Three universities have secured a share of the funding to drive digital innovation across UK SMEs, as part of the HNCDI programme
The Hartree National Center for Digital Innovation (HNCDI) program seeks to improve digital adoption across businesses, targeting funding and support for UK SMEs – SMEs.
By offering these companies a competitive advantage, the program will develop SME Centers at Hartree which will be funded for a period of three years, creating digital support tools that are readily available and accessible to UK SMEs.
To date, three UK universities have been awarded a £4.5m stake in SME funding and will develop their regional hubs for the HNCDI programme, located within Sci-Tech Daresbury in the Liverpool City Region.
Universities receiving funding for the development of SME hubs are:
- Cardiff University
- Newcastle University
- University of Ulster
With the aim of increasing friendly competition and growth in digital adoption in business, these universities will train UK regional SMEs in digital technology for adoption, using expertise from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).
Support for the digital adoption expertise includes:
- Supercomputing
- Data analytics
- visual computing
- artificial intelligence (AI)
This exchange of knowledge with British companies will enhance their productivity, innovation and growth and, in turn, will benefit the country’s overall digital transformation and industry-led research and innovation.
£210m program for artificial intelligence and quantum computing
Other than the SME centers, the Hartree Center will also have more £210m for the five-year programme For further innovation in computing and research.
This money funds and houses a collaboration between the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and IBM, a cloud and artificial intelligence company, within STFC’s Hartree Centre.
The Government and the UK are collectively investing £172m over five years, with an in-kind contribution of £38m from IBM.
Turning great science and technology into great business
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, George Freeman, said: “The UK has always been at the forefront of some of the most important technologies of tomorrow, but too often, we have failed to translate our unparalleled expertise into practical tools and resources that can benefit our wider business communities. .
That is why, in 2021, we have committed to bringing our brightest minds together in areas including AI and Quantum, by investing £172m to create the Hartree National Center for Digital Innovation.
“The funding announced today will go further to turn great science and technology into great businesses, providing an unparalleled network of support for those small and medium-sized businesses embracing emerging technologies.
“These new hubs will allow us to target support at a local level, while laying the foundations for a larger support ecosystem connecting businesses across the UK.”
Placing digital innovation at the heart of future economic sustainability
Professor Kate Royce, Director of the Hartree STFC, said: “It is important to us that support for digital adoption reaches as many businesses as possible across the UK, and the Hartree Center for SMEs will further this regional reach.
The partner organizations we selected have a wealth of data science and AI expertise that builds on our expertise and will be key to the Hartree National Center for Digital Innovation growing SME networks and supporting more organizations to develop skills and implement digital transformation.
“The SME hubs will help the Hartree Center support the UK to put digital innovation at the heart of our future economic sustainability.”
Professor Mark Thompson, CEO of STFC, added: “The HNCDI program is an outstanding example of what can be achieved when we connect the leading minds in industry with those in science and technology.
“The SME hubs will enable UK businesses to transform burgeoning technologies such as supercomputing and artificial intelligence into new capabilities.”
The SME hubs will enable UK businesses to transform burgeoning technologies such as supercomputing and artificial intelligence into new capabilities that will give them a competitive edge in the global marketplace.
“The networks they create will help unlock the vast potential of our SMEs and contribute to STFC’s mission of creating a diverse ecosystem of innovation in science and technology for the benefit of the whole of society.”