Torino Wireless Foundation (TOWL) in Northern Italy leads this project that aims to improve its Digital Transformation support scheme. The scheme allows SMEs from the Piedmont region to change their business and organisational activities, processes, competencies and products by taking advantage of a mixture of digital technologies. The D3T project was prompted by the recognition that many companies are not taking full advantage of the advanced technologies or innovative business models the digital economy offers. Digital transformation offers SMEs new business opportunities and can fundamentally change business models. Still, it affects the whole value chain from product development to sales, making it challenging for companies to apply it successfully. The process is also very demanding for the agency, as the support provided to achieve the digital transformation is intense and ambitious.
TOWL aimed to deliver data transformation support using a different approach from its traditional service scheme. In particular, implementing a data-driven approach to exploit the value that information and knowledge can generate makes innovation services more effective and the support process more efficient. At the same time, small businesses would benefit from an online and data-driven approach without demanding so many resources from the agency. The idea underpinning the D3T project was to test the capability of a data-driven approach in providing more effective support to companies and delivering services more efficiently as it reduces the resources demanded to deliver the support.