Photo: © Epiroc
Press release Tuesday November 10, 2020
Bergslagen is a strong area related to innovation in the mining and mineral industry with strong active actors.The national strategic innovation program Swedish Mining Innovation is starting up a node in the area: Swedish Mining Innovation Bergslagen. By connecting the actors in Bergslagen to our established and wide national network we will strengthen the area’s opportunities.
Mikael Ramström, Vice President Marketing – Digital Business at Epiroc Drills is one of the initiators of the initiative.
– Epiroc looks forward to being able to strengthen our collaboration with partners in Bergslagen through Swedish Mining Innovation. We are currently investing heavily in electrification, automation and digitization, and in these areas there is still a lot we can do together, says Mikael.
Jenny Greberg, Program director for Swedish Mining Innovation, is very positive that the initiative has been launched and has seen a clear direction from the actors in the area.
– With an extended arm in Bergslagen, we believe that we can achieve great benefit related to innovation in the mining and mineral industry. We see in front of us how the investment can lead to the development of forms of collaboration, primarily through higher commitment from SMEs and greater collaboration between academia and industry, says Jenny.
Swedish Mining Innovation Bergslagen will be staffed by Lotta Sartz at Örebro University and has a steering group with representatives from Epiroc, Zinkgruvan, Örebro University, Örebro Region and Swedish Mining Innovation who will set the focus and support the node.
– The pre-study showed us that the increase of AI, digitalization and automation has a huge potential for the mining sector. Finding synergies between our regional strengths in AI and automation, our regional needs from the mining sector and the national platform Swedish Mining Innovation will lead to a win-win for all of Sweden. Our participation in the innovation programme’s project management clearly shows our common will and ambition to work together, says Amy Loutfi, Professor Information technology at Örebro University.
The initiative is based on the pre-study Swedish Mining Innovation conducted in 2018 and which was led by Epiroc, Zinkgruvan Mining, Alfred Nobel Science Park and Örebro University. The pre-study resulted in Innovation agenda Bergslagen, which shows good opportunities for the region and the need to gather strength from the cluster in Bergslagen and link it even closer to the national mining innovation system.
Swedish Mining Innovation Bergslagen is financed by the Örebro Region, Örebro University, Epiroc Zinkgruvan Mining, Boliden and Swedish Mining Innovation.
