Connected Everything II: Accelerating Digital Manufacturing Research Collaboration and Innovation
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Nottingham
Department Name: Faculty of Engineering
Abstract
The Connected Everything II (CEII) Network Plus will deliver a network of networks which will accelerate multi-disciplinary collaboration, foster new collaborations between industry and academia and tackle emerging challenges which will underpin the UK academic community's research in support of people, technologies, products and systems for digital manufacturing. Through a range of activities, including feasibility studies, networking, and thematic research, CEII will bring together new teams within a multidisciplinary community to explore new ideas, demonstrate novel technologies in the context of digital manufacturing, and accelerate impact of research into industry.
The Network is inspired by the context of the four tenets of Industry 4.0: Interoperability; Information Transparency; Cognitive and Physical Assistance; and Decentralised Decisions and Actions. It will enable the multidisciplinary community to consider cross-cutting themes, some of which will emerge during the lifetime of the Network, but others - Creativity; Data-rich sociotechnical systems; and Regulation - which have been co-created by the industrial and academic members of the Network management team.
The CEII Network Plus aligns with a National and International priority of Digital Manufacturing, as highlighted in the Made Smarter report. It will contribute to the delivery of a Connected Nation, through consideration of how advances in digital technologies which connect objects and data in future, distributed manufacturing systems. It will contribute to a Productive Nation, through development of demonstrator projects that take concepts from other domains and apply them to Digital Manufacturing, as well as a range of activities which will support the development of future leaders.
The Network is inspired by the context of the four tenets of Industry 4.0: Interoperability; Information Transparency; Cognitive and Physical Assistance; and Decentralised Decisions and Actions. It will enable the multidisciplinary community to consider cross-cutting themes, some of which will emerge during the lifetime of the Network, but others - Creativity; Data-rich sociotechnical systems; and Regulation - which have been co-created by the industrial and academic members of the Network management team.
The CEII Network Plus aligns with a National and International priority of Digital Manufacturing, as highlighted in the Made Smarter report. It will contribute to the delivery of a Connected Nation, through consideration of how advances in digital technologies which connect objects and data in future, distributed manufacturing systems. It will contribute to a Productive Nation, through development of demonstrator projects that take concepts from other domains and apply them to Digital Manufacturing, as well as a range of activities which will support the development of future leaders.
Planned Impact
This Network Plus will generate impact for the following groups:
- Industry: through new knowledge generated in feasibility studies, including new insight into data sets examined via feasibility studies, new partnerships formed through industry participation in networking events, new research potentially directly funded by industry, and competitive advantage both for specific industrial network participant and industry within the UK as a whole. Industry will benefit through participation in Network Plus events, supporting academic placements in industry, and feasibility studies, and through the resources produced by the Network Plus, including the Digital World 2050 report. These outputs will help industry identify suitable collaboration partners for future research, and determine opportunities for investment in new technologies.
- Policy makers: through identification of key challenges and opportunities for the UK in future industrial systems, demonstration of potential technologies to be deployed within industrial settings, and prioritisation of requirements for research and capital investment, and use of the outputs produced as part of the Network Plus which will identifies strengths and opportunities for UK industry and academia for future Industrial Systems in the Digital Age. This will enable them to decide on financial priorities, encourage partnerships between key industrial and academic stakeholders, and influence standards and regulatory frameworks.
- General public: through new insight into the future notions for Digital Manufacturing. This will be achieved through our website, podcasts and videos, as well as the externally available reports.
- Industry: through new knowledge generated in feasibility studies, including new insight into data sets examined via feasibility studies, new partnerships formed through industry participation in networking events, new research potentially directly funded by industry, and competitive advantage both for specific industrial network participant and industry within the UK as a whole. Industry will benefit through participation in Network Plus events, supporting academic placements in industry, and feasibility studies, and through the resources produced by the Network Plus, including the Digital World 2050 report. These outputs will help industry identify suitable collaboration partners for future research, and determine opportunities for investment in new technologies.
- Policy makers: through identification of key challenges and opportunities for the UK in future industrial systems, demonstration of potential technologies to be deployed within industrial settings, and prioritisation of requirements for research and capital investment, and use of the outputs produced as part of the Network Plus which will identifies strengths and opportunities for UK industry and academia for future Industrial Systems in the Digital Age. This will enable them to decide on financial priorities, encourage partnerships between key industrial and academic stakeholders, and influence standards and regulatory frameworks.
