26.07.19
Applications open for £30m industrial digital technologies funding
Businesses are able to apply for a share of £30m funding to support project that use digital technology to improve productivity and agility within UK manufacturing.
The Made Smarter Review 2017, commissioned by the UK government, estimated that industrial digitisation could increase productivity by more than 25%.
Building on this, the UK government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) has up to £30m to invest in projects that use industrial digital technologies – such as those driven by artificial intelligence and robotics – to transform manufacturing technology.
Their targets are to raise productivity by 30% by 2030 through this investment.
READ MORE: Smart cities: the smart thing to do
The competition aims to support projects that can achieve short-term impact and rapid technology development through industrial digitisation across a wide range of sectors.
Projects can be led by any sector, but must demonstrate how they could be applied to at least two other sectors.
They should also fit into one of four themes:
- smart, connected factory, including use of real-time data to optimise efficiency and capture, analysis and visualisation of manufacturing processes
- connected and versatile supply chain, including information integration, communication, traceability and trust
- design, make, test, including transforming product design through digital technologies and virtual product testing, verification and modelling, quality monitoring and inspection
- adaptable flexible manufacturing operations and skills, including culture change and skills development, and human-centric automation and autonomy
The competition is currently open, and the deadline for applications from interested businesses is at midday on 21 August 2019.
There are no size limits on businesses that may apply, with the government anticipating projects ranging in size between £250,000 and £10m.