Clouds, crowds and games improve UK manufacturing

The projects – part of the £45 million package of investments in manufacturing research announced today by David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science – will use cloud computing, crowdsourcing, gaming technology, ICT dashboards and platforms behind new ways of developing, designing and managing in manufacturing. Speaking ahead of the BIS Manufacturing Summit on Thursday 28 February 2013, Willetts said: "The UK has a proud history of manufacturing but, to build on this success, industry needs access to the very latest science and technology." "Advanced manufacturing is highly knowledge-intensive and ICT has a huge role to play in improving manufacturing intelligence, supporting collaboration, increasing efficiency, speeding up innovation and enabling new business models and technologies," added Mark Claydon-Smith, Manufacturing the Future Lead at the EPSRC. "These six projects demonstrate the collaborative nature of manufacturing research, with nine universities and more than 70 manufacturing partners working together." The projects are: Cloud Manufacturing – towards a resilient and scalable high value manufacturing. Led by Professor Svetan Ratchev, University of Nottingham. Intelligent Decision Support and Control Technologies for Continuous Manufacturing of Pharmaceuticals and Fine Chemicals. Led by Professor Andonovic, University of Strathclyde with Loughborough University. Prototyping Open Innovation Models for ICT- enabled Manufacturing in Food and Packaging. Led by Dr Sharon Baurley, Brunel University with the University of Nottingham. Transforming the adoption of Product-Service Systems through innovations in applied gaming technology. Led by Professor Tim Baines, Aston University, with Professor K Ridgway, University of Sheffield and Professor S de Freitas, Coventry University. The Language of Collaborative Manufacturing. Led by Dr Ben Hicks, University of Bath. Adaptive Informatics for Intelligent Manufacturing. Led by Professor Andrew West, University of Loughborough. Grant value £1.9 million.