Manufacturers and businesses seeking to maximise the productivity benefits of digitalising while putting people first are being invited to a first-of-its-kind showcase event in Coventry next week.

The University of Bath’s Centre for People-Led Digitalisation research centre (P-LD), which works to help industries realise the potential of a people-led approach to adopting digital technologies, is holding its first Impact Showcase on Wednesday 4 December at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC).

The event will see a series of incisive 10-minute talks from speakers representing Rolls-Royce, WSP, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Flare Solutions, Made Smarter, Stem Returners, MESTEC, BIM4 Water, MFX, and the MTC itself, detailing how their collaborations with P-LD helped them unlock benefits while putting people at the core of their thinking and their transformations.

Professor Linda Newnes, Director of the Centre for People-Led Digitalisation, said: “From working to understand the digital skills the UK needs to transition to Net Zero, to helping gene therapy manufacturers ensure they meet exacting quality control standards, and ensuring small and medium-sized manufacturers can choose the right digital tools to improve their efficiency, we’re incredibly proud of the impacts we and our partners are seeing through our collaborations. So, we’re excited to be sharing those stories with others looking to understand what ‘Made Smarter Innovation’ means.

“Digital technologies have the potential to transform manufacturing by increasing productivity and opening up new business opportunities. This might seem like a purely technical challenge to overcome, but the UK is lagging behind some other nations in doing this, and many of the most pressing barriers are because of the human element. Our goal is to help organisations put people first, to truly unlock the benefits of digitalisation.”

Funded by UK Research and Innovation, the Centre for People-Led Digitalisation is part of the Made Smarter Innovation Challenge and is a partnership between the Universities of Bath, Loughborough and Nottingham.

The showcase event is free to attend and will include lunch and a networking reception. You can find out more about the showcase event, and book tickets, on Eventbrite.