SMART-Growth involves six regions across five EU countries: Sardinia, Lombardy and Bolzano (Italy), Berlin and Thuringia (Germany), Rhône-Alpes (France), and Western Romania (Romania). The partnership combines SMEs, research and technology organisations (RTOs), universities and innovation clusters in each region, ensuring full value-chain coverage from research to industrial deployment. Cooperation is grounded in complementary Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3), including photonics and optics (Germany, France), AI and Zero-Defect Manufacturing (Lombardy), advanced ICT and smart manufacturing (Bolzano, Western Romania), and industrial upgrading in Less Developed Regions (Sardinia). The project delivers benefits to Less Developed and Transition Regions by anchoring high-value industrial investment in Sardinia, transferring AI, sensorics and ICT capabilities, upskilling the local workforce and reducing dependence on imported technologies. Transition regions benefit from technology validation, diversification and cross-sector applications. The consortium builds on prior collaboration in European and national R&I projects in photonics, crystal growth, Industry 4.0 and AI-based manufacturing, including long-standing cooperation between Fraunhofer, IKZ, CNRS/WUT, POLIMI and industrial partners.

SMART-Growth delivers process, product, digital service and business-model innovation. The core innovation is an AI-driven, cyber-physical Zero-Defect Manufacturing system for crystal growth, integrating advanced sensorics, digital twins, machine learning and predictive control. The project advances technologies from TRL 5–6 to TRL 7–8, reaching industrial demonstration through two pilots. It strongly aligns with EU priorities: the green transition is supported through reduced energy consumption, waste and rare-earth material losses; the digital transition through AI, data platforms and digital twins; and smart manufacturing through automated, adaptive process control for extreme industrial environments.

SMART-Growth is implemented through two complementary investment-oriented pilots forming an integrated innovation portfolio. The first pilot represents the core industrial investment and demonstrates the deployment of an AI-enabled, zero-defect manufacturing solution in an operational crystal growth environment in a Less Developed Region. It integrates advanced sensorics, data acquisition, digital twins and predictive process control to significantly improve efficiency, quality and resource use in rare-earth laser crystal production. The second pilot focuses on replication and scalability, validating the transferability of the developed digital and AI solutions to other energy-intensive “hot-object” manufacturing processes across More Developed and Transition Regions. SMEs lead the investments and exploitation activities, with industrial partners hosting and operating the pilots, while technology providers deliver digital, automation and control solutions. Research and technology organisations contribute modelling, sensor development, AI algorithms and validation, and cluster organisations support dissemination and market uptake. Project results address multiple high-value industrial sectors, including photonics, advanced manufacturing and related strategic applications, and are designed for broad interregional replication beyond the initial use case.