Digital Engineering, Technology and Innovation Programme
DETI or Digital Engineering, Technology and Innovation, is a £8.85 million research, innovation and skills programme.
DETI brings together the expertise, skills and knowledge of its partners to explore and showcase new technologies that a digital future might offer. It also helps businesses identify and develop the technologies and processes they need to operate in a more sustainable way, and runs an extensive skills and development programme to upskill the current and future workforce and inspire the next generation of engineers.
Part of the West of England Combined Authority’s commitment to accelerating innovation, DETI is delivered by the National Composites Centre (NCC), the Centre for Modelling & Simulation, Digital Catapult, the University of the West of England, the University of Bristol and the University of Bath and funded by the Combined Authority with co-investment from the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and industry.
The Digital Engineering Technology & Innovation (DETI) programme's pioneering results are detailed in the Digital Now report.
The Digital Now report presents digital technologies DETI has developed to help UK manufacturers achieve better sustainability, as well as key learnings from the West of England based DETI Skills Inspire & Transform programmes, working to ensure the future workforce is digital-ready whilst championing diversity and inclusivity.
[Ambient instrumental music plays in the background]. The video opens with the DETI (Digital Engineering Technology and Innovation) logo and shows different people narrating over images of digital engineering:
Digital engineering is going to transform the way we design and manufacture.
The opportunity to reimagine, shape and transform the things we use every day to create a more sustainable future.
DETI will help me to shape my career. To have the opportune to contribute, to be creative and innovative.
We make the future.
Harnessing the power of data.
We will exploit artificial intelligence and machine learning.
High performance and cloud computing.
Augmented and virtual reality.
Quantum and 5G.
To reimagine our world.
From sustainable cities to space stations.
From new ways to farm to faster ways to travel.
We design and test thousands of options in the virtual world.
To make sure we get things right first time.
We work alongside robots to bring both ideas to life.
We look, test and measure in new ways.
To make things faster, stronger, smarter, lighter, safer, better.
This is transformation and it’s happening now
Disruptive leaders inspiring dynamic future proofing, we are digital engineers.
Launched in August 2020, the programme’s first phase will last two years. It is creating a diverse engineering community with systems to investigate and demonstrate the advanced digital technologies and skills needed for the sustainable products of the future. The programme will provide the current and future workforce with the necessary digital skills to fulfil roles in digital engineering, which will build the foundation to change the future and meet net zero targets.
DETI has developed the industry's first digital eco-meter, which allows engineers to visualise the carbon footprint during manufacture of a composite product, such as a carbon fibre aircraft wing or car component.
Using the eco-meter engineers can see - for the first time - the environmental impact of the parts they are making, giving them the chance to improve processes and cut emissions during manufacture.
While only a proof of concept at this stage, there is a view to explore the provision of the eco-meter as a service to wider industry - aiding engineers and technicians in manufacturing businesses to make intelligent decisions and cut emissions across their programmes.
When children are asked what an engineer is, and what they look like, it can often be a tricky question. They may jump to the image of an engine mechanic, or a man in overalls with a spanner and a hard-hat. They may also have trouble recognising familiar jobs as coming under the umbrella of engineering.
DETI's Inspire programme has created Engineering Curiosity, which is a collection of 52 cards, based upon 52 local engineers in a wide variety of different roles and industries, in a kind of ‘Top Trumps’ style game. The engineers featured have also each produced an engaging TikTok style video, giving a fun snapshot of their role and their route into it.
The project has developed lesson plans, curriculum linked worksheets and activities, and school-wide assemblies to accompany the cards and videos, all to aid schools in running sessions that involve the real engineers joining them live in the classroom through video link.
DETI has demonstrated the UK's first ‘Quantum Key Distribution’ network, engineered in partnership with BT and Toshiba.
Offering a super-fast, super-secure communications network has allowed engineers and researchers to share live information, design data and manufacture part of a product remotely, delivering on the global challenge to forge a digital supply chain, bringing fully automated smart factories closer.
The market for Quantum technology is predicted to drive the creation of a £1billion industry, with further commercial opportunities being realised within many sectors (source: UK National Quantum Technologies Programme). The UK is ideally placed to lead the global market, with Bristol fast establishing the region as a UK research and commercial playground for Quantum organisations. One of the fastest growing technology areas, it is also one of the top growth areas for digital skills.