A trio of manufacturing-oriented research initiatives, led by the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS), have received a £14 million funding boost through the Glasgow City Region Innovation Accelerator programme.

The three projects aim to accelerate productivity and sustainability across local manufacturing and engineering specialists, with smaller businesses working alongside partners including Boeing, SSE Renewables, Howden, Thales, and Babcock.

The projects are supported with £5.4m from the UK government, and up to £8.6m from industry partners.

One project, ReMake Glasgow, will see a first-of-its-kind national ReMake hub developed at NMIS’ flagship facility next to Glasgow Airport, within the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland.

The hub is set to provide the technologies and skills needed to support ambitious manufacturers of all sizes to adopt circularity and extend the life of products and parts. Through processes such as remanufacturing, refurbishing, and repairs, the goal is to achieve a 99% reduction in CO2 compared to manufacturing from new.

The second NMIS-led project, Data Driven Design and Manufacturing Colab, will explore the potential of data science to solve real-world manufacturing problems and boost productivity.

It aims to upskill 300 local people with 100 hours of free training that includes a transformation project deployed within their workplace, and ongoing support from NMIS experts and PhD students from the University of Strathclyde.

International defence company Babcock has extended its involvement in the programme. This follows two successful pilot cohorts in 2022, with more than 16 students from Rosyth participating and solving business data challenges, ranging from the optimisation of manufacturing processes to the accurate reporting of engineering maturity.

The third initiative, named Stratellite, led by the NMIS Lightweight Manufacturing Centre (LMC), taps into Scotland’s growing satellite manufacturing sector and focuses on an innovative reconfigurable, modular, and scalable production system developed by the LMC.

Working with Thales, its objective is to automate the precision production processes necessary for the manufacture of large satellites. The team from the LMS will also look to develop the technology, so that it’s applicable for smaller businesses across a range of sectors, helping them to become more agile and explore making new products in new markets without a large upfront investment.

The projects are funded by the Glasgow City Region Innovation Accelerator programme with additional contributions from project partners. Led by Innovate UK on behalf of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the pilot Innovation Accelerator programme is investing £100m in 26 transformative R&D projects to accelerate the growth of three high-potential innovation clusters: Glasgow City Region, Greater Manchester, and the West Midlands.

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Chris Courtney, NMIS CEO, commented: “These three projects will empower growing companies in the sector to boost productivity and sustainability, particularly at a local level.

“Working collaboratively across these strategic themes for next-generation manufacturing, will help companies position themselves at the forefront of data-driven, sustainable advanced manufacturing.

“By collaborating with leaders and research experts across the manufacturing, engineering and technology sectors, we can provide the workforce of today and tomorrow with the skills they need to make the next generation of greener products.

“Scotland has a vibrant innovation ecosystem and this is a vital opportunity to harness the momentum to future-proof the sector by tackling big challenges.”