The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) is leading regional economic development, prioritising innovation as a key driver for economic recovery and clean and inclusive growth. WECA is working to develop workforce skills, increase diversity and inclusivity and create more job opportunities for residents in the West of England.
DETI forms part of the West of England Combined Authority’s commitment to prioritising cross-sectoral innovation, which will help businesses become more productive and resilient, develop new workforce skills and employment opportunities, and help the shift towards a low-carbon economy.
As a strategic programme of WECA, DETI is delivered by the National Composites Centre (NCC) in partnership with the Centre for Modelling & Simulation (CFMS), Digital Catapult, the University of the West of England (UWE), the University of Bristol, and the University of Bath. Industry partners include Airbus, GKN Aerospace, Rolls-Royce, and CFMS, with in kind contributions from UWE, Digital Catapult and Siemens. DETI is funded by £5m from WECA, with co-investment from the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and industry.
DETI will help the region recover from the impact of COVID-19 and innovate for the future, by finding new ways of doing things that are more efficient, more sustainable and more productive. It will increase the region’s digital skills capacity and capability, and help to ensure our recovery is green, helping the shift towards a low-carbon economy. It will fast-track innovation, enabling the West of England region to be better placed to maintain employment levels, to pursue a more competitive position in global markets and make business more resilient to disruption.
A key part of the West of England Local Industrial Strategy to strengthen cross-sectoral innovation, DETI will help secure the future of the aerospace and advanced manufacturing industries, supporting the region’s ambition for clean and inclusive growth.
The West of England is a region of innovation and opportunity, and a global centre of innovation excellence:
- The region has a well-established, highly collaborative innovation ecosystem which brings together R&D, academia, industry and the public sector.
- The West of England is home to an advanced engineering and aerospace cluster, along with the world’s leading composites technology R&D facility, the National Composites Centre (NCC).
- The West of England hosts a vibrant digital community, and the most productive tech cluster in the UK outside of London.
- The region has become a test bed for the innovative use of technology in manufacturing and is uniquely placed to lead innovation and advances in digital engineering for the UK and beyond.
DETI will build skills, create jobs and make the West of England the go-to place for UK high value design and engineering. It will put the region on the world stage as a globally significant engineering and tech area, bringing together the worlds of digital technology and advanced engineering.
