The Made Smarter Innovation Challenge, part of UKRI’s Made Smarter Innovation (MSI) Challenge, has awarded significant grants totalling £3.7 million to advance smart factory projects in the UK.

These grants, ranging from £107,000 to £535,000, have been allocated to 11 late-stage robotics and automation projects aimed at enhancing energy efficiency, productivity, and growth across manufacturing industries.

Delivered by Innovate UK, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and the Economic and Social Research Council, this initiative focuses on developing innovative solutions to improve productivity, sustainability, and resilience within factory production areas. The funded projects span various domains, including process control, machine vision, and deployment in end gripper technology.

Over the course of 9 to 15 months, each project will undergo in-factory demonstrations to test their operation under real-life conditions. The insights gained from these demonstrations will inform the further development of commercial solutions by the technology development partners involved.

The winning projects involve collaboration among 30 organizations, including SMEs, large manufacturers, technology developers, universities, and research and technology organizations. These partnerships aim to drive forward innovation and propel the UK manufacturing sector towards greater efficiency and competitiveness.