The main aims and objectives are of developing an interregional network of competence centers …

- with high cross-border cooperation of staff

- deeply embedded in, connected to, and communicating with the interregional industry and economy

- that jointly develops a set of short and long training courses and a technical-scientific knowledge base enabling both lifelong learning and innovative industry applications

- with jointly implemented lab exercises and a set of “common basic equipment” that can be found in every region enabling staff mobility.



This leads to the strengthening of the economy of the region and supports innovation, research and cooperation between universities and businesses, but also facilitates enrichment of human capital and cooperation in education.

Furthermore, a large number of “green” aspects are addressed.

A lot of these technologies are also deployed in typically harbor-based (maritime) enterprises (steel industry, car manufacturers, (bio-) chemical industries), and some technologies and applications are used in transport systems and handling of goods.

A11 Completing basic knowledge on the different topics and planning of the technical-scientific work.

A12 Installing labs and equipment, preparing laboratory set-ups, installing common basic equipment and platforms.

A13 Preparing common user’s guides, best practices, basic courses suitable for “low-level” training.



In Activity 2, we prepare the staff for advanced high-level courses, provide training for practicing engineers, and we jointly realize industry relevant lab set-ups (contrary to A12, where we address basic, common material). We provide the roots for in-depth knowledge and innovation in industry, using input from industry and/or industry organizations (cases, measurements, problems, …).



In Activity 3, we develop a number of demonstrators, applications of industrial level, proof of concepts, etc. These demonstrators can be built in a joint way or individually, but they are at the disposal of the other nodes in the i-MOCCA network. Therefore they use, or interface with, the common basic equipment. These demonstrators initialize and stimulate innovation and innovative applications in industry and services.



Communication & Dissemination (C&D) is discussed in another section. Overview:

CD1 Announcements to the general public and press

CD2 Dedicated communication to the broad targeted public

CD3 A web site and a specialized discussion forum on LinkedIn

CD4 User Groups and internal i-MOCCA conferences

CD5 High level communication and dissemination

CD6 A general closing conference.



The Program Management Committee (PMC) meets 3 times a year, on the different sites. Focus is on follow-up of deadlines, project activities and outcomes, and budget.

A User Group (UG) is created in each country.

An External Transnational Evaluation Committee (ETEC) consists of 1 external independent member per country. The project manager is secretary of this committee and link to the PMC. ETEC will meet once a year, every year in a different country.

See DVD.

A11 Completing basic knowledge: 23 lectures/courses taken.

A12 Preparing and installing lab set-ups and equipment has been done.

A13 Preparing user’s guides, best practices, basic courses suitable for “low-level” training. Target was 4, 26 done.

A14 Lecturing on content and what the whole interregional group will do. See CD 1, 2, 3, 4.



A21 Preparing the staff for in-depth high level training. 49 courses taken, some provided by externals and some by PPs.

A22 Realizing industry relevant set-ups for advanced courses: 18 realized set-ups.

A23 Providing advanced training and teaching advanced courses, in close coordination with industry and organizations. Target was 10 of one day or longer, 10+ done. 31 lectures and workshops < 1 day in Act. 2.



A31 Preparing demonstrators was done during technical days, internal conferences, partner meetings, etc.



A32 / A33 Developing the advanced lab demonstrators / Realizing industrially relevant innovative applications in the lab or together with industry. Target was 6+, 22 realized.

A34 Developing and teaching hands-on training activities on these demonstrators. Target was 10 of one day or longer, 13+ done. 6 lectures and workshops < 1 day in Act. 3.

A35. Educational activities: master’s final year projects 30+, a number with 2 students or more. One-day short student (student groups) or staff mobility: 15+. A number of student projects of the French PPs were joint, and involvement contributions of other PPs. 4 engineering students had a traineeship with a foreign PP.



C&D: see II.4



Project management: 9 PMC meetings as planned, 3 ETEC (External Transnational Evaluation Committee) visits as planned. 4 User Group meetings; this is less than planned; working together and interacting with professional organizations proved to be very efficient, as they already have an organization in place. On top of that, a lot of meetings and contacts with industry took place.

The direct user community of i-MOCCA are (engineers in) companies and services engaged in factory automation and control, embedded systems and (industrial) data networks. Such systems are ubiquitous in manufacturing industries and engineering companies, but also in for example building automation systems.
There are a large number of companies using these technologies and techniques in the Two Seas Region who require continued support and technology updates to maintain their competitive edge in design and manufacture.

Besides the direct user community, the target group consists of business support organizations, innovation centers, chambers of commerce, universities, specialist user groups, and professional bodies (e.g. the national Profibus organizations), to maximize the support and benefit offered by these organizations to SMEs and larger enterprises.

The beneficiaries are (practicing engineers in) industry and services. They are provided with a choice of advanced hands-on courses and demonstrations on high-end demonstrators and on new or emerging technologies.
Universities benefit under the form of well-equipped labs and up-to-date knowledge and courses implemented in joint effort. New generations of (master) students benefit from short interactive exchanges.
Economy in general benefits from lifelong learning and protection of the human capital, in competitiveness of enterprises.

i-MOCCA reached 111 engineers from industry (all numbers cleared from PP participants) in 10+ Act. 2 courses and workshops of 1 day or longer, and 781 engineers from industry in 13+ Act. Courses and workshops of 1 day or longer. 1900+ engineers from industry have attended lectures, workshops, etc. with a duration less than 0.5 day. People from about 400+ companies have attended events.

A competitive manufacturing industry requires – for high wage countries like the 2 Seas area – high level industrial automation. This in turn requires a lot of training for practicing engineers in industry and services (lifelong learning).

