Thu, 19 December, 2024
A shared ambition to generate engineering and artificial intelligence-driven solutions that deliver real-world, industrial impact has led to the formation of two new Innovation Centres by first-time partners the University of Huddersfield and TWI Ltd – the Precision Engineering Innovation Centre and the Applied Artificial Intelligence Innovation Centre.
The University of Huddersfield has a long standing reputation for producing high quality, international research output with excellent impact, recognising the importance of looking beyond academia to address global challenges and make a real difference. With around 20,000 students, the University achieved Gold rating in all three aspects of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) in 2023, and its staff ranked in the top three in England for the proportion who hold doctorates, who have higher degrees and hold teaching qualifications, in 2022. Its apprenticeship provision has also been graded by Ofsted as outstanding.
Global research and technology organisation TWI has a track record of engineering innovation going back some 75+ years, backed by world leading expertise and service delivery in fields including welding and joining, manufacturing, coatings and materials, asset integrity management and non-destructive testing (NDT). It also works to facilitate collaborative research and development (R&D) by supporting consortia of forward thinking SMEs, larger companies and TWI Industrial Members, universities and other RTOs to identify and apply for grant funding to enable new technology projects.
Representatives from the University of Huddersfield and TWI marked the forming of the two Innovation Centres with a Contract Signing Ceremony on 16 December 2024, at the University’s campus in Queensgate, Huddersfield.
The objective of the new Innovation Centres is to create research and technology capability, and develop technical-future research strategy, in their respective areas of interest. Each Centre’s research plan will be supported by securing grant funding from public sources such as Horizon Europe and UK Research & Innovation, enabling them to generate a portfolio of collaborative projects aligned with their research areas, providing long term sustainability as well as access to new skills.
The Precision Engineering Innovation Centre will focus on machine tool technologies, the design and control of manufacturing machines, dimensional metrology (the calibration and use of measuring equipment to quantify the physical size and shape of objects) and surface metrology (the examination and measurement of the topography of a surface at different length scales and spatial frequencies), and precision manufacturing at different scales. The Applied Artificial Intelligence Innovation Centre will target the development of new technologies in relation to autonomous systems, planning and decision making, machine learning (ML), visualisation and the application of artificial intelligence (AI).
Speaking about the new partnership on behalf of TWI, Chris Milligan, Section Manager, Research & Innovation Operations, said “We are excited for the joint research and development (R&D) opportunities that lie ahead in the fields of precision engineering and applied AI, through the formation of these new Innovation Centres with the University of Huddersfield. As well as delivering solutions with positive impact for industry and society, their activities will also contribute to the achievement of TWI’s 5-year Technology Roadmap which supports its Industrial Membership base through the provision of new capabilities and insights.”
Commenting on behalf of the University of Huddersfield, Professor Parik Goswami, Director of Research, Innovation and Knowledge Exchange, said “It is truly inspiring to witness how these two centres merge the expertise from the University and TWI to create practical solutions and make a significant impact. These centres will serve as hubs where fundamental and applied research converge, offering stakeholders a competitive advantage in precision engineering and applied AI. This blend of unique expertise and perspectives will foster innovation and facilitate knowledge transfer”
Photograph shows, left to right: Dr James H Kern, Business Development Manager at TWI, Professor Andrew Longstaff, Director in the Centre for Precision Technologies and Professor Parik Goswami, Director of RIKE, both of the University of Huddersfield, Warren Bath, Associate Director at TWI, Professor Tim Thornton, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Huddersfield, Chris Milligan, Section Manager, Research & Innovation Operations at TWI and Professor Simon Parkinson, Director, Centre for Cybersecurity at the University.