12/2017 - 11/2020

Mittelstand 4.0

Competence Centre for IT Business

Mittelstand 4.0 - Competence Centre for IT Business

Mittelstand-Digital provides information to small and medium enterprises about the opportunities and challenges associated with digitalisation. Regional skill centres provide local support to small retailers as well as large manufacturing companies with expert knowledge, demonstration centres, knowledge-sharing networks, and practical examples. The Federal Ministry for the Economy and Energy enables all Mittelstand-Digital offers to be provided free of charge.

Kick-Off Teamfoto — © Kompetenzzentrum IT-Wirtschaft

Background and objectives_{Open area}_{Close area}

As in many sectors, SMEs in the IT sectors are facing the challenges of globalisation and digitalisation. Established business models are not generally sustainable in the long-term without innovation and must adapt to new advances in technology and a changing market situation. The Mittelstand 4.0 Competence Centre for IT Business has set itself the goal of providing local help to small and medium enterprises to tackle the challenges of digitalisation using specialist knowledge, demonstration centres, knowledge-sharing networks and practical examples.

Approach and tasks_{Open area}_{Close area}

The TH Wildau is contributing its expertise in economics, information technology and law. The core of the project deals with the prediction and early recognition of potential technological developments and processes (“foresight and technology scouting”) as well as providing support for meeting the demands that arise of the sometimes complex legal framework conditions for digitalisation processes.

The sub-project “foresight and technology scouting” being worked on by the Innovation and Regional Research research group under the leadership of Professor Dr. Dana Mietzner collaborates with businesses to design and implement concrete foresight processes. A technology radar and technology newsletter are used as an instrument and tool for communication. The “Innovation Camp” offers a range of different formats for everything from idea generation to prototyping and usability testing. The “Foresight Lab” is specifically targeted at dealing with knowledge transfer. It sensitises SMEs in foresight topics and provides them with foresight methods, e.g. for scenario-based business model development.

The sub-project “legal framework conditions” sees Professor Dr. Carsten Kunkel and his team contribute their legal expertise. Their goal is to help those involved in the digitalisation process with the ability to understand the complex and difficult to understand legal framework conditions. This will initially focus on creating the foundations for collaboration between IT SME consortia, particularly in the areas of data protection and contract law, by preparing scientific annotated agreements and guidelines, among other things. Knowledge built up in this way is to be transferred to businesses as part of events and training sessions within companies.

Beyond the areas mentioned above, TH Wildau is making a contribution to implementing further tasks of the skills centre, such as conceptual design and implementation of pilot projects, matching SMEs with service offers and public relations works. The Innovation and Regional Research group is ultimately responsible for the skills centre, which is to make a key contribution to quality assurance.

Project and cooperation partners_{Open area}_{Close area}

The cooperation project consortium is made up of the national association for IT SMEs IT-Mittelstand e.V. (BITMi) as leader of the consortium, the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau and the TH Brandenburg. The association is supported by business development agency Berlin Partner GmbH. The Mittelstand 4.0 Competence Centre for IT Business (KIW) is a national organisation with bases in Berlin, Aachen, Karlsruhe and Kassel.

Financing / support programme / type of financing_{Open area}_{Close area}

The Mittelstand 4.0 Competence Centre for IT Business is supported by the Federal Ministry for Economy and Energy (BMWi) as part of its “Mittelstand-Digital” funding for SMEs.