SPS IPC Drives (Italy) – SPS IPC Drives Italia 2018 on May 22nd to 24th of 2018 at the Parma Quartiere Fieristico in Parma, Italy.

SPS IPC Drives Italia, the innovative project for the edition 2018.

The eighth edition of SPS IPC Drives Italia will be held in Parma from 22nd to 24th May. The positive feedback of partners that have presented the project at the press conference in Milan together with the organizers, has confirmed SPS Italia as the “industry 4.0 lab” in Italy. Over the course of the three-day event, digital training, innovation and processes for the new Italian manufacturing industry will be the main themes.

Donald Wich, CEO of Messe Frankfurt Italia, says: “SPS Italia is our reference trade fair in Italy. It’s amazing how the event is able to adapt to technology and market trends, from year to year. Based on the positive subscription trend, we are confident in predicting 10% growth. The improved Digital Area with its journey through the development of Digital Transformation make SPS Italia the best platform in Italy to bring together manufacturers and IT technology.”

The Digital District and the Digital Transformation journey:
One of the most important developments for this year is the significant expansion of the exhibition area with a dedicated area for Digital Transformation and a new pavilion, Digital District (DD), which will welcome all the major players of the digital, software and cyber security industries. Here the worlds of IT and OT will converge to embark on a shared journey towards the digitalisation of manufacturing plants.

The journey starts in Pavilion 4 with Know how 4.0, a project which will give visitors the chance to see, touch and understand the first products developed according to the concepts of Industry 4.0, enriched by applications from the world of Robotics and Artificial intelligence.

Know how 4.0 continues in Pavilion 7 with the new project “4.it from craftsmanship to machine learning”, developed in collaboration with the Italian Association of Mechatronics Automation (Associazione Italiana di Automazione Meccatronica - AIdAM).

A contest for companies with a vision of the future:
In collaboration with SPS Italia, Porsche Consulting will be launching the “Porsche Consulting Digital Transformation Contest” in Parma to promote and positively influence a virtuous network of companies able to share experiences and technology ecosystems supporting strategic decisions.

The contest aims to recognise and give visibility to both large companies and SMEs which stand out during the competition. Winners will have the opportunity to meet with the car manufacturer, which will provide winners with strategic expert advice worth 20,000 euro.

Josef Nierling, CEO of Porsche Consulting explains: “This project is the natural evolution of the mission we launched a few years ago, which aims to support Italian companies to take opportunities arising from the digital transformation. This is a strategic priority for Italian companies and a fundamental piece of the puzzle for competitiveness in our country. Through the contest, we want to reward those who have already taken practical and successful steps along the transformation process, so that they can be a source of inspiration and encouragement for others.”

Fare Cultura 4.0:
The event will have an area dedicated to training, called “Fare Cultura 4.0” (Creating Culture 4.0), with the collaboration of high schools and universities, incubators and start-ups, Digital Innovation Hubs, Italian Engineering associations and training centres. In this setting, university and PhD students selected by their educational institutions, and known as “SPS Eng.els”, will be welcomed as guests throughout the duration of the event to allow them to express their own views on the most innovative technologies shown at the event. In addition to this, trade Italian associations (Anie, Assofluid, Aidam, Assiot, Anima) will be present in the area with relevant projects and info desks.

“SPS Italia has become a crucial event for the Italian automation market. Some years ago, our Association began a meaningful collaboration for growth with Messe Frankfurt Italia, which led to the development of Forum Meccatronica and the rebirth of Forum Telecontrollo,” explains Fabrizio Scovenna, President of ANIE Automazione. “This has been a very successful year for our companies, partly due to the government plan dedicated to Industry 4.0. The next edition of SPS Italia will be another opportunity to launch new collaborations to help us to grow together.”

Centre of debate will be the relationship between man and technology with particular focus on the subjects of the Digital Transformation journey and the future challenges for man and technology: Robot and Cobot and the role of digital technologies in process and product innovation.

The run-up to the event:
A series of events lead up to the main event in May, starting from the 30th January, with the ICS Forum in Milan, the first edition of a new convention on industrial cyber security, one of the crucial themes for companies embarking on digital transformation.

From February to April the traditional cycle of roundtables throughout Italy, organized this year with the support of Porsche Consulting, brings SPS Italia into the Italian districts.

The first stop of the roadshow “Automation and digital in supply chains and across geographical areas” has been in Piacenza on February, with Agrifood and Beauty topics. On the 28th February, the show continued in Verona, on enabling technologies for food processing. On March, in Lucca, about the pharmaceutical sector, paper manufacturing and graphic arts. The last stop on April in Bari, with the roundtable “Automation 4.0 and digital transformation: experiences and opportunities in the Puglia area”.