RIVER is an EU-funded research and innovation project under the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) programme. Through the use of artificial intelligence, RIVER aims to strengthen the competitiveness, resilience and sustainability of the European steel industry. By integrating AI-driven forecasting, optimisation, and decision support tools, RIVER intends to transform steel supply chain management. This will support improved production planning, resource utilisation, operational agility, and responsiveness to increasingly volatile market conditions. The project addresses some of the steel sector's most pressing challenges, such as decarbonisation, rising energy costs, volatile raw material prices, global overcapacity, trade tensions and supply chain disruptions. To this end, RIVER combines real-time monitoring, predictive analytics, market forecasting and an AI-powered control tower to create an integrated ecosystem that supports smarter industrial decision-making. Beyond technology, RIVER places people at the centre of the digital transformation. Using co-creation, adaptive learning and generative AI (GenAI) support, the project will empower the workforce and demonstrate its solutions in two complementary industrial use cases: construction and automotive. The project seeks to facilitate the wider adoption of AI-enabled solutions across the European steel industry, supporting a more sustainable, resilient, and competitive industrial ecosystem via the development of a scalable and replicable framework.

CELSA Barcelona