Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) are support facilities that act as one-stop-shops that provide advanced specialized expertise and infrastructure to companies within their local region relevant to their business/production processes, as well as products and services. The aim is to help those companies become more competitive by means of digital technology. Hence they help customers address their challenges in a business-focused way and with a common service model, offering services that would not be readily accessible elsewhere. Furthermore, DIHs provide connections with investors, facilitate access to financing for digital transformations, and help connect users and suppliers of digital innovations across the value chain.

Digital Innovation Hubs need expertise in both breadth and depth. On the one hand, they must possess the 'soft skills' to communicate with potential customers and on the other specialist technical and management skills to provide tailored solutions. For that reason in the core of a DIH is one or multiple Competence Centers (CC) that provide access to infrastructure and technology platforms, digitisation and application expertise, support experimentation in real-life environments, support fabrication of new products, demonstrate best practices and showcase technologies in pilot factories. Having access to one or more CCs, allows DIHs to act as regional multi-partner cooperation and develop a strong innovation ecosystem with a coherent and coordinated set of services that are needed from the local companies.

agROBOfood aims to establish a network of Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) that will be focused on providing their expertise and infrastructure to actors of the agri-food domain that wish to transform their business with the use of robotic technologies. The DIH network structure is based on the geographical location of the DIHs, since, end users are inclined to search for activities and services close to home. agROBOfood has seven Regional Clusters covering the whole European territory.