Conference on Digitization and Virtualization

The Fraunhofer Project Center for Advanced Manufacturing at ITA (FPC@ITA), a partnership between the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA) and the Fraunhofer IPK (Berlin-ALE), organized, from November 23rd to 25th, a sequence of events on the thematic of digitalization and virtualization. The event was composed of a Workshop and two events called Innovation Days by FPC@ITA. The Rector of ITA, Professor Anderson Ribeiro Correia, opened the event, and highlighted the Institute's actions towards internationalization and closer ties with the industry.

FPC@ITA is a partnership between ITA and the Fraunhofer IPK Institute and offers competences from both institutions to the Brazilian market, implementing many high impact projects in Brazil.

The first day of activities, held on November 23rd at the Parque Tecnológico (PqTec) facilities in São José dos Campos, was the 1st International Industry Workshop on Digitization and Virtualization of Product Development and Production. Supported by the German Centre for Research and Innovation (DWIH São Paulo), the event brought together 75 participants from 32 companies and Institutes of Science and Technology (ICTs). The presentations were organized in the areas of Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Modeling & Simulation and Digital Twins. Among the presentations, representatives from Braskem, IHR/Randon, Hexagon, Embraer, Siemens and Eigendauer brought their case studies and promoted discussions with the audience. The agenda was complemented by topics presented by speakers from ITA, Fraunhofer IPK, Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa e Inovação Industrial (EMBRAPII), SENAI CIMATEC, AIF, and DWIH.

As an event that strengthens partnerships between Academia and Industry, the journey continued with two more days of interaction between FPC@ITA and companies. The events called Innovation Days, semi-structured activities of convergence between society demands and the competences of the researchers involved, took place on November 24th and 25th in the facilities of the Competence Center in Manufacturing (CCM), of ITA, located in the DCTA campus, in São José dos Campos - SP. Both were held with companies that spoke on the first day of the workshop, one from the automotive sector and another from the aeronautics sector.

Professor Ronnie Rego, Deputy Director of FPC@ITA, explains that "a broad spectrum of potential cooperation was structured, with real expectations to bring to ITA research and innovation projects of disruptive character in digitization and virtualization.