Among the technologies receiving a share of £14 million in government financing are 3D printing at record scales and AI for steelmaking.

Projects that use digital technology to boost productivity, energy efficiency, and growth across important manufacturing industries have been granted £14 million.

• £14 million awarded to projects that harness digital technology to drive energy efficiency, productivity and growth across key manufacturing industries
• Projects include large-scale sustainable 3D printing, digitizing century-old baking techniques, and utilizing AI to increase the effectiveness of steel production.
• The initiatives taken together might result in the elimination of 65,000 automobiles from the road and the creation of 1000 jobs across the UK and 300,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

To help increase energy efficiency, productivity, and sustainability of manufacturing processes, the government has awarded funding for a total of £13.7 million to projects that include 3D printing at record scale, AI to increase steelmaking productivity, and using big data to improve the efficiency of 100-year-old baking machinery.

The Sustainable Smart Factory Competition, run by UKRI, offers money for initiatives that use technological advancements like artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and virtual reality to increase energy and carbon efficiency while spurring manufacturing growth. The funded initiatives seek to improve the utilization of resources, lessen and reuse trash, or use less energy in order to boost production sustainability.

The following 12 initiatives, which are a part of the Made Smarter Innovation Challenge, have received money today:

• AI is being used by Rakusen Limited, a leader in smart and sustainable manufacturing for the baking industry, to improve the uniformity of the products made by their century-old baking equipment and to assist reduce energy use by 60%.
• The first technology that will allow for large-scale 3D printing of items utilizing recycled materials is LEAD Factory, led by Photocentric.
• WasteMap, led by Topolytics, creates a visual map of useable, reusable industrial goods that may be retrieved from our trash stream using machine learning.
• Using Predictive Machine Learning to Reduce Energy Consumption and Material Loss in Steel Production, lead by Deep In order to increase sustainability in the production of steel, machine learning is being used to identify inefficiencies before they occur.
• Global semiconductor shortages are being addressed through INSPIRE by Pragmatic Semiconductor, which uses AI to increase manufacturing productivity and efficiency.
• Making sustainability a game at the Raynor Foods sandwich factory will allow personnel to monitor and then act on their energy use and CO2 footprint in real-time. This initiative is being driven by Raynor Foods Limited.

Jackie Doyle-Price, a minister of industry, stated:

Our manufacturing industry's future prosperity will depend on developing and implementing the most cutting-edge digital technology solutions. Today, it is crucial for businesses in a wide range of sectors, from baking to sophisticated robotics, to make the most of available technology.

The projects awarded funding today will cut energy consumption and boost growth for businesses in regions right across the UK, while helping our world leading manufacturers keep pace with ever growing global competition.

The initiatives are anticipated to reduce manufacturing CO2 emissions by 300,000 tonnes a year, or the equivalent of removing approximately 65,000 automobiles from our roads, while also creating 1,000 employment in the three years following their completion. There are a total of 55 organizations participating in the successful project consortiums, which have 2 to 10 participant organizations each. Participants from Scotland to the South West and Northern Ireland to East Anglia were among them. They include both small and major enterprises, technological innovators, academic institutions, and research and development organizations.

According to Chris Needham, the Made Smarter Innovation Challenge's Innovation Lead:

By raising the standards required for a future net zero industry, effective digital technologies can significantly improve the manufacturing sector's outmoded, ineffective, and underproductive products and processes. The variety of applications we received demonstrates how waste and energy issues affect a number of different industries.

The chosen candidates exemplified true innovation and illustrated how firms can benefit greatly from smart data and technology utilization. We now eagerly anticipate collaborating with them to accomplish our goals.

The £147 million Made Smarter Innovation Challenge promotes the development and integration of new and current industrial digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality, in order to support the transformation of UK manufacturing. The competition fosters the creation of commercially viable technologies and helps UK industries reduce the risk associated with innovation.

Nusrat Ghani, a minister of science, said:

The digital technologies we're supporting today could aid producers of goods as varied as semiconductors and steel in boosting growth, generating high-quality jobs, and improving energy efficiency.

These innovations will guarantee that British industry stays competitive worldwide while offering advantages to companies in regions all across the UK through partnership between premier UK researchers, technology firms, and manufacturers.