- General public: through new insight into the future notions for Digital Manufacturing. This will be achieved through our website, podcasts and videos, as well as the externally available reports.
Publications
Chandler-Wilde S.
(2022)
Reflections on an EDI Survey of UK-Government-Funded Research Networks in the UK
in Internoise 2022 - 51st International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering
Erdogan A
(2024)
A CFD study on the start-up hydrodynamics of fluid catalytic cracking regenerator integrated with chemical looping combustion
in Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects
Fisher O
(2022)
An image processing and machine learning solution to automate Egyptian cotton lint grading
in Textile Research Journal
Fisher O
(2022)
Digital World 2050, Connected Everything
Fisher O
(2022)
Digital World 2050, Connected Everything FINAL DRAFT
Fisher O
(2022)
Data-driven modelling for resource recovery: Data volume, variability, and visualisation for an industrial bioprocess
in Biochemical Engineering Journal
Fisher O
(2023)
Digital World 2050, Connected Everything
Fisher O
(2023)
Digital World 2050, Connected Everything
Fisher OJ
(2023)
AI-Assisted Cotton Grading: Active and Semi-Supervised Learning to Reduce the Image-Labelling Burden.
in Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
Title | Reporting on the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) within the Connected Everything Network |
Description | Connected Everything knows that diverse teams deliver high quality research outcomes. Furthermore, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion approaches lead to happy and healthy research teams. Connected Everything wants to encourage, support and respect ideas from everyone and ensure our inclusive activities are representative of our network's community |
Type Of Art | Image |
Year Produced | 2022 |
URL | https://figshare.com/articles/poster/Reporting_on_the_Equality_Diversity_and_Inclusion_EDI_within_th... |
Title | Supporting figures for Intelligent Image Classification for Grading Egyptian Cotton Lint |
Description | Supporting figures for Intelligent Image Classification for Grading Egyptian Cotton Lint manuscript sent for review in Sensors. |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2021 |
URL | https://zenodo.org/record/5159417 |
Description | The project will be publishing a full impact report in March 2024. The summary of the impacts include: A set of feasibility studies that have led to follow on funding Publication of case studies and reports that aim to shape the sector of digital manufacturing A series of activities that have supported early career researchers The existence of a network of multidisciplinary teams. Network members are now working to secure follow up network funding . |
Exploitation Route | All the outputs from feasibility studies are published for academics and SMEs to use to inform their own work. |
Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Agriculture Food and Drink Construction Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Electronics Healthcare Government Democracy and Justice Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology Security and Diplomacy Transport |
URL | http://connectedeverything.ac.uk |
Description | The feasibility studies which have been funded are all in partnership with non-academic partners and we will be monitoring impact. The podcasts have been available to the wider community. The You tube channel has grown this year and has been visited by many people from both academic and none academic. This year we also created a linkedIn social media presence which again attracts cross sector interest. |
First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Agriculture, Food and Drink,Construction,Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
Impact Types | Societal |
Description | Call for evidence by House of Commons Science and Technology Committee on the diversity of STEM |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/work/1639/diversity-in-stem/ |
Description | Response to call for evidence on national resilience strategy |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
URL | https://connectedeverythingmedia.files.wordpress.com/2021/09/ceresponse-call-for-evidence-resilences... |
Description | Match funding for PhD |
Organisation | PepsiCo |
Department | PepsiCo, UK |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Extending occupational safety in industrial manufacturing environment: Mental and psychological perspectives, Match funded PhD (Secured) sponsored by PepsiCo Europe. Azfar Khalid PI, Ahmet Omurtag Co-I, Philip Breedon Co-I, Zohreh Zakeri Co-I, £66K, 2021. |
Collaborator Contribution | Extending occupational safety in industrial manufacturing environment: Mental and psychological perspectives, Match funded PhD (Secured) sponsored by PepsiCo Europe. Azfar Khalid PI, Ahmet Omurtag Co-I, Philip Breedon Co-I, Zohreh Zakeri Co-I, £66K, 2021. |
Impact | TBC |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Connected Everything 2020 Conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Accelerating Digital Manufacturing Research Collaboration and Innovation conference was held on Tuesday 21 July - Wednesday 22 July 2020. The conference included presentations from industry, our funded feasibility studies, Made Smarter and delegate supported the shaping of the connected everything themes. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://connectedeverything.ac.uk/conference-2020/ |
