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    • About us
          • Digital Catapult is a deep tech innovation organisation driving business value by accelerating the application of advanced technologies.

            3,000

            Companies supported since 2018

            £555m

            Investment raised by startups since 2018

            20+

            Advanced technology facilities nationwide

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          • Our ambition is to realise the practical application of deep tech through four interventions

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            Enabling UK deep tech companies to scale

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            Improving UK industrial supply chain resilience

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            Driving industrial decarbonisation

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            Advancing UK development and use of data driven and open future networks

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          • susan-bowen

            We are an organisation made up of almost 300 innovators.

            We pride ourselves on the skilled and talented people from varied backgrounds that make up our team – we harness the expertise, perspectives and connections of people of more than 40 nationalities, thereby bringing together a diversity of skills, experience and backgrounds.

            Susan Bowen

            CEO of Digital Catapult

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            Black Founders Programme

            The Black Founders Programme is an accelerator targeted at pre-seed or seed stage, Black-founded companies creating innovative products and services...
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            Quantum Technology Programme

            Separating opportunity from hype to understand industry challenges that may be best solved by quantum computing.
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            Hydrogen Innovation Programme

            Discover more about the the Hydrogen Innovation Initiative and the deployment of hydrogen technologies to address pressing energy and environmental...
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            Digitalising Energy Programme

            Energy Systems Catapult and Digital Catapult have partnered to explore the groundwork for a UK-wide initiative to accelerate a digitalised,...
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            UK Digital Twin Centre

            Delivered by Digital Catapult and funded by Belfast Region City Deal and Innovate UK, the UK Digital Twin Centre makes digital twins more accessible and meaningful in the UK. It actively enable industries and innovators to safely embrace, explore and realise their dynamic power.
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            This report looks at the Green Hydrogen Certifier - an end-to-end demonstration of a potential digital certification solution for hydrogen production...
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            Developing proof-of-concept demonstrators to showcase the viability and benefit of deep tech solutions.

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            Designing, building and operating physical and digital facilities. Providing testbeds for deep tech discovery and experimentation.

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            Consultancy services helping organisations addresses market preparedness gaps, evaluate financial viability and navigate technology change management.

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            Creating acceleration programmes to support businesses.Helping them grow through mentorship, technology support, networking, and investment opportunities.

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            Separating opportunity from hype to understand industry challenges that may be best solved by quantum computing.
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            UK Digital Twin Centre

            Delivered by Digital Catapult and funded by Belfast Region City Deal and Innovate UK, the UK Digital Twin Centre makes digital twins more accessible and meaningful in the UK. It actively enable industries and innovators to safely embrace, explore and realise their dynamic power.
            Find out more UK Digital Twin Centre
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            Part of the FutureScope's Black Founders Programme, Digital Catapult supported Nyangibo Gallery to get investment ready and receive business expertise
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            The Programme

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Press Release

DigiFed launches open call for large companies seeking digital solutions from startups and SMEs

Posted 22 Feb 2021

The new DigiFed “Digital Challenge Owner” open call is targeted at European including UK medium to large enterprises that have identified a specific business need for which no digital solution is currently available on the market.

On 22 February the DigiFed project will start to offer a new series match funding opportunities that can help to accelerate access to advanced digital technology and solve real-world challenges. The project will provide support to aspiring so called “Digital Challenge Owners” that aim to rapidly address their digital needs in a cost-efficient and agile way and that are open to collaborate with startup companies to prototype potential solutions in the field of Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) & Embedded Systems.

DigiFed and the Digital Challenge Owners will jointly offer grants of up to €110k as well as technical and business support for the development of smart applications in Europe. Hence, participants to the DigiFed Digital Challenge Owner scheme will need to be willing to co-fund the experiment anywhere between €30,000 to €50,000 for 9-12 months.

In return, they will gain access to a network of tech innovators and experts from startups or SMEs that can develop a customised solution to address their business challenge. Challenge Owners will also benefit from partnerships with leading Digital Innovations Hubs across Europe who will be able to accelerate their innovation journey, marketing capabilities and access to new markets.

The DigiFed project will provide innovation management support by helping the lager enterprises frame their challenge and leading the search for the appropriate provide startup or SME with the skills to address their business need. The selected startup/SME will then receive 50% of funding from DigiFed to addresses the digitisation challenge within the Challenge Owner’s business.
The startups and SMEs will be selected through an open call application process which will start in May/June 2021.

To apply for the Digital Challenge Owner Open Call please visit www.digifed.org

About DigiFed

Operating within the framework of the Smart Anything Everywhere Initiative, the EU funded project “Digital Innovation Hubs Federation For Large Scale adoption of digital technologies by European including UK SMEs“ (DigiFed) seeks to boost the adoption of advanced digital technologies, or cyber-physical systems (CPS), by EU SMEs with a focus on non-digital businesses. 

Through its multiple innovation pathways – Application Experiments, Digital Challenges and Generic Experiments; it helps applicants implement business plans for the sustainability of a federation of Digital Innovation Hubs designated by the European Commission, while also providing key support mechanisms for both individual companies and groups of SMEs to foster the introduction of digital technologies in their product-and-service offerings.