Skip to main content

Deploy artificial intelligence without an R&D department of your own

  • Active
  • Since 2023
  • Digitalisation

EDIH, the Rethink Digital Hub, runs free technology tests, training and cybersecurity audits for small and medium-sized companies in central Poland. The European Commission and European Funds pay for the services, so you do not pay a złoty for them.

Go to the programme site
Re_d workshop facilitator at a laptop

What EDIH is

The European Union pays for small and medium-sized companies to receive technology and advisory services free of charge: tests, training and analyses of whether digitalisation will pay off. EDIH is that help point for central Poland, run by the Zone with seven partners.

An example: a furniture factory wants to check whether a robot or an AI model in its hall will pay off at all, before it spends its own money on one. At EDIH it gets an analysis, a test on its data and a recommendation for what to do next. That is the “test before invest” formula, one of the four pillars of every European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH). The other three are training, help with finding funding, and building a local ecosystem of companies.

The catalogue holds more than 40 services in artificial intelligence, data analysis, cybersecurity, 5G, VR/AR, blockchain, and automation and robotics. The consortium’s partners deliver them: Lodz University of Technology, Łukasiewicz – Lodz Institute of Technology, Ericsson, ICsec, the Digital Poland Association, Leads and Red Ivy. We settle the support as de minimis aid, so a company pays nothing for the service and only uses part of its state aid limit.

Re_d stand at the Strefa Rozwoju 3.0 meeting

What you gain

EDIH gives a company what it usually has no time or budget for: checking a technology on its own data before it signs with a supplier.

Recording an expert's statement in a studio

  • You pick a service from the catalogue and the hub’s partner checks the solution on your data or in your process. You get the test result and a recommendation for what to do next.

  • From the basics of cybersecurity for employees to AI workshops for the board. The partners’ experts run the programmes, Lodz University of Technology and Ericsson among them.

  • ICsec’s specialists check how well your industrial infrastructure is protected and show what to fix first.

  • When the test goes well, we suggest which programme will fund the full roll-out and help you prepare the application.

  • Re_d Rethink Digital Fest and the Business Mixer bring a few hundred people from companies, universities and institutions together every year. That is where you find a supplier, a partner or a customer.

EDIH in numbers

since 2023

  • 40+free services in the catalogue
  • 80companies the support will reach
  • 8organisations in the consortium
  • PLN 22 millionthe project’s value
  • 5editions of Re_d Rethink Digital Fest

Financed by the European Commission and European Funds

EDIH is co-financed by the European Commission from the Digital Europe programme 2021–2027 and by European Funds for a Modern Economy (measure 2.22 “Współfinansowanie działań EDIH”). The project is worth PLN 22,040,012.08, of which PLN 20,164,646.27 comes from European money. That is what makes the services free for companies, settled as de minimis aid.

Funded by the European Union.

Frequently asked questions

  • Small and medium-sized companies from central Poland: the Łódź Voivodeship and parts of the Masovian and Greater Poland voivodeships. You do not have to be a Zone investor or hold a support decision.

  • Yes. The European Commission and European Funds cover the cost, and your company accounts for the value of the service as de minimis aid. The only thing we check is whether you still have room within that limit.

  • Pick a service from the catalogue at re-d.pl and fill in the application form, or write to re_d@sse.lodz.pl. The hub’s team confirms that you qualify and agrees a date with the partner.

  • It depends on the kind. Training is usually a day or two; a technology test or an audit runs from a few weeks to a few months. We agree the scope and the schedule before the start.

  • A European Digital Innovation Hub: a network of help points for companies across the European Union, financed from the Digital Europe programme. The Zone’s hub, Rethink Digital Hub, is one of two hubs in Poland run by a special economic zone.

Questions about EDIH? Write to the hub’s team

Not sure which service fits your company? The hub’s team will go through the catalogue with you and point to the partner who will run the test or the training.

Not sure who to call?

Call the hotline or go to the programme website.

The Zone’s hotline+48 42 208 06 00

See the service catalogue

Other Zone projects

Digitalisation is one of the areas where we help companies. See what else we run for startups, exporters and employers.

  • Startup Spark 4.0

    Has already connected over 250 startups with the region’s large companies.

    • Active
    • Startups
    • Free

  • RozwoYou

    Vouchers for training, courses and advisory for companies, with funding of up to 85%.

    • Active
    • Companies and employers
    • Łódź Voivodeship
    • Co-funded up to 85%

  • Re_Enter

    Free export seminars: one market, one morning, PAIH experts and people who already sell there.

    • Active
    • Exporters and SMEs
    • Free

See all projects