Beyond the Smart Factory - Why Collaboration, Not Just Technology, Will Shape Manufacturing’s Future

Across Europe, manufacturers are facing pressure from every direction - climate goals, digitalisation, labour shortages, unstable supply chains. We’re no longer asking if change is needed. The question now is: what kind of change - and who is going to drive it? 

Over the last few years, digital transformation in manufacturing has been framed largely around technology: automation, AI, robotics, data. But the more we work with businesses on the ground, the clearer it becomes technology is only part of the story. What really drives transformation is collaboration: between companies, across sectors, within regions, and increasingly, across countries. 

That was the underlying message at the European Parliament’s recent ValueFacturing conference, where policymakers, unions, researchers and SMEs gathered to reflect on how European industry creates value in a time of rapid change. Our team at FactoryXChange,part of Ireland’s European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH) ecosystem,took part in the conversations, and what we heard strongly reinforced what we see in our day-to-day work. 

Digital tools are necessary. But without shared intent, shared learning, and shared infrastructure, they don’t go very far. 

Giorgio Gori MEP spoke about the need for deep local roots: SMEs that are embedded in their communities, shaping the skills and innovation around them. Sergio Ventricelli called for a more unified voice among SMEs in Europe. One that not only adopts technology, but challenges very often outdated fiscal systems that hold innovation back. And Mirko Dolzadelli reminded us that transformation can’t happen to workers; it has to happen with them. 

These are more than good points. They reflect a shift in thinking that’s already underway, but not yet consistent or coordinated.

At FactoryXChange, we’re trying to put that thinking into practice. 

We’re not the only EDIH in Ireland. We’re part of a network, part of a broader system that has to function together if we want real progress. But our work is focused on making sure that digitalisation is useful, accessible, and aligned with what matters to people. 

That’s not a matter of handing over toolkits. It’s a matter of building relationships between research centres and small manufacturers, between policy teams and factory managers, between digital strategists and workers on the floor. 

And that’s especially true when it comes to skills. 

The skills gap isn’t new, but it’s growing more urgent. As new technologies emerge, the risk is that many workers and firms will be left behind. Not because they lack interest, but because they lack access. We regularly meet companies who know they need to evolve but don’t know how to start, or who are eager to invest in training but unsure what’s actually relevant. At the same time, we see employees, on the floor and in management, who are being asked to adopt tools they’ve never been introduced to in a meaningful way. 

We’ve learned that the biggest breakthroughs don’t always come from the biggest technologies. Sometimes they come from a conversation that didn’t happen before. From a small manufacturer finally getting access to a testbed they didn’t know existed. From a local FabLab demystifying automation for a business that thought it was “too small” to innovate. And increasingly, from a skills session that shifts mindset, from fear to possibility. 

We’re learning that what SMEs need isn’t just advice. It’s context. A map. A way to understand how their journey fits into something larger. When businesses start seeing digitalisation not as a compliance issue but as a lever for resilience, then real change begins. 

We’re also learning that collaboration takes design. It doesn’t just emerge. It needs time, trust, and incentives. If we want manufacturers to co-invest in sustainability, or digital skills, or workforce transition, then we need to reduce the friction, make it easier to participate, easier to see the return, and easier to align around shared purpose. 

This is where we see our role. Not as a gateway to technology, but as a platform for connection. We work alongside others, other hubs, government teams, regional stakeholders, to make sure that no SME is left out of the picture. That no region is left behind because it’s “too peripheral.” That no transformation plan is built without the people who’ll be asked to implement it. 

And we’re not pretending this is simple. Collaboration is hard. Skills development is hard. It takes time. It often runs counter to the fast-paced, metrics-driven way we’re used to operating. But the alternative - fragmentation, duplication, missed opportunities - is far more costly. 

So what are we doing, in practice? 

We’re helping SMEs sit around the same table as large manufacturers and academic experts. We’re shaping neutral spaces where public sector and private sector can talk about common risks, not just funding rounds. We’re working to align digitalisation plans with upskilling pathways, so that transformation becomes something employees can see themselves in, not something done to them. 

And we’re constantly looking for ways to support a culture where testing, sharing, and adjusting are the norm, not the exception. 

Because if we’ve learned anything over the past two and half year, it’s that resilience is not just a technical challenge. It’s a human one. It depends on who we include in the process, how early we bring them in, and whether we’re willing to share the benefits as well as the burden of change. 

Ireland’s manufacturing sector has momentum. There’s vision, policy backing, and deep expertise in both industry and academia. But to realise that potential at scale, we need more than strategy. We need systems that support real, ongoing, purposeful collaboration, and that invest in people as much as infrastructure. 

That’s what we’re working toward, not as the centre of the story, but as part of a much larger one. One where digital transformation is about more than machines. It’s about what happens when people, companies, and institutions choose to move forward together.