SME Goes Digital Challenge: Students in conversation with Essmann’s Backstube
As part of the DIGIFABS Challenge Essmann’s Backstube GmbH is participating in a student-led applied project. The family-owned bakery business, headquartered in the Münster region (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) and operating more than 60 locations, is working together with students from FH Münster University of Applied Sciences on a data-driven location analysis. The aim of the […]
Are autonomous mini shops the future of customer service?
Across Europe, autonomous robotic kiosks are becoming a practical alternative to traditional staffed retail. Cyprus has already begun experimenting with this trend. Two visible examples are the CandyBot at Larnaca International Airport and the new 24/7 RoboShops, such as the Robo Café showcased at the Limassol Boat Show 2025. As DIGIFABS focuses on emerging technologies […]
DIGIFABS hosts SME Goes Digital Pitch Event
The piloting phase of the DIGIFABS project, the SME Goes Digital Challenge, came to a very successful conclusion on January 14th with a hybrid pitch event hosted by the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra. As part of the piloting phase, over 80 students from the five participating Universities attended a Summer School in Nitra, joined online bootcamps, participated in factory tours and worked with assigned SMEs to help them address specific challenges by developing digital transformation solutions, leading […]
AUAS Team Bravo visits SME Good Jamu
The SME Goes Digital Challenge is an integral part of the DIGIFABS project. Each HEI partner organises its participating students into teams, and each team is aligned with a particular SME to address a specific digital transformation challenge. We were delighted to get the report below from some of the students at AUAS, updating us […]
Organic food on the rise: What the 2025 shift in Dutch supermarkets means for food SMEs
Dutch consumers are buying more organic food than ever before. This is a subtle but meaningful shift that is reshaping demand patterns across the national food and beverage landscape. According to new figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS), organic foods accounted for approximately 3.5% of total supermarket spending in the first half of 2025, up from […]
SME Goes Digital Challenge: AUAS and DeHiro – Case Insights
As part of the DIGIFABS SME Goes Digital Challenge, students and educators from project partner AUAS and HvA, including students on the MSc in Global Sustainable Business, have been working with food brand deHiro, a fast-growing Indonesian-inspired brand expanding across BE/NL and into the UAE. deHiro uses natural ingredients and sustainable sourcing to deliver protein-rich […]
SME Goes Digital Challenge Factory Tour: Maynooth University visits BIA Innovator Campus
By Eliseah Robinson, BIA Innovator Campus, Ireland Over the coming months, students from universities in Ireland, Germany, The Netherlands, Slovakia, and Poland will embark on the SME Goes Digital Challenge – a learning initiative that connects multidisciplinary university students, educators, and SMES to co-create solutions addressing digitalisation challenges in the food and beverage sector. Maynooth […]
Living labs in NL: How SMEs are testing the future of food production
In recent years, the Netherlands has become one of Europe’s most active hubs for food innovation, thanks in part to an increasingly dense network of “Living Labs”. These labs, which are real-world environments where companies can test new technologies before committing to major investments, give small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) a rare opportunity to experiment, […]
Recovery of Food Retail One Year After the DANA
One year after the DANA on 29 October 2024 that severely affected the province of Valencia, the food and beverage sector shows an advanced, albeit uneven, level of recovery. The scale of the damage—particularly in l’Horta Sud and La Ribera—required urgent reconstruction measures, exceptional financial support, and a strong push for the digitalization of businesses […]
The latest DIGIFABS ezine has been published
The third issue of the DIGIFABS Ezine has been published. This issue looks back on the work and achievements of the past six months. It includes reports on several events where the project team have been presenting project results and information. These include the IVI summit in Maynooth University, Ireland and the UIIN Conference in Amsterdam […]