Science department fires £2 million award for Digital and HVM Catapults
13 Jun 2023
The new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has awarded £2 million jointly to the Digital Catapult and the High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult.
Funding is intended to accelerate the adoption of digital solutions to major sustainability challenges in the UK manufacturing sector.
The two recipients will work with industry partners and innovative small businesses to deliver greater resource efficiency and energy efficiency to help industry attain its net zero goals. Innovate UK is funding the project through its Made Smarter Innovation Challenge.
At present manufacturing contributes more than 11% to the country’s GVA but also 12% of UK greenhouse gas emissions. The 2017 Made Smarter Review into industrial digitalisation set out a 4.5% target reduction of CO2 emissions. A legally binding target of 68% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030 was also included in the Government’s 2021 Net Zero Strategy.
Five industry partners will work with Digital Catapult and HVM Catapult to present two sustainability challenges each. Ten start-ups will join the programme to prototype and pilot innovative solutions to these challenges that utilise artificial intelligence (AI) and other digital technologies.
Over the course of the two-year programme, it is planned that the partners will generate a combined £2.75 million in value from their initial £625,000 investment.
HVM Catapult CEO Katherine Bennett said: “Without doubt, sustainable manufacturing must be the number one priority for the sector, and the development and integration of new and existing industrial digital technologies is critical to this.
“By bringing together industry heavyweights, technology developers and subject-matter experts to prove-out ideas and develop them rapidly, this programme can find solutions to the biggest challenges facing manufacturers right now.”
Digital Catapult CEO Jeremy Silver added that the tech start-up sector represented an untapped opportunity for manufacturing industries. Digital Catapult-led programmes such as the Made Smarter Technology Accelerator and the Made Smarter Innovation Digital Supply Chain Hub had already shown how to use of small amounts of public money to drive private investment and create tangible impact, he said.
Pic: QMS
