Digital Catapult’s 5G projects & programmes

Digital Catapult is part of the 5PRING consortium, the UK’s first 5G commercial application accelerator. Its aim is to help organisations of all sizes harness the power of 5G to deliver growth and innovation throughout the West Midlands and beyond. The consortium runs accelerator activities in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry for West Midlands 5G (WM5G).

Creating a corridor of expertise between Derry-Londonderry and Belfast – unlocking new opportunities for economic growth in Northern Ireland.

Digital Catapult is building new 5G testbed facilities and will run an accelerator programme for NI startups.

The SmartRAN Open Network Interoperability Centre (SONIC Labs) – announced as part of DCMS’ 5G Diversification Strategy – is a joint programme between Digital Catapult and Ofcom to foster emergence of new solutions in the telecom supply chain in the UK, focusing on multi-vendor open, disaggregated and software-centric network products, solutions and services, starting with Open RAN.

Digital Catapult is leading the integration capability for manufacturing and industrial domains, as part of the Factory of the Future project – led by the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC).

Efficiency, productivity, and sustainability are everything in manufacturing. From advanced product and machine tracking, to autonomous warehouse transportation and remote assistance for operators, technology can help the industry drive down production costs – while driving up market productivity levels and competitiveness.

National Grid has partnered with Digital Catapult to deliver the UK’s first feasibility report to assess the opportunity for adoption of 5G within the Electricity & Gas Transmission networks.

The project – ‘5G Art of the Possible’ – will be the first 5G techno-economic feasibility study on UK energy networks, setting the foundations for potential follow-up trials and rollout of applications into operations that can support the UK’s net zero ambitions.

5G Festival is the world’s first 5G powered hybrid immersive festival including live and remotely collaborating artists and audiences.

Using 5G and its ability to transmit with low latency (delay) and in ultra-high bandwidth, the 5G Festival will transform the ability of physically separate artists to perform in an immersive live, collaborative environment from different locations. The 5G Festival showcase in March 2022 was broadcast live directly to audiences at leading UK venues, and will include immersive in-venue experiences.