Industry 4.0: UK Government to invest £147m into "Manufacturing Made Smarter" challenge
The British government is set to invest £147 million (€159 million) into the second round of "Manufacturing Made Smarter," a scheme set to promote innovation and interconnectivity within the UK's manufacturing scene.
The brainchild of Innovate UK, the challenge allows UK-registered companies to apply for funding aimed towards creating digital technologies to transform British manufacturing chains.
Once applied, companies will commit to a project which must help manufacturing lines become more efficient, flexible, productive and resilient through the application of Industrial Digital Technologies (IDTs) - technological advancements specifically designed to improve a particular industry.
The investment will reportedly raise productivity by 30%, help accelerate the drive to net-zero emissions and help create thousands of new jobs to continue inspiring a revolution in the industry.
The competition comprises two strands running simultaneously: feasibility studies and industrial research. Applicants will choose one of these two strands to focus on.
Through Innovate UK, the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the government agency responsible for such schemes, has already poured £20 million (€21.6 million) worth of funding into 14 different projects throughout phase one of the initiative, comprising of over 70 consortia partners.
All in all, 34 projects were submitted in the first round, totalling to about £100 million (€108 million) in funding.
Previous winning projects include:
- An attempt to transform UK bicycle frame building by British SME Frog Bikes, using the latest digital technologies and manufacturing techniques to create a lighter, better-performing bicycle, created using recycled materials to streamline costs and exponentially reduce production time.
- Sandwich supplier Raynor Foods pitch for an open-source national cloud network called "The Digital Sandwich" to allow food and drinks companies to share data and cooperate within.
- Real-time data integration with multi-sector applicability created by GKN Aerospace heading up a cross-sector team involving companies from the aerospace, automotive and pharmaceutical industries to trial a combination of digital technologies including, smart robots, AI, and machine learning technologies into live manufacturing settings.
The initial £20 million in funding is enhanced by a further £30 million (€32.5 million) in industrial investment, adding to a total of £50 million (€54.1 million) levied into various sectors including the ones mentioned in aforementioned snippets.
The projects include various IDT and Industry 4.0 concepts including 3D Printing, an Industrial Internet of Things and digital twinning, with technologies spanning four different themes: smart connected factories, connected supply chains, flexible manufacturing options and design make-and-test.
Innovate UK hope the projects will successfully harness the power of the UK's leading companies meshing with both small and large technology developers, start-ups and spinouts integrating with world-leading research institutions to create an interconnected, innovative and reformed sector.
Chris Courtney, the challenge director, ISCF Manufacturing Made Smarter at UKRI, said: "Digital technologies have the power to radically transform how we manufacture and deliver the products and services of today and the future and I am delighted that we have managed to secure the funding for this vital programme.
"Our ambition is to support the UK to become a leader in the manufacturing industry and the development of the next generation of technology solutions that will shape how this world works.
"The current COVID challenges all sectors are facing only underline the vital importance of manufacturing in the UK across all sectors. There are enormous opportunities to innovate in this area, we have world-leading industries, a powerful scientific and research community, a vibrant technology sector and I'm excited to see how this powerful coalition transforms the future of manufacturing."
Hamid Mughal, the Manufacturing Made Smarter industrial advisory group chair, said: “We have tremendous Manufacturing capability in the UK and recent events have reinforced the importance of strengthening this sector for national resilience and economic growth. Rapid advances in Digital and disruptive Manufacturing technologies provide us with the perfect opportunity to shape this outcome.
"By harnessing the potential of this technology, we will be able to make a transformational improvement in productivity, sustainability and global competitiveness and create new products and services that forge modern digital enterprises. This programme is a key step forward as it will help UK Manufacturing companies to jointly address this challenge and develop cost-effective digital solutions for deployment in our Manufacturing Sector.”
Applications for the second round of challenge competitions are now open. SME's can apply for up to 70% funding towards costs.
Companies of any size may apply with the consortia, and projects may vary from as little to £250,000 to £3 million.
The application window closes on 7 October.
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