Technical and Sector-specific Contribution

Founded in 1959, the Türkiye Metal Sanayicileri Sendikası (MESS) stands as Turkey's largest employers' association, representing over 260 member companies across key industries such as automotive, white goods, and steel. Beyond its traditional industrial relations mandate, MESS has also adopted a vision to focus on innovation, sustainability, digital transformation and AI to empower its members and the broader industrial ecosystem.

To drive this mission, MESS established the MESS Technology Center (MEXT) in 2019. MESS Technology Center (MEXT) is a large-scale industrial transformation hub established by MESS to support the digital, green and AI-driven transformation of manufacturing systems. MEXT combines real-life industrial infrastructure, advanced AI & HPC capabilities, accredited assessment frameworks, and large-scale skills development capacity under one integrated model, enabling direct contribution to Horizon Europe research, innovation and demonstration actions

MEXT operates one of the world’s most comprehensive Digital Factory environments, consisting of two fully integrated production lines (discrete and continuous) and 200+ validated digital, green and AI use cases. The facility functions as a real-world industrial testbed for Horizon Europe projects, enabling piloting, validation and scaling of advanced manufacturing technologies under operational conditions.
The infrastructure includes a 5G private mobile network, AMRs, robotics and cobots, CNC and additive manufacturing systems, and a full OT/IT stack (ERP, MES, WMS, PLM, Industrial IoT platforms), allowing experimentation across the entire manufacturing value chain. This environment supports Test Before Invest, pilot demonstrations, digital twin validation, AI model testing, and interoperability assessments relevant to CL4, CL5 and Made in Europe priorities.

MEXT integrates AI-ready computational infrastructure, including NVIDIA A100 GPUs, high-core CPUs and industrial data pipelines, enabling applied research in AI-driven manufacturing, predictive analytics, quality control, energy optimisation, and digital twins. These capabilities allow MEXT to contribute to Horizon Europe projects requiring AI model development, validation, edge-to-cloud experimentation, synthetic data generation and performance benchmarking, particularly in projects linking AI with industrial processes and sustainability goals.

MEXT is among the most experienced organizations globally in industrial maturity assessment, having conducted 800+ assessments across 15+ manufacturing sectors. It applies internationally recognised frameworks such as SIRI (Digital), COSIRI (Sustainability), AI Readiness and Automation Feasibility Analysis, translating assessment results into actionable transformation roadmaps. This capacity supports baseline analysis, KPI definition, impact monitoring, replication planning and SME engagement, ensuring alignment with twin transition, industrial competitiveness and Green Deal objectives.

MEXT has delivered 32,000+ training participations through structured programs covering digital transformation, AI, Industry 4.0, sustainability and leadership, addressing audiences from shop-floor operators to C-level executives. Training activities are directly linked to the Digital Factory, enabling hands-on, application-driven learning. MEXT contributes to capacity building, upskilling, workforce transformation and exploitation activities, ensuring that research and innovation outcomes are effectively adopted by industry, particularly SMEs.

MEXT operates a large industrial and innovation ecosystem, collaborating with 100+ global and local technology providers, universities, startups and public institutions, and maintaining direct access to thousands of manufacturing companies through the MESS network. This positions MEXT as a strong partner for industrial validation, stakeholder engagement, dissemination, replication and scale-up in Horizon Europe actions.