Advanced Manufacturing Center : An Ecosystem to Support the Transition from University Research and Education to Industrial Application in the Netherlands

The Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMC) is a new demonstration and learning infrastructure designed to be the central ecosystem that forms the bridge between academic research and development and its implementation in business. Located in the Eastern part of the Netherlands and managed by the Fraunhofer Project Center at the University of Twente, the AMC aims at pushing forward advanced production technologies in the region. In direct proximity and close cooperation with the University of Twente, it highlights new production concepts, technologies and methods that have the potential to significantly improve the performance of production companies. Connected to various innovation hubs, field labs, and educational institutes, the AMC Ecosystem prepares the knowledge-base for different technologies in the industry, through joint innovation projects with (regional) companies, to introduce, test, and develop smart solutions for their production processes. Through research, education, and training, this AMC Ecosystem is an important step towards preparing companies for meeting future challenges and strives to closely guide companies in the necessary steps towards a successful implementation of advanced technologies. This includes, but is not bounded to, digital technologies and technologies with high technology readiness levels. Through the AMC, industrial companies (with an emphasis on SMEs) get access to the latest digitization technologies and thus enable systematic development, demonstration, transfer of knowledge and implementation support. The paper will describe the idea and concept of the AMC ecosystem and specifically addresses the consideration of advanced manufacturing technologies on different technology readiness levels