From October 3 to 5, 2022, the results of the Interreg North Sea Region project “Futures By Design” were presented in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. The transnational partnership came together at the lead partner of the project – the province of Friesland – to report on the work of the past four years in various sessions in a live broadcast from the NHL Steden.
With the aim of raising awareness of data and digitalization among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the North Sea region and supporting them with various tools to work more data-based, the project started at the beginning of 2019 and will now conclude at the end of 2022 with many exciting data projects. A total of six regions are implementing the contents of “Futures by Design” in their regions: Friesland (Netherlands), Groningen (Netherlands), Cambridgeshire (UK), Antwerp (Belgium), Halland (Sweden) as well as the district of Osterholz and the surrounding districts in north-western Germany. In addition to the online hub, as a virtual contact point and source of information, SMEs benefit from a total of 18 tools and workshops developed specifically for “Futures by Design” on the topics of data and digitalization. The tools developed as part of the project help SMEs to outline the current situation with regard to data-based work in their respective companies, then define the problem and explore new opportunities for development. Each participating SME first goes through the “Data Jumpstart” in order to individually record and classify the current status of digitalization. The various tools are then available, which can be used depending on the previously defined situation, complement each other and in some cases also build on each other. “Data Brainwave”, for example, is a canvas developed on the basis of scientific research that helps companies to identify feasible projects in the field of data science. Another tool provides a handbook to help companies initially set their focus on this topic in order to get started with data-based work in a sustainable and development-oriented manner, while the “Data Structure Guide” provides guidance on how data should be recorded so that it is suitable for analysis and further work with it. With the help of the “Data Explorer”, SMEs can upload their data to have it checked for quality and receive a report with the results of the data. The “Footprint Tool” checks the speed of their own website and provides an overview of the functionality of the website compared to competitors’ websites. The “Zipcode Explorer” answers many companies’ questions about their catchment area. The topics of data security and data ethics are also covered by tools and there is assistance for creating your own social media marketing plan. In addition to the tools that help companies with digitalization, tools were also provided that are available to the project partners to help SMEs achieve their goals in a targeted manner. For example, there are checklists that can be used to prepare a meeting with an SME so that all relevant points can be recorded and processed as efficiently as possible. The project also produced and published articles on topics relevant to the future such as artificial intelligence, drones and virtual currencies.
These summarize the current status in a concise and understandable way and also provide outlooks and assistance on what SMEs need to consider and do to ensure that the transition to a smart, data-driven way of working succeeds today and in the future. Both the tools and the published articles can be found on the online hub at https://futuresbydesign.net/ and contain lots of useful information for all SMEs interested in future developments in the field of digitalization. The final conference in Leeuwarden provided the ideal setting for interregional exchange. SMEs from various partner regions had the opportunity to report on their experiences with “Futures by Design” and to discuss the research results and the continuation of the project with other interested parties. If you would like to find out more about the project content of “Futures by Design”, please visit the official project website www.northsearegion.eu/fbd/ or contact the aconium GmbH project team at fbd@aconium.eu. You are also welcome to contact us if you and your company would like to be included in the network of SMEs in north-west Germany created by the project or if you are looking for a competent contact person for the topics mentioned here in this region.
