IDEAM and EIT Manufacturing collaborate

IDEAM, the Irish Digital Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing Cluster, is dedicated to supporting Irish SMEs in manufacturing digitalise and transition to green manufacturing. They use the power of a community, driven by industry-driven, fuelled by academia and supported by government – and now extend their ecosystem across Europe by partnering with EIT Manufacturing.

Dr Christian Bölling, Managing Director EIT Manufacturing Central, and Dr Jamie Meehan, IDEAM Cluster Manager, signed the network partnership agreement on WAZP’s premises.

Manufacturing is one of the key drivers of the Irish economy. The trade magazine Made in Ireland reports impressive figures: over 230,000 jobs directly supported by manufacturing, €135bn of annual exports, over €6.5 billion of annual sales and more than 1,000 companies operating across a wide number of industries.

“IDEAM is an industry-driven cluster organisation that supports SME competitiveness, productivity and internationalisation,” explains IDEAM Cluster Manager Dr Jamie Meehan. “IDEAM has ignited a new strategic partnership with EIT Manufacturing with the aim to empower people, cluster members, and organisations who are capable and inspired to shape the future of manufacturing. Consequently, this robust relationship will unlock IDEAM members to learn more about the ‘education, business creation and innovation’ opportunities within EIT Manufacturing and enhance their international exporting ambitions.”

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together!
Dr Jamie Meehan, IDEAM Cluster Manager

Dr. Jamie Meehan, Cluster Manager, IDEAM Cluster web

“It was Ruth Kearney from Nightingale HQ who put us in touch with IDEAM,” explains Wolfgang Kniejski, Senior Business Creation Manager with EIT Manufacturing Central. “She knows the EIT Manufacturing community well and thought our networks would be a good match – and she was right.”

Shortly after first contacts, in May 2022, three representatives from EIT Manufacturing took part in a conference IDEAM organises annually, this time on Digitalisation of Manufacturing. They had the opportunity to present the organisation and the services they offer in a keynote, moderate a panel discussion on climate neutrality and remanufacturing as well as lead a workshop exclusively for IDEAM members.

From left to right, Wolfgang Knieski, Senior Business Creation Manager at EIT Manufacturing, Christian Bölling, Managing Director at EIT Manufacturing, Shane Hassett, CEO at WAZP

Wolfgang Knieski, Senior Business Creation Manager at EIT Manufacturing, Christian Bölling, Managing Director at EIT Manufacturing, Shane Hassett, CEO at WAZP, during the workshop “Factories of the Future – Global Supply Chain for Additive Manufacturing”

“That was a great opportunity to achieve visibility in the Irish manufacturing industry, especially through the workshop our Innovation Manager Amardeep Banerjee led”, says Christian Bölling, Managing Director of EIT Manufacturing Central. “Since May, we have met very interesting contacts from companies in Ireland and even had visitors in Darmstadt for a matchmaking event.”

Wolfgang Kniejski is delighted with the Irish Manufacturing landscape. “We’ve met so many great small and medium-sized companies from various parts of the value chain as well as innovative and capable entrepreneurs and start-ups. We look forward to working our how we can best assist them in their development.”

Amardeep Banerjee led the workshop 20 September 2022.

The network partnership was announced on the occasion of a collaborative workshop, “Factories of the Future – Global Supply Chain for Additive Manufacturing”, which was organised by WAZP, IDEAM and EIT Manufacturing. It was focussed on providing outstanding industry best practices as well as giving practical insight into how the EIT Manufacturing supports the growth of advanced manufacturing SMEs in Ireland and further afield.