Smart Design Innovation Network

About the network

The Smart Design Innovation Network is a growing technical ecosystem convened and hosted by NCC (National Composites Centre) on behalf of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. It developed from partnerships formed in the Smart Design - Certification by Analysis project. 

The network's overarching mission:

Empower UK engineers to accelerate innovation and product realisation; to do more with the technologies of today and to pull-through radical new techniques, exploiting a growing digital prowess and challenging the status quo of design and certification. 

The network currently comprises the 6 centres from the High Value Manufacturing Catapult (AMRC, CPI, MTC, NCC, NMIS and WMG) in partnership with The Alan Turing Institute, AMIC, BSI, NAFEMS and NPL. 

smart design innovation network

Meeting the challenge of rapid innovation

Achieving Net Zero and meeting the UK’s future security needs requires radically changing the time-to-market, development costs, and implementation of new technologies into future systems.

However, in a risk-averse investor landscape, new technologies bring unknown variables, increased complexity, and increased uncertainty. Where decision-making confidence is limited, it becomes a fundamental barrier to achieving the UK’s economic growth potential.

The design phase is where key decisions are made, influencing the downstream manufacturing, operations and sustainability costs of products and services. The Innovate UK Materials & Manufacturing Vision 2050 places three principles for Smart Design at the heart of future UK manufacturing competitiveness:

  • Effective design methods
  • Design for resource efficiency
  • Design for maximum through-life value

The Smart Design Innovation Network seeks to bring together academia, RTOs, industry, technology providers and regulators to establish prioritised research and innovation plans to deliver against these principles.

Our working groups

Are you interested in shaping the UK’s digital engineering transformation? The Smart Design Innovation Network would welcome your contribution!  

Click below to find out more and register interest in joining one of three working groups. Each group conducts sector-focused analysis that will inform UK industrial strategy.

Certification by Analysis

The Certification by Analysis working group aims to reduce reliance on slow and costly physical testing, and undertake more testing in the virtual world. Determining a framework to manage validation, traceability, uncertainty and risk for new virtual testing techniques will build regulatory confidence over time. Transforming how design engineers interact with compliance, standards, and regulatory requirements will also streamline routes to certification. 

Augmenting Engineering Practices

The Augmenting Engineering Practices working group explores how designers can be augmented by next generation AI tools, and how effective human-AI interaction can be achieved in the context of design. Human-centric techniques have the potential to transform design, expand and accelerate concept solution creativity, and reduce through-life and environmental impact. 

Enabling Engineering Collaboration

Read more about Enabling Engineering Collaboration

Enabling Engineering Collaboration

The Enabling Engineering Collaboration working group analyses innovative approaches to data sharing and model management, developing the concept of an integrated digital thread which can streamline product innovation, drive change management efficiency, and transform supply chain integrations. Central themes include interoperability of IT systems, enterprise model-based thinking, and digital transformation of supply chains.

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