STARTS ecosystem’ intends to become a pillar of the STARTS (Science, Technology and Arts) movement in Europe, by creating and animating an ecosystem of creators, artists and innovators that will engage with and support the two new Lighthouse projects to be launched under STARTS, while building on results of past and ongoing initiatives, such as the STARTS Residences (VERTIGO), WEAR Sustain and STARTS Prize projects, among others. For that the project will aim at the creation and animation of a STARTS ecosystem by coordinating artistic and innovation relevant aspects of the two lighthouse pilots and of other European/international R&I projects that put artists and creatives at the centre of innovation. ‘STARTS ecosystem’ proposes to be the mechanism that feeds the new Lighthouse projects and other R&D&I initiatives with the artistic inspiration (under the form of input from artists and creators) they require to lighten the way towards a more human-centred, while technological, society. It will accomplish this by offering a solid framework for actors, activities and results generated under the first wave of STARTS projects, to meet and consolidate with newcomers, in the form of an ecosystem that can raise interests and drive artistic/creative talent towards the large-scale activities, to be demonstrated under the Lighthouse projects and other R&D & innovation projects, where artistic potential can be leveraged. The main goal of this proposal is to contribute to the development of a new and sustainable ecosystem for the STARTS initiative that can foster collaborations and innovation between creators, artists, researchers and technologists to promote competitive business models, unconventional products and solutions that can contribute to an enhanced understanding of societal needs. We will not start this process from scratch, but will build instead on the communities of value, networks and tools created under the current STARTS projects.

The European economy's Digital Transformation (DT) is crucial for preserving and boosting international competitive advantages (Digital European Programme). A green and sustainable transformation is a vital step for protecting the health and wellbeing of citizens from environment-related risks and impacts where digital techs are considered a critical enabler for attaining the European Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is urgent to define innovative R&D models to systematically integrate artistic collaboration in Digital Innovation Hubs to provide companies with new forms of transdisciplinary collaboration aiming to explore future scenarios for technologies application using artistic practice to anticipate innovative products and services to meet the SDGs for innovation towards a sustainable and healthy planet. The project aims to set up the MUSAE Factory Model based on the Design Future Art-driven (DFA) method to be included in the (E)DIHs to strategically guide digital technology innovation and address future challenges in the food domain to improve people and planet wellbeing. MUSAE will build on a DFA method that merges the Design Futures method by POLIMI with Art Thinking approach by STARTS partner Gluon and UB - School of Art. The DFA will help artists envision future scenarios (5-10 years), critically reflect on them, and collaborate with technology providers to develop new technological solutions that meet the future humanity needs with a human-centred approach, opening up new markets and activities. Four technological partners will empower the approach by bringing relevant expertise in Artificial Intelligence-UB, wearables-ABACUS, robotics-PAL, human-machine-interaction-UoM. To validate replicability, the MUSAE project will set up and activate one factory within the DIH partner (MADE) and create the Factory Model Pack that will allow other DIHs to adopt it. The project focusing on Food as Medicine includes an expert in food and wellbeing themes (UCD)

Better Factory will provide methodology for Manufacturing SMEs to collaborate with Artists to develop new and personalized products. At the same time Better Factory will provide technology for SMEs to become fully connected cyber-physical-systems, transforming them into Lean-Agile production facilities capable of manufacturing new and personalized products alongside existing products. Main results: - An Advance Production Planning and Scheduling (APPS) system which can be deployed on a free and open IoT platform at 10% of the cost in 50% less time. APPS will automatically reconfigure the collaborative robots considering the individuality and gender of worker, and will also reduce 10% assets, 25% area, 30% resources, 35% logistics, 40% machines and tools and workplaces, resulting in 13% cost reduction, 15% production increase and 30% time to market. - A Marketplace, a one-stop-shop, where Manufacturing SMEs can buy services from Technology suppliers, Artists, CCs, training providers and financial brokers. - A portfolio of 16 cross-border Application Experiments by 48 SMEs selected through 2 competitive Open Calls, that will test APPS, SME+Artis collaboration and other services, and leveraging 11M€ of public and private funding becoming success stories. - Services, including Technical, Business and Art mentors, infrastructure, training and access to finance. Better Factory network consists of 28 members. 18 DIHs (10 CCs, 8 industry associations), 6 Technology suppliers and 4 service providers for marketing, access to finance, FSTP management and legal framework. Partners are currently engaged in I4MS-Go, DIH², HORSE, L4MS, MIDIH, AMABLE, BOWI, SHOP4CF. Better Factory covers 16 EU countries, 17 regions with 10 of them from EU-13. Better Factory will demonstrate that public funded research can help manufacturing SMEs & Mid-Caps achieve digital excellence and global competitiveness through Lean-Agile production for the manufacturing of new and personalized products.