Europe’s largest project for digitization of industry
Arrowhead Tools is Europe’s largest project for solutions in automation and digitization for the industry. The project has a budget of EUR 91 million and more than 80 partners, among them some of Europe’s largest companies such as Volvo, Bosch and Philips.
The purpose of the three-year project Arrowhead Tools is to create engineering tools for the next generation of solutions in digitization and automation for the European industry. These tools will bridge the gap that currently prevents a total integration of IT and operational technology, i.e. how the industry works towards the Internet of Things (IoT) and “system of systems”; to build large systems using the Internet of Things. The new technology will be made available through an open source platform, Arrowhead Framework.
“Arrowhead Tools is expected to reduce the costs of developing and introducing flexible and secure digitization and automation solutions by 25-60 per cent. This will make Sweden and Europe more competitive and create new jobs and business opportunities, but also reduce energy consumption and environmental footprints,” says Jerker Delsing, professor of Industrial Electronics at Luleå University of Technology and coordinator for Arrowhead Tools.
Diverse sectors represented
53 companies from the automotive, mining, electronics and software industries participate in the project. The platform and tools will be tested in 21 industrial user cases. An important goal of Arrowhead Tools is to create de facto-standards in digitization and automation, including interoperability.
“There is a great need for common standards. Today, different standards are written in thousands of places. Arrowhead Tools is one of few initiatives that can handle industry demands in the area. Technically, we probably have the most advanced approach available globally,” says Jerker Delsing.
The total project budget for Arrowhead Tools is EUR 91 million, where the participating companies themselves account for half of the budget.
“This is a joint investment between the industry, the EU Commission and 18 countries,” says Jerker Delsing, adding: “With Arrowhead Tools, it is clear that Europe wants to maintain the lead in the world when it comes to automation and digitization.”
More about Arrowhead Tools
Arrowhead Tools has a budget of EUR 91 million and 81 European participants, including 28 universities and research institutes and 53 companies from, among others, the automotive, mining, electronics and software industries. Among the companies are Bosch, Philips, Mondragon, Volvo, Boliden, and Infineon.
Arrowhead Tools is funded by the participating companies and ECSEL-JU, a public-private partnership for electronic components and systems within EU Horizon 2020, as well as the participating countries.
Luleå University of Technology is coordinating the project. The university also led the large automation project Arrowhead, completed in 2017, which produced concrete solutions for interoperability for automation systems.