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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

    • Our ambition

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

            ambition-scale-deep-tech

            Enabling UK deep tech companies to scale

            ambition-improving-supply-chain

            Improving UK industrial supply chain resilience

            ambition-decarbonisation

            Driving industrial decarbonisation

            ambition-advancing-data

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

    • Our people
          • 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

    • Our places
          • London Office

            London

            The base for more than 200 experts from a diverse range of industries and backgrounds.

            north-east

            North East

            Supporting organisations across all sectors, with programmes for the manufacturing, creative and VCSE.

            northern-ireland

            Northern Ireland

            Connecting industry and academia to build innovative partnerships, and helping organisations to work smarter.

            south-west

            South West

            Helping to scale industrial activities through a combination of engineering, digital expertise and research.

    • Startups and scaleups
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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.
    • Government and Public sector
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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.
            Find out more UK Digital Twin Centre
    • Corporates and Industry
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            Green Hydrogen Certifier

            This report looks at the Green Hydrogen Certifier - an end-to-end demonstration of a potential digital certification solution for hydrogen production...
    • Academia
    • Investors
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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...
    • Services

          • Bespoke software & data systems

            Developing proof-of-concept demonstrators to showcase the viability and benefit of deep tech solutions.

            Platform engineering service

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

            Technology & innovation consultancy

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

          • Acceleration programmes for business

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

            Facilitating and convening

            Bringing together and developing ecosystems of companies to explore, test and demonstrate how deep tech works in practice.

    • Technologies
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    • Current interventions
          • ORCA-020

            Quantum Technology Programme

            Separating opportunity from hype to understand industry challenges that may be best solved by quantum computing.
          • Banner website digital twin 3

            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
    • Case studies
          • Black Founders Programme Showcase event.

            SymphoMe: case study

            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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            Be the first to know about upcoming resources, events and activities in the BridgeAI programme.
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            The Programme

            Find out more about how the Innovate UK BridgeAI programme and how it aims to stimulate the adoption AI and...
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Digital Catapult > Programmes > Open RAN Innovation Programme & Lab | Project: SONIC Labs

Open RAN Innovation Programme & Lab | Project: SONIC Labs

Accelerating new open network solutions into the UK telecom supply chain

SONIC Labs (SmartRAN Open Network Interoperability Centre) is a world-leading innovation programme and R&D facility based in central London.

It is driven by our vision to transform the UK’s telecommunications industry by leading global technology developments to create a more open, competitive and diverse supply market in the UK. Part of the UK’s national 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy, SONIC Labs is funded by the UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), and co-delivered by Digital Catapult and Ofcom.

Read more about the SONIC Labs programme
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Explore SONIC Labs state-of-the-art facilities

Based in the heart of central London, our SONIC Labs indoor and outdoor testing sites provide a commercially neutral, collaborative environment for testing and integration for vendors from across the globe.

Visit our SONIC Labs facilities page
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Our community

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We bring together the leading players of Open RAN innovators, industry, academia and government to inform our work and drive long term industry adoption of open network technologies.

Find out more about the organisations we work with, including our network of programme participants, advisory board and industry groups.

Our Community

O-RAN Alliance PlugFest Fall 2024

Digital Catapult is proud to be an international lab host for the O-RAN Global PlugFest – Fall 2024. Throughout the Autumn we will be working with world leading vendors to help accelerate the disaggregation, diversification and interoperability of networks through the adoption of Open RAN technologies.

PlugFest Fall 2024
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Testing facilities now open

Apply now

Our knowledge hub

Through our blogs, publications and reports, Digital Catapult shares crucial insights into the latest industry developments and how SONIC Labs is elevating the digital future of Open RAN technologies.

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SONIC Labs – 2023/24 Annual Report

The SONIC Labs Annual Report 2023/24 highlights the significant progress made since the programme’s inception in October 2020. It demonstrates…

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Verizon – A journey to 5G

Produced by Digital Catapult on behalf of Verizon, this report is written for business end-users, aiming to provide the knowledge…

Visit the knowledge hub

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