March 18, 2024
A new doctoral training centre led by the ABCP President Professor Hongbiao Dong, who is a Professor of Materials Engineering at the University of Leicester’s School of Engineering, aims to boost the metals industry with the skills in data and artificial intelligence to take on the global competition of the future.
The new Centre for Doctoral Training in Digital Transformation of Metals Industry (DigitalMetal) has been funded with over £18 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), five partner universities (Birmingham, Leicester, Loughborough, Nottingham and Warwick) and industrial partners. It is part of the UK’s biggest-ever investment in engineering and physical sciences doctoral skills, totalling more than £1 billion, announced by Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan on 12 March. 65 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) will support leading research in areas of national importance including the critical technologies AI, quantum technologies, semiconductors, telecoms and engineering biology.
The DigitalMetal CDT has been designed to meet a national, strategic need for training a new generation of technical leaders able to lead the digital transformation of metals industry & its supply chain with the objective of increasing agility, productivity & international competitiveness of the metals industry in the UK.It will provide postgraduate training that combines metals & alloy engineering with digital technology and AI skills, to help the UK metals and manufacturing industries to reap the benefits of ‘big data’. The vision is to deliver the future leaders of the industry that can rapidly take advantage of the latest discoveries in manufacturing processes through digital twinning, to enable defect-free, right first-time manufacturing at reduced costs.
The metals industry is a vital component of the UK’s manufacturing economy and makes a significant contribution to key strategic sectors such as construction, aerospace, automotive, energy, defence and medical, directly contributing £20bn to UK GDP, and underpins over £190bn manufacturing GDP.
Professor Hongbiao Dong, Director of the new Centre, said: “Without a new cadre of leaders in digital technologies, equipped to transform discoveries and breakthroughs in metals and manufacturing technologies into products, the UK risks entering another cycle of world-leading innovation but losing the benefits arising from exploitation to more capable and better prepared global competitors.
“The metals industry is a vital component of the UK’s manufacturing economy and makes a significant contribution to key strategic sectors such as construction, aerospace, automotive, energy, defence and medical, contributing £10.7bn to UK GDP. For the UK metal industry to lead at a global level, we must raise its competitiveness and create robust and agile manufacturing processes and sustainable supply chains enabled by digital technology. DigitalMetal CDT is timely due to the readiness of smart digital technology and the availability of new scientific advances to help move the industry to Industry 4.0 and sustainability. Future students trained by DigitalMetal CDT will lead this important industry sector to drive economic growth, job creation and global inward investment in the current challenging post-Brexit and Covid-19 economic landscape.”