Sector News

Since the beginning of the first industrial revolution, when pursuing the vision of great entrepreneurs like Isambard Kingdom Brunel, thousands of labourers created canals and railways across the country, connectivity has been key to the UK’s industrial strength.

Two hundred years later connectivity is still a critical factor, propelling UK – and indeed global – industrial growth.

A £45 million boost to data and building infrastructure will support major advances in areas such as drug discovery, cancer genetics, regenerative medicine and crop disease prevention over the coming decades. 

The city of Leeds will play host to the annual Business of Science Conference for the first time this year, celebrating its progression as a UK leader in science and innovation.

The Lloyd’s Register Safety Accelerator, run in partnership with Plug and Play, brings together startups and corporate industry leaders to work together, to solve critical safety and risk challenges in sectors like Energy, Marine and Shipping, Supply Chain and Food using digital technology.

Cambridge and Oxford’s fast-growing S&T sectors will need 40 football fields worth of lab space by 2023 in spite of Brexit 

●       Continued growth in demand for labs, £2.8n boost to GDP

●       20,000 new jobs, provided Brexit doesn’t block recruitment

●       Clear plan needed to secure Oxbridge’s position 

Scientist Alan Turing was selected by the public as the most important and influential figure of the last century. The result was determined during a live broadcast of BBC 2’s program Icons: The Greatest Person of the 20th Century. The show paid tribute to a number of iconic figures across a variety of categories including sports stars, entertainers and leaders such as Muhammad Ali, David Bowie and Nelson Mandela.

Image: Frits van Calker, MD of RFIDdirect

One of the world’s leading experts in RFID technology is experiencing strong growth thanks to major contract wins in Europe.

RFIDdirect, which has its head office in Mold, North Wales, partners with companies to provide them with Radio Frequency Identification – in simple terms, a microchip within a tag that can transform the production processes of manufacturers.

UK businesses can benefit from a Knowledge Transfer Partnership, collaborating with a university or research organisation and highly-qualified graduate.

Businesses can apply for a share of £40 million to bring in insight from UK academics to work on an innovative project.

Up to £40 million is available this financial year for businesses to take part in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP).

Researchers based in UK academic institutions can apply for a share of up to £800,000 to support them in commercialising cyber security innovation.

Researchers can apply for a share of £800,000 to commercialise their cyber security ideas.

The UK aims to be the best place in the world to do business online. The government’s National Cyber Security Strategy sets out a plan for the country to be secure, resilient to cyber threats and prosperous and confident in the digital world.

£18 million Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund investment in research and innovation projects will transform how the UK delivers buildings and infrastructure.

Using artificial intelligence to predict and plan construction projects and avoid possible delays is one of the ideas to win funding to transform how the UK delivers buildings and infrastructure.