The Connected Everything II network will bring together researchers from engineering, computer science, social science, and industry to accelerate the adoption of digital technologies in UK manufacturing. This matters because manufacturing is undergoing a transformation known as Industry 4.0—where factories, supply chains, and products become increasingly connected through sensors, data analytics, and automation. The UK risks falling behind in this shift without coordinated efforts to bridge gaps between academic research and industrial application. The network addresses a specific gap: how to foster the multidisciplinary collaborations needed to solve real-world problems in digital manufacturing, rather than leaving individual research groups to work in isolation. If successful, the network could accelerate the development of smarter, more flexible manufacturing systems—for example, factories that can rapidly reconfigure production lines in response to supply disruptions, or systems that use real-time data to reduce waste and energy use. These changes would affect infrastructure and supply chains that most people never see, but which underpin everything from car parts to medical devices. The network will also fund feasibility studies and train future research leaders, building long-term capacity. This is an applied, collaborative initiative—not fundamental science—aimed at moving existing digital technologies into practical use.
View original technical description
The Connected Everything II (CEII) Network Plus will deliver a network of networks which will accelerate multi-disciplinary collaboration, foster new collaborations between industry and academia and tackle emerging challenges which will underpin the UK academic community's research in support of people, technologies, products and systems for digital manufacturing. Through a range of activities, including feasibility studies, networking, and thematic research, CEII will bring together new teams within a multidisciplinary community to explore new ideas, demonstrate novel technologies in the context of digital manufacturing, and accelerate impact of research into industry. The Network is inspired by the context of the four tenets of Industry 4.0: Interoperability; Information Transparency; Cognitive and Physical Assistance; and Decentralised Decisions and Actions. It will enable the multidisciplinary community to consider cross-cutting themes, some of which will emerge during the lifetime of the Network, but others - Creativity; Data-rich sociotechnical systems; and Regulation - which have been co-created by the industrial and academic members of the Network management team. The CEII Network Plus aligns with a National and International priority of Digital Manufacturing, as highlighted in the Made Smarter report. It will contribute to the delivery of a Connected Nation, through consideration of how advances in digital technologies which connect objects and data in future, distributed manufacturing systems. It will contribute to a Productive Nation, through development of demonstrator projects that take concepts from other domains and apply them to Digital Manufacturing, as well as a range of activities which will support the development of future leaders.
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know