Digital Catapult, the deep tech innovation organisation, has today concluded its inaugural Digital Twin Adoption Accelerator which showcased cutting-edge digital twin solutions developed by nine small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) from across the UK. The nine participating companies demonstrated how digital twin solutions could be practically applied to industry, validating new capabilities for the aerospace, maritime and defence sectors, to equip the UK to be future ready.
Delivered by the UK Digital Twin Centre in Belfast, the accelerator convened technology vendors and industry leaders to address real-world commercial challenges, considering how digital twin capabilities could pave the way towards broader UK-wide industrial transformation. With the support of Digital Catapult’s team of technologists and innovation experts, challenges were identified to explore how digital twin solutions could drive UK industrial supply chain resilience, improve operational efficiencies, and achieve cost-savings.
The Digital Twin Adoption Accelerator was designed to demystify digital twins, showcasing how digital twins can be integrated into real-world industrial environments and helping boost understanding from conceptual towards practical implementation of digital twins. By providing access to facilities as well as compute and connectivity, the programme has also supported deep tech startups to scale, paving the way towards long-term commercialisation for participants by proving market value to industry leaders and investors.
Combining industry expertise with cutting-edge digital technologies highlighted how digital twins empower business leaders to make more informed decisions, reduce costs, save time and unlock new opportunities across commercial operations. For example, Voxshell, a startup that participated in the programme, trialled a new solution to connect design, simulation, testing, and manufacturing environments into a unified ecosystem to benefit the aerospace industry. The company achieved this through an AI-enabled digital twin platform that showcased how aerospace engineers could visualise real-time system behaviour, optimise performance, and reduce prototyping costs using the new solution.
Another company, Helix8 Ltd, working with Port of Larne, trialled a solution to support national ports on net-zero pathways through the application of an AI-enabled geospatial digital twin that could analyse real-time IoT data from port infrastructure to provide greater visibility on energy use. Helix8 Ltd’s solution enabled more effective management of electrification, EV charging, and renewable energy generation, and by modelling future energy demand and simulating decarbonisation scenarios, it showed how digital twins could help ports to reduce emissions, optimise energy resources, and establish more sustainable operating models.
The programme concluded with a showcase event for investors, innovators, policymakers and industry to assess the outcomes of the accelerator, reflecting the value of Belfast’s digital economy and the UK-wide spillover effects of innovation from Northern Ireland’s deep tech ecosystem. The success of the use-cases and industrial applications reflect strong alignment with the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy, spotlighting the UK’s sovereign strengths in deep tech innovation and laying the groundwork for subsequent interventions in high-growth sectors.
Sherrie Rad, Programme Lead, Innovate UK "The Digital Twin Adoption Accelerator has shown how collaboration between technology innovators and industry can accelerate the practical deployment of digital twins and create measurable value for businesses. The solutions showcased today demonstrate the transformative potential of digital twins to improve performance, increase resilience and support more sustainable industrial operations. We are proud to have supported these partnerships as they turn innovative ideas into real-world applications."
Dr Katrina Thompson, Director, UK Digital Twin Centre, said: "For over three decades I’ve worked at the cutting-edge of modelling and simulation innovation, and I know first-hand the value of proving real-world applications of digital twin solutions to industry. The nine participating companies have played a critical role in demystifying digital twins, making clear that modelling and simulation capabilities are no longer a theoretical promise but a real-world opportunity that represent a competitive advantage to the businesses that integrate and apply these capabilities to their operations. The success of our first accelerator programme speaks to the demand from industry for new solutions that can solve sector-specific challenges, and I’m excited to see what the participants do next.”
The UK Digital Twin Centre has also launched the Digital Twin Community Platform, a new online hub convening industry, academia and technology providers across the UK’s digital twin ecosystem. This new community will allow peers to connect, share knowledge, access learning resources, discover events, and collaborate on future innovation opportunities, helping to accelerate the adoption and scaling of digital twin technologies across the UK. Join the community
here.
