Anglia Ruskin Innovation Centre
The Anglia Ruskin Innovation Centre (ARIC) is a strategic partnership between Anglia Ruskin University and TWI which aims to develop a comprehensive research capacity focused on digital transformation of management, people, skills, and organisational innovation within an Industry 4.0 context.
Based at TWI’s Cambridge headquarters, ARIC carries out research and development (R&D) programmes in order to create the next generation of business models and tools that can help commercialise technologies which address societal challenges.
The Industry 4.0 revolution is demanding changes in design, products and services, across sectors that require new knowledge, and management and organisational techniques, to realise the potential benefits of digital technology, but this ‘human dimension’ is all-too-often neglected by policy makers and managers. ARIC will focus on the digitisation of products and services as well as infrastructure solutions, new business models and transformative management which can drive innovation and sustainable economic growth for the Eastern region, the UK and internationally.
Objectives
- Establish a reputation for excellence and be world leading in industrially relevant, digital transformation and innovation management research
- Develop the next generation of business models and tools to help commercialise technologies and address societal challenges, as well as benefit TWI industrial members
- Drive new regional research and technology capability for the acceleration of digital adoption
- Create a collaborative environment between higher education institution and research and technology organisation with substantial research, impact and adoption by industry (HEI-RTO-Industry)
- Undertake joint research programmes and secure a portfolio of research funding from external sponsors
Core areas
- New management and business practices
- Digital transformation of traditional manufacturing processes and move to smart factories
- Technology innovation acceleration policy and strategic interventions for sustainable development
- Digital innovation and new systems models for supply chains
- Business incubation and start-up support
Up-Skill project
ARIC has successfully secured public (grant) funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme, with fellow consortium members the Joining 4.0 Innovation Centre (J4IC), Malardalen University, and the University of Milan, for the Up-Skill project: Up-skilling for Industry 5.0 Roll-out.
Up-Skill will focus on building a better understanding of how businesses, particularly in industrial and manufacturing environments, can lever value from human and machine integration. The project will look at what happens when new, ‘intelligent’ production technologies are introduced into organisations, particularly examining how artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and other technologies can change working practices, the skills people use, and how personnel respond to and interpret the practices. The research will also map wider changes that may occur, using ethnographic studies to consider working methodologies and social interactions, and routes to understanding and obtaining the technologies to be implemented.
Visit the Up-Skill website for more on the project.