Here at Altus, we are technology enthusiasts and completely fascinated by the possibilities it brings to industry and society. Therefore, we seek to establish mutual collaborative relationships with different institutions that, like us, also value innovationand are agents of fostering technological development. Recently, we engaged in another initiative with this bias, an international project that aims to boost the process of collaborative development in different sectors of the world economy.
To start talking about the subject, we need to go back to October 2019. At the time, our president Ricardo Felizzola was in Biel, Switzerland, participating in the 2nd International Smart Factory Summit, an event created to discuss strategies implementation of smart factories around the world. The occasion provided the first handshake with Dominic Gorecky, CEO of Swiss Smart Factory, institution that promotes research and development applied to the Swiss technology sector.
In this event, on this exact day, the foundation stone for the beginning of the project was set. Why? Well, today, Altus and Swiss Smart Factory are two of the bodies involved in the Swiss-Brazilian initiative to promote innovation.
Visit of President Ricardo Felizzola to the Swiss Smart Factory
About the Swiss-Brazilian collaboration
According to President Felizzola, one of the objectives of Altus' internationalization process is to “maintain contact with entities from countries that are leaders in innovation”. In addition to being one of the countries that invest the most in research and development, around 3% of GDP, Switzerland also has a high expenditure rate on education, reaching 5 .6% of GDP. Generous investments like these create an efficient education, research and innovation ecosystem, which leads the country to appear as the leader in the world innovation rankings.
This structured research process together with the creativity and intellectual capital of Brazilian professionals creates the perfect environment for ventures to encourage innovation.
The initiative arose from a notice launched in 2020 by Innosuisse, innovation agency linked to the Swiss government, in partnership with Embrapii, Brazilian Industrial Research and Innovation Company linked to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. In it, technological development partnerships were proposed between ICTs (Institutes of Science and Technology) and Brazilian companies, together with ICTs and Swiss companies. As they already had a solid relationship during the 2019 Summit, Altus and Swiss Smart Factory came together to submit a project and were selected!
The technology behind the project
The project presented envisages the creation of automation equipment that can be used for data analysis and scenario prediction in the most varied industrial environments.
“The product is a well-designed project that involves artificial intelligence, prediction of failures in rotating machines, remote action in start-up protocols and testing of intelligent products”, explains Felizzola.
On the Swiss side, in addition to the Swiss Smart Factory, which will act as ICT, companies will also participate in the project Cencerus e MyLive Zone. On the Brazilian side, the Senai Institute of Innovation and Technology, from São Leopoldo/RS, will be Altus' ICT partner in developing the device.
To make this joint execution possible, a remote development methodology will be used in all stages of the innovation process. The resource, created by MyLive Zone, allows engineers and designers in different locations to access the same equipment and develop solutions collaboratively and completely remotely.
This effort, unprecedented in the industrial automation scenario, is yet another example of the entire strength of the Altus brand and the great capacity for innovationof team of employees of the organization! “The initiative will help Altus to fulfill its fundamental objective when starting internationalization, which is to be at the edge of global innovation”, highlights Felizzola.
By engaging in this project, shared with Swiss entities with a high innovative index, the company consolidates its positioning as one of the world's main suppliers of technology for industry.
The participating entities
Innosuisse
Innosuisse is the Swiss innovation promotion agency. The body's mission is to promote scientific-based innovation for application in improvements in the interest of industry and society and, thus, strengthen the competitiveness of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in the country.
Embrapii
The Brazilian Industrial Research and Innovation Company operates through cooperation with scientific and technological research institutions, public or private, focusing on business demands and targeting risk sharing in the pre-competitive phase of innovation. Its objective is to encourage the industrial sector to innovate more and with greater technological intensity, thus enhancing the competitive strength of companies both in the domestic and international markets.
Swiss Smart Factory
The Swiss Smart Factory is the first test and demonstration platform for Industry 4.0 in Switzerland. Its vision is to become an internationally recognized center for its competence in researching solutions for Industry 4.0. The objective of the initiative is to create an ecosystem of partners through which innovations and new technologies for Industry 4.0 can be developed.
SENAI
A long-time partner of Altus, the SENAI Institute for Innovation in Integrated Solutions in Metalmechanics (ISI SIM) is a unit accredited by EMBRAPII that works mainly on innovation and applied research projects to increase the productivity and competitiveness of Brazilian industry.
MyLive Zone
A pioneer in the area of industrial remote access in Switzerland, MyLive Zone works to develop open technological platforms with plug-and-play capabilities for digitalization and remote control of industrial equipment. The organization leads the world scenario in remote training for the operation of industrial equipment.
Cencerus
The company operates in the E2E software development market for Industry 4.0, providing innovative solutions for IoT applications. Cencerus will integrate software during the remote development phases of the project.
