The Digital Design Network plus: designing faster and better with less (D2N+)

This Network Plus will create an active digital design community that will define, set and prioritise key Engineering Design challenges and viable solution pathways that will exploit digital design technologies and help UK engineering transition to net zero faster. Digital design technology, tools and infrastructure have advanced significantly over recent years. For example, generative design tools can identify new and innovative design solutions by exploring design spaces in new ways; optimisation tools are available to tailor the performance of concepts for their intended applications, bolstering performance and increasing sustainability; and computational simulation capabilities can ensure the performance of new designs is fully understood across a range of operating points and that they can be manufactured as designed. In terms of infrastructure, there now exist high performance compute provision across the country, with larger national clusters and incoming Exascale facilities. Despite these advances, industrial engineering design processes have yet to fully leverage these emerging capabilities. Such capabilities, and the adoption thereof, are essential if UK industry is to design: Faster - compressing the overall process and exploring more of the design space in depth. Better - creating products and systems that better meet customer needs, while better addressing societal challenges and satisfying constraints of existing infrastructure & systems. With less - reducing design effort and resources, and the footprint of the product’s lifecycle. Overcoming the lack of adoption is not straightforward. While there is now a vast array of potential digital design tools and processes available, there is a lack of fundamental understanding and knowledge on how to use, configure, combine and optimise these into workflows that allow UK engineering to tackle tomorrows’ engineering challenges. Furthermore, generating the necessary understanding and knowledge is an interdisciplinary problem spanning academic researchers, solution providers and end users. To address these challenges and meet the industrial need, the Digital Design Network plus: designing faster and better with less (D2N+) aims to: i) coalesce and develop a community of academics, end users, solution providers, and Research & Technology Organisations (RTOs); ii) explore current capabilities and thinking and identify challenges and gaps in current provision; and, iii) agree priorities and set roadmaps for faster digital design in the UK industrial setting (through enhanced tools, processes, usage and knowledge). The objectives for the D2N+ are to: O1. Assemble a diverse and inclusive interdisciplinary community of digital design researchers. 02. Prepare & distribute Challenge Case Studies, co-created with end users and hosted by RTOs. O3. Distribute >£1M to test ambitious solutions, prioritising early and mid-career researchers. O4. Support the community, for example by delivering opportunities to come together, training, expert advice, access to facilities (e.g. Isambard). O5. Create metrics and methodologies for appraising digital design tools, processes and practice. O6. Disseminate a Corpus of Challenge Case Study definitions and solutions. O7. Report a common understanding of the challenges and opportunities in making digital design faster, better and more efficient, with agreed priorities and roadmaps for the future. O8. Publish an agreed lexicon for terminology related to digital design. O9. Secure the future by leading major grant submissions on digital design. Meeting these objectives will help the research community focus together on the right questions, to help UK engineering make better us of new and existing capabilities, making the transition to net zero faster.