Supporting the SMEs in their quest to upgraded products is one of the most exciting tasks for the Latvian IT Cluster DIH as it lets us witness the company’s growth while sitting in the first row. Now, reaching the mid-term review of the experiments in the EUHubs4Data project where we serve as a coaching DIH for WashAI, we’re sure – real success is not possible without the engagement from all involved parties.
The WashAI experiment is tackled by the SME flex.bi, focusing on the self-service car wash industry benefits from the advanced technologies like machine learning and AI, and it’s been our coaching duty to be a mediator between the experiment and project partners, as well as be the helping hand when the challenges had to be tackled. It’s been a great experience working with the team, enabling us to draw valuable lessons learned that led to successful mid-term results.
Clear picture of the future goal
When a clear picture of the end goal is present, the whole project is shaped through the paradigm of professionalism, preparedness, and involvement. In such scenario, the coach becomes a reliability, rather than a liability, helping the team fill the tasks faster and more efficiently. Unless the experiment is lost in their activities and has openly stated it, it’s the best practice to trust the team behind the experiment and let them do what they know best.
Complementary role of the experts
One of the key aspects of the EUHubs4Data is to offer expertise through the DIH portfolio, and that has added more credibility for the experiment itself and increased the rate of knowledge from the very beginning. The expert’s role may seem just complementary, but, when used correctly, pays off in a longer and bigger scale. Our experiment has also used our experts to boost their know-how in machine learning and data management and strategy, and we’ve seen how this has empowered them to do more and ask for more in terms of the team’s potential skillset or product development.
The best advice still is communicating
As a coaching DIH, we’ve taken the responsibility to “communicate” seriously, participating in project meetings, gathering progress reports from the experiment, and exchanging news between the partners and experiment to constantly stay on the same page. This is nothing new, yet sometimes we tend to forget the effect of communicating and not leaving important information bits behind.
With the finalisation of the mid-term stage, we now enter the final stage, to be concluded in mid-November. We wish good results to all experiments involved!
The EUHUBS4DATA project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951771. This article reflects only the author's views and the EC is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in it.
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