Digital Catapult launches Industry Challenge Led Accelerator

Digital Catapult has launched its latest Industry Challenge Led Accelerator, delivered through the UK Digital Twin Centre, to create a new route for businesses to accelerate the practical adoption of digital twins.

The new programme will bring together industry leaders and innovative UK SMEs to collaborate and solve real-world challenges in high-growth sectors.

Digital twins have the potential to transform how organisations design, operate and maintain complex assets but widespread adoption remains a challenge and many businesses struggle to identify and deploy high-value use cases. At the same time, SMEs often lack opportunities to demonstrate their technologies in real industrial environments, which can be a barrier to enabling many to scale and commercialise their solutions.

How SMEs will be supported with funding, mentoring and specialist facilities

Backed by Innovate UK, the accelerator will support up to 12 UK SMEs, each receiving up to £75,000 to develop proof-of-concept solutions over the nine-month programme. Each SME will work with industry challenge owners Artemis Technologies, BAE Systems, Thales and Vertical Aerospace to consider how deep tech innovations can be applied to the aerospace and defence sectors.

Photo: Digital Catapult

Successful applicants will join a cohort of high potential businesses and receive mentoring and technical consultancy from experts at Digital Catapult and the UK Digital Twin Centre, access to real-world expertise and insight from the industry challenge owners. Participating companies will have access to specialist facilities as part of the programme and will demonstrate their solutions at a public showcase to connect innovators with industry, investors and future customers, supporting the SMEs to scale.

SMEs from across the UK are invited to apply to take part in the accelerator programme.

Partnering with industry heavyweights to develop sector specific solutions

Dr Katrina Thompson, Director, UK Digital Twin Centre, said: “Digital twins have incredible potential to transform our economy but practical adoption comes down to proving how they can solve real-world challenges. We’re thrilled to partner with four key industry players to support innovative SMEs to test and validate ideas, prove the value of those ideas and boost adoption to tackle a range of challenges in the maritime, aerospace and defence sectors in the UK.”

The programme will support SMEs to tackle a range of real-world challenges across the maritime, aerospace and defence sectors. These include improving object detection and collision avoidance for next generation vessels with Artemis Technologies and enhancing health monitoring and predictive maintenance for uncrewed vessels with Thales.

Other solutions being developed include improving the efficiency and safety of safety of aircraft flight testing with Vertical Aerospace and developing digital twins to support aircraft system health monitoring, predictive maintenance and future fleet management with BAE Systems.

Dr Benoit Lecallard, Off-Vessel Systems & Enabling Technologies Lead, Artemis Technologies, said: “Artemis Technologies is tackling new challenges around situational awareness in increasingly complex marine environments as we continue to advance high-speed, maritime transport that produces zero operational emissions.

“Taking part in this accelerator as a challenge owner offers an exciting opportunity to engage with leading UK experts and innovators, helping to collaboratively accelerate the development of solutions that support the future of more sustainable maritime transport.”