• • • NEWS • • •
NEW INTERVENTION MEETS DEMAND FOR DEFENCE SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS
igital Catapult has named five startups that will join its accelerator programme to improve industrial supply chain resilience in the defence industry and drive the practical application of deep tech innovation to equip the sector to be future ready. The Digital Supply Chain Hub Defence Testbed Accelerator will address secure data sharing challenges to support faster, more agile additive (3D printing) manufacturing across the UK’s defence supply chain and enable participating companies to scale. The accelerator programme is delivered by Digital Catapult as part of the Made Smarter | Digital Supply Chain Hub alongside the Ministry of Defence (MOD), other major defence manufacturers, and cutting-edge UK-based small businesses. The programme will convene capabilities, with support from the National Composites Centre (NCC) and the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), to unlock new opportunities for the MOD and its partners to securely manage and share manufacturing design data.
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As it stands, the UK defence sector faces increasingly long lead times to secure military and defence assets, and fragmented data systems which constrain equipment availability, disrupt supply chains and threaten the UK’s defence and
security capabilities. To solve these challenges, the MOD is looking to identify innovative ways to create a federated digital inventory of manufacturing information which will give authorised partners a single and secure view of essential technical data, enabling distributed 3D printing of defence components.
The five participating startups will work on two separate challenges to validate and trial new solutions that explore the applications of deep tech to achieve secure, connected, and responsive defence manufacturing. Dataline Labs, CamyPro and TECHNIA will work to address the Technical Data Packs (TDP)-Digital Inventory Connectors challenge, developing software solutions to
securely extract and standardise metadata from Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems. Vistory Group and Quaisr will tackle the Federated Digital Inventory challenge to consider the best way to develop a unified, permissioned platform to view and share technical data across the entire supply chain.
Both challenges will bolster industrial supply chain resilience, building on Digital Catapult’s success in this space to date, which has seen 37 Digital Supply Chain Hub projects delivered, and 135 engagements with manufacturing and technology SMEs, which represents a year-on-year increase of 44.
https://www.digicatapult.org.uk
WHAT WILL THE FUTURE OF FARMING LOOK LIKE? DIGIKEY’S NEW EPISODES OF ‘FARM DIFFERENT’ SHARE THREE NOTABLE OUTLOOKS
igiKey, announced the release of season 4 of its informative ‘Farm Different’ video series. The series explores how the integration of advanced technology is reshaping and propelling the agricultural industry forward, and DigiKey is diving deep to understand its impact. The new season of the video series, supported by Littelfuse and Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) features three episodes that explore how the future of agriculture is evolving through data- driven technology, electrified equipment and rugged electronics. In episode two, which includes a special visit to North Dakota’s Grand Farm, technologists, growers and researchers reveal how farming is advancing through smarter machines, resilient systems and innovative ideas. The third episode demonstrates how connected equipment and systems provide more clarity and resilience for farms today.
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“As the relationship between knowledge, experience and technology evolves on farms around the world, DigiKey helps bridge the gap between engineering and application to introduce new solutions to the agtech industry,” said Katie Pinke, Supplier Marketing Manager at DigiKey. “It’s no secret that growers continue to face challenges and harsh realities, but new technologies are forging an exciting path forward. This season shows the power and efficiency of electrification, autonomous tractors, robots and
electricalengieneeringmagazine.co.uk
data-connected operations throughout agriculture, positively impacting the efficiency of family farms.” Building on the past three seasons, which explored topics including labor shortages, the food production pinch, sustainable growing practices, energy management, autonomous methods and more, this season continues to dive into the impact of advanced technology solutions on the next generation of farming. Season 4 covers: “As the global demand for crops accelerates, precision technology, automation and robotics are streamlining processes, reducing labor and waste, and ushering in a new era of efficiency,” said Harini Kumar, Strategic Marketing Manager at ADI. “Together, these innovations are using data to connect systems and revolutionise growing processes.”
https://www.digikey.co.uk ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • DECEMBER/JANUARY 2026 5
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