Business Activities

The Digital Lab will provide an accessible centre of innovation and excellence in digital technologies to serve the business, industrial, healthcare and educational needs of the West Midlands region and beyond.

Warwick Digital Lab - Click for a larger view

Small and Medium Sized Business

From October 2007, the Digital Lab will be offering a range of services to small and medium sized businesses in the West Midlands region:

Regular seminars; to provide updates on digital technologies and concepts and their current relevance to your business.

Demonstrators and showcases; hands-on opportunities to test-drive software or hardware being applied successfully, with independent advice on the solutions that will be right for your business.

Analysis sessions; to appreciate the special features of your business and identify relevant current and emerging digital technology solutions.

Strategy discussions; individual workshops to review business opportunities and vulnerabilities in the changing marketplace brought about by digital technologies.

In business R&D; drawing on the technical expertise and hardware available at the Lab, we can work with your business on R&D projects. We will assist your business to seek the right types of funding and can work in ways that suit you, from knowledge transfer partnerships to placement of students and fully collaborative R&D projects.

Large Business & Public Sector

The Digital Lab has been set up to further the use of leading edge digital technology in business. We are therefore actively seeking to work with companies and public sector organisations that have complex end-user IT problems requiring innovative solutions.

There are a range of opportunities available, each building on WMG’s proven track record:

  • Collaborative R&D in one of our major research consortia. Company specific R&D projects. WMG has a long history of delivering real benefit to companies via collaborative R&D projects:
  • Together with Westbury Homes, re-engineered the house building process for mass customisation and pioneered new energy efficient construction methods and working practices with a 50% reduction in total build time, 50% reduction in defects and 15 point rise in customer satisfaction rating.
  • Collaborative research sponsored by EPSRC with Sound and Vibration Technology Ltd has created an interactive NVH (Noise, Vibration, Harshness) simulator. The simulator is being commercialised globally by Bruel & Kjaer enabling a route for take up by all vehicle manufacturers.
  • The Premium Automotive R&D Programme has over four years catalysed R&D and the transfer of new technologies and skills to Jaguar & Land Rover and its supply base. A major component of this project focused on IT processes ranging from wireless tracking to quality control. Overall, the programme has delivered quantified value add of £22 million.
  • Specially tailored postgraduate education programmes. We have developed successful education programmes for multi-national organisations including BAe Systems, Syngenta and AstraZeneca based on their specific requirements. Such programmes demonstrate real impact on the bottom line with savings at AstraZeneca including $19 million reduction in working capital and reduction in customer returns of $500,000.

Warwick Digital Lab - Click for a larger view

Knowledge transfer programmes working with global organisations such as RBS Group in its world class operations and Tata Motors in new product introduction.

Sponsorship of Engineering Doctorates. These offer the opportunity for your company to apply innovation with a portfolio of industrially focussed research projects combined with selected modules from our Masters’ programmes. We currently have EngD students working at organisations including GlaxoSmithKline, Mines Rescue Service Ltd and Lotus, delivering innovation in areas as diverse as the automation of pharmaceutical research labs, process control and e-business.

Technology Partners

The Digital Lab is actively developing technology partnerships with world class solutions providers. We can offer a range of benefits to our partners, from wider product exposure through to early access to the latest breakthroughs produced by collaborative research. If you are interested in joining this network, please contact us.