MODENA, Italy--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) is expanding its Industry X.0 Innovation Network in Europe with the opening of an industrial internet of things (IIoT) Innovation Center in Modena. The center will offer clients a way to explore, test and scale IIoT solutions and take advantage of the latest disruptive technologies to achieve new levels of efficiency and sources of growth through improvements in product development, engineering, manufacturing, customer experiences and cybersecurity.

The new facility is part of an extensive US$1.4 billion investment program by Accenture to expand its Industry X.0 business. Industry X.0 is how Accenture describes the profound shift of industrial manufacturing to digital products and services that will increasingly require new manufacturing methods and processes to produce and deliver them as well as support them in the field.

The IIoT Innovation Center in Modena is being established in collaboration with HPE COXA, a Modena-based company specializing in engineering activities for the automotive, motorsport and automation solutions sector; HPE COXA collaborates with key players from these industries, both locally and worldwide. The company specializes in mechanical metalworking technologies and recently established a new research center for additional metal technologies; more than two-thirds of the company’s 250 employees are engineers.

Accenture’s expanded innovation network is bolstering the company’s industry digitization capabilities and strengthening its presence in the world’s leading manufacturing markets. The network includes an innovation center in Garching, Germany, with a new center to open in North America this year. Clients who use the Modena location will be given access to a range of capabilities, including innovation workshops for industrial design thinking; IIoT experience areas for tech showcases; and regional ecosystems that connect clients with key technology partners, research firms and industrial start-ups.

“At the new Innovation Center in Modena, clients will be given direct access to fully working examples of the latest in manufacturing techniques for digitized products,” said Aidan Quilligan, a managing director at Accenture and global lead of its Industry X.0 practice. “In the new Innovation Center, we showcase technologies that can help companies develop solutions to meet their business challenges and gain a competitive advantage. Working with our experts at the center, clients can experience a hands-on, systematic approach to innovating that can help them accelerate their efforts, reduce costs, and gain greater insight into growth opportunities in today’s digital-first marketplace.”

Fabio Benasso, president and CEO of Accenture Italy, said, "One Accenture focus in Italy is to invest in capabilities that reward clients’ ability to innovate in what is the second-largest manufacturing country of the EU. The Modena location will be a key element in our continuing efforts to support companies as they accelerate their digital transformation agendas, enabling them to experiment with and develop solutions that can significantly influence the evolution of business models, products and customer experiences."

Clients visiting the center will be able to explore key IoT technologies and processes to digitize their business for greater efficiency and growth. Among these are:

• Applying manufacturing analytics and predictive maintenance, and analyzing data produced by IoT sensors via cloud and big data;
• IIoT- and software-enabled management of connected businesses, plants, machinery and equipment;
• “Connected Industrial Worker” solutions to enhance operational safety, effectiveness and efficiency;
• “Industrial Consumerism” and how to digitize the industrial customer experience in a business-to-business environment;
• Innovating new products, services, solutions and business models using customer-insight- driven approaches and design thinking;
• Digital engineering and industrial product development, and how to better integrate product- and application-lifecycle-management [capabilities]; and
• Transformational ideas for loading operations through real-time analytics

A global evaluation of 11 digital technologies across eight leading industries by Accenture has revealed that the optimum combination of new technologies could generate an average potential increase in market capitalization of US$6.07 billion if businesses invest wisely, using an Industry X.0 approach.

From this global data, Accenture developed, "Industry X.0 – The digital reinvention of Italian industry," a national report that indicates that companies in Italy recognize the importance of adopting this new industrial model, which can enable them to develop products and innovative services through the use of new technologies. Proof of this is provided by the approximately US$4 billion that Italian companies invested in IoT technologies in 2017, ranking Italy second in Europe, after Germany, according to research firm IDC¹.

The Accenture study shows that, although Italian executives consider the development of innovative products and services a strategic priority, less than a third of the companies surveyed expect that an investment in digital technologies will lead to an increase in the number of customers. At the same time, more than half of large companies and around half of small and medium-sized enterprises fear that a delay in innovation will put their survival at risk in the future. Italian managers are engaged in the process of rethinking their strategic priorities, a key part of which involves experimenting with transformational operating and business models capable of generating incremental value.

“Thanks to our location in the heart of the Motor Valley and surrounded by automation solutions providers, we have been able to develop special relationships with the key players in the area, as well as with major global manufacturers in these industries,” said Andrea Bozzoli, CEO of HPE COXA. “The company's agility and our fully integrated approach to product development, within a highly complex technological environment, make our company the perfect testbed for innovative solutions that, once validated, can be transferred to larger-scale applications. The Machining Innovation Lab, the Metal Additive Research Center and the Engine Testing Center are tangible evidence of this approach. Inclusion in Accenture’s IOT Innovation Network represents an important step along this path”.

About Accenture

Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions – underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network – Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With more than 435,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

^[1] IDC Worldwide Semiannual Internet of Things Spending Guide, Publication Date: November 2017

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180208006103/en/