Description | Connected Everything 2020 Summer School |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | We were delighted to partner with the Smart Products Beacon at University of Nottingham to deliver our 2020 Summer School. This 3 day event focused on how co-bots could support a post-Covid world. 25 postgraduates joined the online event with support from academics, researchers and industry. The final day saw the students present their co-bot solutions and a team was selected by a panel of judges as the most appropriate response to the brief. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://connectedeverything.ac.uk/summer-schools-and-workshops/ |
Description | Connected Everything Festival 2021 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | The 2021 annual Connected Everything conference took a different turn this year taking place as a 5 day online festival of events during June 2021. It was great to see over 170 delegates join us throughout the week across our 8 sessions, which included presentations from our feasibility study teams, thematic areas' panel discussions, multiple ECR career support sessions and a digital manufacturing 2050 foresight roundtable. This was all made possible by the 25 conference presenters and panel members that contributed towards these sessions. To make the festival a little bit different to other online webinars and add in more networking opportunities, the Network decided to build our own virtual conference space in Gather. This was a new experience for the network; however, it proved to be our largest conference yet with over 170 delegates throughout the week. The space allowed us to have a conference hall with a stage, research poster presentations, and network areas in the library and buffet space which you "walk" around with using your own avatar. While it felt quite a risk to move away from MS Teams, Zoom and the like, the feedback from delegates showed it paid off. People were able to "bump" into each other, people did have unexpected, unplanned conversations, new connections were made. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://connectedeverything.ac.uk/festival-2021/ |
Description | Could solar power stations floating in space be the answer to our energy needs? |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | An article appeared the The Conversation (https://theconversation.com/solar-power-stations-in-space-could-be-the-answer-to-our-energy-needs-150007) which used research coming from the Connected Everything funded feasibility study. This was then picked up by The Independent. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/solar-power-stations-space-green-energy-b1748368.html |
Description | Digital Manufacturing Week November 2020 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Connected Everything presented at DMW during 2 seminars to gather feedback from delegates about the future of digital manufacturing in 2050. This was the start of our data gathering exercise for our horizon scanning work. Connected Everything also hosted a stand in the (virtual) exhibition area during the week. As result of this activity, an other article in the Manufacturer is planned and a survey to all the delegates we made contact with. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://digital-manufacturing-week.com/ |
Description | How the Connected Everything Network is accelerating digital manufacturing |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Ahead of Connected Everything presenting at Digital Manufacturing Week from 9 - 13 November, we were delighted to share our recent work including our some of our recently funded feasibility studies in this article in The Manufacturer. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.themanufacturer.com/articles/connected-to-everything/ |
Description | Industry Engagement Event, Collaborative Design Workshop, 27 - 28 August for Embedded intelligent empathy feasibility study |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | The finding from the workshop are supporting the ongoing feasibility study which Connected Everything is funding. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Queen's Lecture, Technical University of Berlin |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | This was a public lecture hosted by the British Ambassador to Germany and the Technical University of Berlin. During the lecture I highlighted some of the work on physiological monitoring that was completed as part of DigiTOP. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.tu.berlin/en/about/queens-lecture-2022 |
Description | Sensors support machine learning |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Nik Watson, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Engineering discusses whether online sensors and machine learning can deliver industry 4.0 to the food and drink manufacturing sector in the Journal of the Institute of Food Science and Technology, vol 33 issue 4 December 2019. "Manufacturing is experiencing the 4th industrial revolution, which is the use of Industrial Digital Technologies (IDTs) to produce new and existing products. Industrial digital technologies include sensors, robotics, the industrial internet of things (IoT), additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, digital twins and cloud computing. At the heart of Industry 4.0 is the enhanced collection and use of data. Industry 4.0 is predicted to have a positive impact of over £450bn to UK manufacturing over the next ten years[1], with benefits such as increased productivity and reduced costs and environmental impacts. But what does this mean for the UK's largest manufacturing sector, food and drink?" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://fstjournal.org/sites/default/files/FST%20v33%204%20December%202019.pdf |