City region accelerator will offer firms access to latest Industry 4.0 technology

Hartree Centre at Sci-Tech Daresbury will house the Industrial Digitalisation Accelerator, a collaboration between Siemens, Atos and the Science and Technology Facilities Council. Tony McDonough reports

From left, Brian Holliday, Siemens, Adrian Gregory, Atos, and Alison Kennedy, STFC Hartree Centre

 

A new business accelerator focusing on digital technology and Industry 4.0 is being launched in the Liverpool city region.

Siemens Digital Industries together with Atos and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Hartree Centre at Sci-Tech Daresbury will be home to the Industrial Digitalisation Accelerator (IDA).

It will offer businesses a practical, collaborative space to explore Industry 4.0 technologies and help them discover new ways to accelerate growth and raise productivity.

The accelerator programme is offering businesses of all sizes the chance to produce proof of concepts, mentorship to help them acquire Industry 4.0 technologies such as big data analytics, internet of things, modelling, simulation and sensor technology through the Made Smarter programme.

READ MORE: Siemens teams up with Liverpool John Moores on Industry 4.0 project

Firms using the IDA will also be signposted to external funding programmes such as Innovate and the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

Brian Holliday, executive management board of Siemens and managing director for Siemens Digital Industries, said: “Staying competitive in the evolving technology landscape isn’t easy, yet the opportunity to drive productivity has never been greater.

“By harnessing the combined power of these three partners the IDA has a mandate to do just this; increase industrial productivity providing new pathways to growth.Combining the unique capabilities of Siemens, Atos and the STFC Hartree Centre in one accelerated environment, we aim to cut through the noise to help businesses overcome their own digitalisation challenges.”

The IDA aims to address many of the challenges set out in the independent Made Smarter Review commissioned by UK Government, including:

  • Upskilling the UK workforce in high-demand digital areas e.g. data, simulation, IoT.
  • Creating a thriving High Value Manufacturing environment.
  • Building demonstrators to prove the art of the possible to UK businesses.
  • Providing access to industrial digital technologies for UK manufacturers.
  • Improve UK productivity levels which are lower than global rivals.

The Made Smarter Review estimates that if successfully implemented, these solutions could add £455bn to UK GDP within the next 10 years.

Alison Kennedy, director of the STFC Hartree Centre, added: “At the Hartree Centre we work with companies in a wide range of industries to help them benefit from advanced digital technologies such as supercomputing, big data analytics and AI.

“We’re thrilled to be able to offer our expertise in this exciting and unique partnership which will offer UK companies a practical, collaborative space to accelerate the exploration and integration of Industry 4.0 technologies and improve productivity.”

The Hartree Centre, where the IDA is based, provides collaborative research, innovation and development services that accelerate the adoption and application of high performance computing (HPC), big data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in UK industry.

Backed by more than £170m of UK Government funding and strategic technology partnerships including Atos, Siemens and the University of Liverpool’s Virtual Engineering Centre, the centre enables businesses and researchers to use digital tools to gain insight, value and competitive advantage.

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