About the programme
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What is Made Smarter?
Made Smarter is a national movement to drive growth amongst UK makers and advance the UK economy. Backed by world-renowned businesses and the UK Government, it will improve the development and adoption of emerging technologies. Making a real, everyday difference to people from the boardroom to the factory floor.
Made Smarter was formed following a nationwide review into UK manufacturing that recommended three key changes:
- More ambitious leadership
- More innovation in developing new technologies
- Faster implementation and adoption of those technologies
We’ll be boosting the digital skills of industry leaders, bringing businesses and research development together to develop new technology, while helping makers embrace new digital tools. In doing so, we’ll inspire the next industrial revolution and make the UK a leader in digital technologies.
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What is the Made Smarter Technology Accelerator?
Delivered by Digital Catapult, funded by UKRI through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, as part of the national Made Smarter movement, Made Smarter Technology Accelerator is a national programme, set to fast forward and shape the UK’s technology innovation directly into industry.
The programme works with both UK manufacturers and the UK’s leading digital technology innovation community, to develop cutting-edge technology solutions to many of the UK’s core manufacturing challenges.
Made Smarter Technology Accelerator has been designed for industry; it will speed up the opportunities and unlock the known benefits technology adoption has for the UK economy. It is a match-funded programme for medium and large manufacturers who will be part of a select group at the forefront of digital adoption. This group will be helping to define the scope of challenges and be directly involved in the programme, the outputs of which will generate a direct impact to achieving a competitive edge for business.
Once the challenges are set and partners onboarded, the programme is made real by the UK’s leading technology innovators, providing them with funding and a platform to grow as they develop prototypes that will pivot some of the UK’s most relevant manufacturing challenges.
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How does the Made Smarter Technology Accelerator sit within the main Made Smarter movement?
Made Smarter Technology Accelerator is a programme delivered by Digital Catapult, funded by UKRI through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, as part of the national Made Smarter movement.
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What are the objectives of the Made Smarter Technology Accelerator?
The programme will drive innovation and recovery in the manufacturing sector across the UK. The Made Smarter Technology Accelerator is a national programme, set to shape the technology innovation and acceleration of advanced digital technologies for the manufacturing sector. Working with both manufacturers and UK early-stage innovative technology companies, the programme aims to pivot and provide solutions to some of the UK’s most relevant manufacturing challenges.
The programme’s objectives are to aid recovery, improve productivity, increase market capitalisation, export growth and accelerate manufacturing sectors towards industrial net zero.
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What is the significance of the accelerator programme?
The Made Smarter Technology Accelerator aims to boost the technology adoption and acceleration of advanced digital technologies for the manufacturing sector across the UK. By doing so, we will create a highly competitive and fertile environment for the manufacturing sector which will then improve productivity, increase market capitalisation, export growth and accelerate sectors towards industrial net-zero.
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Why should UK manufacturers participate in the Made Smarter Technology Accelerator?
Made Smarter Technology Accelerator has been designed directly for industry and provides UK manufacturers the opportunity to take advantage of UK’s largest and most prominent, industry focused acceleration programme.
Participant companies will solve major manufacturing challenges through the application and adoption of advanced digital technologies, gain knowledge and capitalise on new industry relations.
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What are the benefits of joining the programme?
For industrial sponsors, the programme provides the opportunity to be part of the UK development and adoption of advanced digital technologies directly into the manufacturing sector. Industrial sponsors will be at the forefront of challenge scoping and benefit as early adopters driving industry forward. The programme will provide industrial sponsors with a competitive advantage alongside the positioning and marketing for being part of the programme. Further to this, our industrial sponsors will be able to access the innovation community and be part of our industry events and showcases.
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What are the programme phases?
The programme operates in three phases:
Phase one – partner onboarding and challenge setting
The first phase seeks our industrial sponsors to join the programme. At this phase we’ll work together with industry to set and define the challenges to be addressed by technological advancements.Phase two – innovation community onboarding and prototypes
From December 2020 we’ll put out an open call to the innovative technology community. Following judging and contracting, up to 20 applicant teams will be selected to each receive up to £20,000 funding and the opportunity and support to develop prototypes that will pivot industry challenges. Successful applicants, from across the technology stack, will work directly with the industrial sponsors and Digital Catapult experts to develop prototypes and leading solutions. During this phase, successful applicants will gain access to focused workshops, facilities and mentorship that will complement and aid the funding to develop prototypes for industrial sponsors. We’ll present the final prototypes at the Industry Prototype Presentation, currently scheduled for June 2021.Phase three – minimum viable products (MVP) and final showcase
On successful completion of phase one and the development of prototypes, the programme will select three applicant teams for further funding and support to develop their solution into minimum viable products. These solutions will be presented and pitched at the final Showcase currently scheduled for December 2021. -
What are the key dates* for the programme?
- Open call for industry – September 2020 – 31 October 2020
- Partner contracting and challenge setting – Starting from October to end of December 2020
- Open call for technology innovators – 04 January 2020 – midnight 07 February 2021
- Programme start date, prototyping starts – 29 March 2021
- Industry Prototype Presentation – June 2021
- Minimum viable product developing – July 2021 – November 2021
- Final showcase and programme close – December 2021
*Timelines are approximate and can be subject to change
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Who is the programme delivered by?
Made Smarter Technology Accelerator is a programme delivered by Digital Catapult, funded by UKRI through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, as part of the national Made Smarter movement.
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How will the Made Smarter Technology Accelerator respond to COVID-19 implications?
The programme was designed before the COVID-19 outbreak and is delivered during the pandemic, which continues to have an impact on the manufacturing sector. The outputs and impact of the programme present an opportunity to boost the UK economy and aid recovery. As we also work to set challenges faced by industry, there is the potential to develop challenges focused specifically on the problems that COVID-19 presents and the opportunities that technology adoption offers. Challenges will be set by Digital Catapult, UKRI and our industrial sponsors and aligned to the five themes.
Intensifying the market of digital innovators will drive multiple outcomes for the manufacturing sector; to aid the recovery, improved productivity, increased market capitalisation, export growth and accelerating sectors towards industrial net-zero.
In addition to the challenges the pandemic presents to the wider industry, we will continue to closely monitor the situation and adjust our activities accordingly. For example, a number of our programmes are successfully adapting and being run completely online, including our showcases and events.
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What are the technology solutions that will be considered as part of the Made Smarter Technology?
The four core technologies are:
- Future networks an advanced digital infrastructure (5G and the internet of things including; low powered wide area networks, NB-IoT, LIFI etc. including sensors, edge devices, wearables etc.)
- Immersive technologies – Extended reality (virtual, augmented, mixed reality and haptics)
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning (natural language processing, machine vision, deep learning)
- Distributed ledger technologies (Blockchain etc.)