Northern Ireland partnerships join Digital Twin Accelerator to drive UK deep tech adoption 

Digital Catapult has announced the launch of the Digital Twin Adoption Accelerator to accelerate the practical application of digital twin technologies across the UK’s aerospace, maritime, and defence sectors, enabling deep tech startups to scale and equipping the UK to be future ready. The programme will play an important role in improving UK industrial supply chain resilience and convening capabilities between industry and government to unlock new opportunities and facilitate meaningful partnership.  

Nine carefully selected pairs of SMEs have joined the programme with three Northern Ireland based partnerships representing the region’s growing digital twin capabilities. Each partnership is made up of a technology vendor and technology adopter from across the UK, with each pair set to develop a solution that will solve industrial challenges including optimising energy efficiency and predictive maintenance, enhancing logistics, advancing aerospace design, and safeguarding marine environments. The startups will receive support from Digital Catapult during the programme including technological and innovation consultancy, access to the UK Digital Twin Centre in Belfast, and opportunities to trial and validate solutions in a real-world environment with industry leaders.  

The accelerator commenced with an introductory session welcoming the eighteen SMEs and will last until June 2026, when new solutions are expected to be presented to an audience of stakeholders and potential partners. The programme will play a key role in demystifying and commercialising digital twin solutions across the UK and showcasing their industrial value and application, while demonstrating the value of the UK Digital Twin Centre.  

The UK Digital Twin Centre opened earlier this year, funded by Belfast Region City Deal and Innovate UK, with industry co-investment from Thales UK, Spirit AeroSystems, and Artemis Technologies to a total value of £37.6 million. The Centre aims to make digital twins more accessible and impactful by accelerating the practical application of deep tech, fostering industry collaboration, and driving innovation through shared learning and knowledge exchange. 

• Trusted Digital Twin MRO Platform – Ubloquity and Ping Group will develop secure block-chain anchored digital twins for aerospace parts and maintenance, capturing provenance, certification, and lifecycle data in real time to reduce downtime and automate compliance.  

• HydroTwin Aerospace Consortium – Voxshell Ltd and Cranfield Aerospace Solutions Ltd will create an AI-enabled digital twin platform connecting hydrogen powered UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) design, simulation, and testing environments to accelerate aerospace innovation.  

• EDGE Twin Consortium – AIRS ML Limited and Advanced Manufacturing (Sheffield) Ltd will deploy edge-based AI frameworks for real-time industrial monitoring, reducing latency and operational costs.  

• Emerge MyCustoms Digital Initiative – MyCustoms Ltd and Emerge Manchester Ltd will build a digital twin for customs and logistics workflows to automate compliance and improve visibility across supply chains.  

• BusbyFlyer – Busby Ventures Ltd and Flyer AI Ltd will develop a simulation-based digital twin platform to support safe, scalable drone and eVTOL operations in the urban air mobility sector.  

• sustainaVERSE Subsea – The D’Arcy Thompson Simulator Centre and Deeptek Ltd will deliver an immersive subsea digital twin that visualises real-time rope dynamics, vessel motion and load conditions, improving marine safety and sustainability.  

• Port of Larne Net Zero – Helix8 Ltd and Larne Harbour Ltd will create a geospatial digital twin to optimise the port’s energy ecosystem and support a data-driven transition to net-zero operations.  

• Digital twin for Zero Emission Maritime Transport – Marine Zero and Seiche Limited will develop a digital twin using live Marine Zero CONNECT telemetry to model vessel behaviour and support predictive operational decisions. 

• Digital Twin for Lightweight Armour Systems – Blow Moulding Technologies and Vikela Armour will use predictive digital twin modelling to improve the design and manufacture of lightweight, high-performance body armour.