Well trained engineers not only provide state of the art automated factories, buildings, etc., they are also needed for the uptake of emerging technologies in new innovative applications in our industry.

Training has been discussed in II.3.A.; a large number of demonstrators (Act. 3, 22 in total) have facilitated the uptake of new technologies. Some examples:

- ArcelorMittal Gent’s steel factory has successfully applied (novel to the plant) the combination of code generation from Matlab/Simulink for an industrial hardware target, together with industrial networks for the connection of sensors, in a novel application preventing steel converters having “blow overs” or explosions of fluid iron/steel. A short design cycle from simulation to final program code was realized.

- In Lille, advanced control and diagnostics of fuel cells has been developed, using embedded design tools.

- In Kent & Flanders, workshops & research around EMC (ElectroMagnetic Compatibility) created a lot of awareness; workshops on countermeasures attracted a lot of participants.

- Volvo Cars Gent, and a lot of other manufacturing industries, gained a lot of knowledge on diagnostics and error finding in industrial networks. Permanent diagnostics has been introduced in a number of companies, augmenting the up-time of the installations.

- In France, a number of apps on mobile devices, even combined with sustainable building automation, have been designed. Mobile robotics design, and direct program code generation on low cost devices (e.g. winder systems, …) created insight and awareness with industry users.

In general, the link between universities and industry has been strengthened and deepened.

• The topics of industrial datacom & embedded control are broad subjects and no single PP can cover all aspects; access to the expertise of the other PPs solves this problem. (Example: during work (joint student/staff project of PP8 & PP3) for ball and beam embedded controller, they obtained specialized support from LP on the S7-mEC.)

• PPs exchanged experience on the relation with industry, and on engineering and training practices (in the own region, all is so much alike!). (Example: pick-up of the use of LEGO Mindstorms (and Matlab programming of it) from PP6 => LP, PP8.)

• Joint developing of courses. (Example: PP3 developed an introductory course on Profibus DP; LP used part of it in a later in-depth course on DP, and PP3 took that in-depth course (and gave feedback) afterwards.) (Example: jointly developed A1 courses.)

• Large scale comparison of measured properties of different embedded controllers presented on the closing conference was only possible by the joint work.

During the project, we also exchanged relevant how-to’s and knowledge resulting from the SYSIASS and SCODECE projects. Towards the very end, by means of a cluster contact, also with e-Pragmatic courses.

A number of i-MOCCA PPs are involved in the i-MOSYDE cluster.



We intensively used networks like PI Belgium, UK and France, and obtained support from a number of other networks (a few examples: DSP Valley, BigKent, Bira).

In general, each PP brought in his own industry relations (e.g. PP6 during the very successful UG FR/study day in PP6 ICAM). The project was very well embedded in its targeted audience, practicing engineers in industry and services.

Key messages from the project

• The project is concerned with “industrial data communication” and “embedded control”, two key enabling technologies that support industrial automation – a vital sector for the “high wage” 2 Seas area.

• It is important that the 2 Seas regional economy fully uses the new and emerging technologies, to become more competitive (economic view point) and more green (sustainable). This requires continuous adaptation to the quickly changing technologies.

Key lessons learned about the project (cooperation)

• The network of competence centers built up during i-MOCCA wants to take a step further towards Industry 4.0 and Internet of Industrial Things. The cross border program was an excellent opportunity to build a network to develop innovative applications and well equipped labs with a multicultural team.

• The time taken to understand each other and build relationships resulted in a strong network of people, all in a relatively short time (about 3 years).

• The practicing engineers from industry that took courses and workshops – more than 1500 from in total more than 400 companies – will continue to use acquired knowledge, skills and suggested innovative technologies in their daily practice and their designs.

• The competences, set-ups and demonstrators built up in the different labs will of course remain to be used by future generations of students, and e.g. in Phase 2 of the ongoing i-MOSYDE cluster. The labs can build on the acquired reputation.

• We will of course keep the dynamics created by i-MOCCA during those years, and continue to disseminate and keep the website on-line.

• An ongoing cluster – i-MOSYDE – includes a number of project partners from i-MOCCA, and builds on acquired experiences and knowledge.

• A new MSc program (with accent on industrial automation) is being considered in Un. of Greenwich. The latter is of course a long-time work, but the i-MOCCA project is the driving force behind it.

A number of project partners already continue to cooperate:

• Work in the i-MOSYDE cluster (LP, PP2, PP8 (HEI and ISEN).

• PP2 and PP6 have tried to find funding for a joint PhD, but no success until now.

• New bilateral (Erasmus) agreements for further cooperation on student/staff level, e.g. between Groupe H2I-ISEN and KU Leuven Campus Gent. (In i-MOCCA only short one day exchanges were foreseen, longer ones explicitely not as there is other EU funding for that.)

• Several PPs are exploring other (national) funding to continue the work on the topics. As experienced on the i-MOSYDE cluster conference, industry interest and attendance is very high, and focus by the EU on the manufacturing industries is now very high. (Also refer to II.6.C.)

As indicated in II.6.B, a number of project partners already continue to cooperate.



We have applied for a new Interreg V 2 Seas project. Building on built knowledge and the very good project partner cooperation, and using the contacts established with industry and organizations during the i-MOCCA project, we will strengthen/extent the partnership and also add project partners with as specific task the dissemination of (hopefully) future project results.



The feedback from participants in i-MOCCA, the giant success of the i-MOSYDE cluster conference, the now much higher EU interest in the manufacturing industries, … all encourage us to take the next step, and explore and “push” aspects of Industry 4.0 and the Internet of (Industrial) Things to the 2 Seas area.