UK Digital Twin Centre Brings £37.6m Investment to Belfast

Led by the Digital Catapult, the UK Digital Twin Centre has garnered support from key industry players such as Thales UK, Spirit AeroSystems, and Artemis Technologies, with a focus on applications in the maritime, aerospace, and defence sectors.

The primary goal of the Digital Twin Centre is to expedite the adoption of digital twins within industries by providing access to cutting-edge technologies, reducing the costs associated with creating digital twins, and enhancing workforce skills. Additionally, the Centre will serve as a collaborative hub for industry, academia, and the public sector to encourage cross-sector innovation.

Digital twins are virtual replicas of physical objects or systems that can be enriched with real-time data from their real-world counterparts. These models are instrumental in rapid prototyping, implementing control mechanisms, and long-term monitoring of physical systems.

Across Europe, digital twin centres have already been established, while the US government has allocated $200 million under the CHIPS Act to establish a digital twin centre for manufacturing. In the UK, the Belfast Region City Deal has provided £15 million in funding to support core research, skill development, and capacity building.

This investment aims to bolster the region's innovation and digital capabilities, boost productivity, aid in achieving net-zero targets, and generate high-quality job opportunities. The UK Digital Twin Centre has committed to creating 230 new jobs in the manufacturing sector nationwide.

Deborah Colville, the UK Digital Twin Centre Director at Digital Catapult, expressed, "Today's announcement marks a significant milestone in unlocking the practical benefits of Digital Twins for the UK. The Centre will empower businesses across the country with the expertise, technology, and resources needed to accelerate the adoption of Digital Twins, thereby reducing design and manufacturing costs, supporting net-zero objectives, and enhancing global competitiveness."

The UK Digital Twin Centre will roll out a series of programs tailored to various industry levels, catering to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as large corporations, to drive innovation and unlock new value.

"The Innovate UK Catapult Network offers a distinctive blend of top-tier expertise and cutting-edge facilities, bridging the gap between research excellence and business impact. This fresh investment by Digital Catapult will expedite the integration of digital twins, a pivotal element of Cyber-Physical Infrastructure, providing vital support for business innovation nationwide," remarked Indro Mukerjee, CEO of Innovate UK, the funding provider.

Anticipated to launch later this year, the UK Digital Twin Centre is poised to revolutionize industry practices and foster a culture of innovation and growth.

For more information, visit digicat.org.uk/UKDigitalTwinCentre.