thanks to the Padih programme of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, so access to them is easier than ever for companies. All they have to do is contact us.

On the other hand, the promotion and coordination of digitalisation projects that we carry out is fundamental to our ecosystem. Dihgigal helps industry to define their needs individually, match them with the best solutions and materialise them in individual or consortium projects that have a direct impact on their business. In recent years Dihgigal has helped more than 150 companies, through 70 projects and mobilising close to 23 million euros.

What are the main challenges in the field of digitalisation faced by the Galician industrial fabric?

The digitisation of the Galician industrial fabric presents several challenges, especially if we take into account that not all companies and not all sectors are digitising at the same pace. In this sense, it is essential to ensure that the investment required to move towards the digital transformation of the company, as well as the training of people, are not an insurmountable barrier. And it is precisely in response to these challenges that activities such as those I mentioned earlier, such as the opportunity to test technology before investing or programmes for the continuous training of staff, are essential.

What new scenarios and opportunities does artificial intelligence open up for Industry 4.0?

At Dihgigal we believe that artificial intelligence opens up new scenarios and opportunities to improve efficiency, productivity and innovation in #industrial processes and products. 

From advanced automation of operations, process optimisation, predictive maintenance, design and development of new products, increased visibility and management of the supply chain for better decision making, to quality improvement through machine vision and machine learning systems, to human-machine collaboration through generative artificial intelligence, which will undoubtedly play a major role in the coming years.  

In collaboration with the Xunta de Galicia, Dihgigal will be in charge of drawing up the industrial map of Galicia. What are its main objectives and actions?

The industrial map of Galicia is a tool that will allow to know the reality of the Galician industry and to define intervention measures, identifying the needs and demands of the companies, searching in a coordinated way for efficient solutions for the improvement of competitiveness and industrial productivity. 

The first phase of this work is the systematisation of information related to Galician industry, currently disseminated in different sources, to facilitate industrial policy decision-making. To this end, variables relating to business, territorial and industrial land axes will be taken into account, detailing them in such a way that the most technical and up-to-date monitoring possible can be carried out; monitoring in which specific information on the different strategic sectors will also be incorporated.

For Dihgigal, this collaboration is fundamental, given that as an industrial ecosystem it can transmit the current situation and future needs of Galician industry in order to facilitate decision-making by the Xunta de Galicia.

What will be the benefits and impact of having this industrial map?

The aim of this map is to be able to continue advancing in the development, promotion and coordination of the Galician industrial policy with the objective of improving its competitiveness, responding to its main needs and favouring the creation of stable and quality employment. 

Dihgigal is made up of a wide variety of partners who represent the whole of the Galician industrial fabric from different points of view of knowledge, and whose objectives include the promotion of a long-term strategic industrial vision for the competitive improvement and sustainable development of Galician industry. This is the main objective shared by the Xunta de Galicia and Dihgigal.

The design of the industrial map and the dialogue foreseen during this process will contribute to the implementation of industrial policy measures with a greater impact on the Galician industrial fabric.