Altair is the latest company to join Polytronics, one of 10 French European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) projects funded by the European Commission as part of a “Digital Europe” program. Launched in 2020 as a project by Polymeris, Polytronics is comprised of nearly twenty companies that specialize in digital solutions such as AI, data management, mechatronics and robotics, with a shared goal of achieving optimized, sustainable polymer materials manufacturing. Polytronics aims to facilitate the digitalization of plastics, composites, rubbers, and textiles.
As part of the project, companies integrate AI in the design stages of their products to enhance quality control whilst simultaneously reducing waste. Participating companies will receive customized programs designed to run diagnostics on data management and technical support. Polytronics offers financing and investment tools, access to equipment and labs for experiments and testing, and collaboration opportunities with other EDIHs spread across the continent. In doing so, Polytronics hopes to inspire other SMEs and private companies to achieve their own digital transformation.
As a computational science and AI company that aids small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the adoption of digital twins, scalable IoT solutions, advanced simulation, and high-performance computing (HPC), Altair represents a realistic path toward increased digitalization across design and manufacturing. Altair’s digital twin technology comes in two forms: data-driven and physics-driven. Data-driven digital twins use data derived from a variety of sensors and systems to monitor and streamline part performance. Physics-driven digital twins, on the other hand, use 3D and 1D modeling to design parts using simulation. This two-pronged approach to digital twins offers multiple digitalization benefits to companies that may otherwise be hesitant to adopt a single digitization method.
“A number of these companies manufacture products in traditional plants using production methods which do not, or hardly, integrate data or sensors on the production lines,” said Hossein Shakourzadeh, Altair’s director of university relations and research projects, in a press release. “In this project, Altair will help SMBs use AI to capture exploitable data on products and improve manufacturing processes. Altair will help these companies improve their manufacturing methods and meet the European Green Deal’s objectives for a cleaner, more competitive Europe.”