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Sunderland Software City: Developing the Software Sector in the North East

Summary of the impact

Building on excellent computer science research, carried out in a number of applied research centres, the University has taken a leading role in the establishment and development of the software sector in the North East. This has resulted in a regional strategic approach, which has delivered significant social and economic benefits, with impacts including the creation of jobs, SME growth, cluster establishment and inward investment. Sunderland's applied computing research has also resulted in an increase in innovation and research in software SMEs and has impacted on the perception of Sunderland as the heart of a regional software cluster.

Submitting Institution

University of Sunderland

Unit of Assessment

Computer Science and Informatics

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing, Computer Software, Information Systems

Advanced Maintenance Strategy and Tools

Summary of the impact

A team at the University of Sunderland has undertaken research into equipment maintenance for over 20 years. This has been undertaken within a series of funded UK and EU projects. The work of the team has resulted in a new model for maintenance strategy, and the development of novel artificial intelligence algorithms to monitor the condition of key factory assets. A series of software tools have been developed in collaboration with industrial partners. These tools and the strategic model have been tested in industrial settings and have had impact in the UK, across the EU, and internationally.

Submitting Institution

University of Sunderland

Unit of Assessment

Aeronautical, Mechanical, Chemical and Manufacturing Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Mathematical Sciences: Applied Mathematics
Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Engineering: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Manufacturing networks

Summary of the impact

The results of research at the University of Cambridge Department of Engineering (DoEng) on global manufacturing networks were disseminated to industry through publications, events, training and consultancy. During 2008-13 more than 20 multinational corporations applied the findings to transform their global networks, determining the ideal location and roles of plants around the world, and achieving beneficial trade-offs of access to markets and resources, innovation and risk, while minimising cost. Corporations including Rolls-Royce, GSK, BAE Systems, and Caterpillar report impacts in terms of cost savings (measured in tens of millions GBP per annum), improved competitive differentiation and shifts in capital expenditure allocation (measured in hundreds of millions GBP per annum). GBP 2,158,181 revenue has also been directly generated in consultancy and training spin-offs.

Submitting Institution

University of Cambridge

Unit of Assessment

General Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Economic

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing, Information Systems
Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services: Business and Management

Optical Switching for High Performance Networks

Summary of the impact

Essex research has investigated a range of switching techniques to enable efficient routing in optical networks. This research informed the development of the iVX8000 system, the world's first `carrier class' converged switch and transport solution, launched in May 2011 by the network equipment manufacturer Intune Networks Ltd. The development, launch and field implementation of the iVX8000 system have underpinned a period of sustained growth and success for Intune. The company has enhanced its position within the photonics transmission sector and attracted €15M of venture capital and collaborative research funding since 2011.

Submitting Institution

University of Essex

Unit of Assessment

Computer Science and Informatics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing, Data Format
Technology: Communications Technologies

Control technologies for advanced energy efficiency and environmental emission reduction in industrial plants

Summary of the impact

Collaborations funded through EPSRC Interact and RCUK UK-China Science Bridge resulted in QUB's advanced control research having important economic and environmental impact in China, Pakistan, Vietnam. This includes the creation of new core modules for the Shanghai Automation Instrumentation Co (SAIC) SUPMAX Distributed Control System series of products now in use for whole plant monitoring and control to maximise energy efficiency and reduce pollutant emissions. These products have since 2008 increased SAIC's revenue by over $50M p.a. Related networked monitoring technologies have been successfully deployed in Baosteel's hot-rolling production lines and in the Nantong Water Treatment Company that treats 20,000 tonnes of industrial waste water daily.

Submitting Institution

Queen's University Belfast

Unit of Assessment

Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Mathematical Sciences: Applied Mathematics, Statistics
Engineering: Mechanical Engineering

Interactive stress analysis of mechanical and aerospace components

Summary of the impact

This case study concerns economic impact accruing in the aerospace engineering industry in Europe from software developed to perform stress analysis. Durham research has led to a spinout company, Concept Analyst, Ltd., and the software resulting from the research (Concept Analyst) is currently licensed by the following companies: BAE Systems (Brough, Samlesbury, Warton, Prestwick sites), Agusta Westland, Assystem, Jesmond Engineering, Spirit Aerospace. Trials are currently in place at Airbus UK and Bombardier, Canada. An agreement has been signed with the fatigue consultancy Jesmond Engineering, Ltd. to market the software within the aerospace sector. Economic impact arises from time savings for designers using Concept Analyst as compared to conventional commercial tools.

Submitting Institution

University of Durham

Unit of Assessment

General Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Mathematical Sciences: Applied Mathematics, Numerical and Computational Mathematics
Information and Computing Sciences: Computation Theory and Mathematics

Informing policy and mitigating risk – modelling infrastructure networks

Summary of the impact

Researchers at Queen Mary have applied mathematical modelling techniques to understand how and when problems may arise in complex man-made infrastructure networks including electricity, gas, global shipping and haulage networks. Many of these networks have points of vulnerability where a local issue such as an earthquake, a terrorist attack or even a simple engineering problem can bring down widespread areas of the network. Our research and the associated modelling techniques have impacted on organisations including the UK Treasury Office and the European Commission's Joint Research Centres at both Petten and Ispra, where it has been used to inform UK and European policy guidelines and legislation for infrastructure projects.

Submitting Institution

Queen Mary, University of London

Unit of Assessment

Mathematical Sciences

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Mathematical Sciences: Applied Mathematics
Information and Computing Sciences: Computation Theory and Mathematics, Information Systems

The EnCore Microprocessor and the ArcSim Simulator

Summary of the impact

This case study describes the impact of the EnCore microprocessor, and the associated ArcSim simulation software, created in 2009 by the Processor Automated Synthesis by iTerative Analysis (PASTA) research group under Professor Nigel Topham at the University of Edinburgh. Licensing to Synopsys Inc. in 2012 brought the EnCore and ArcSim technologies to the market. Synopsys Inc. is a world-leading Silicon Valley company. It is the largest Electronic Design Automation (EDA) company in the world, and the second largest supplier of semiconductor IP. EnCore is achieving a global impact through this worldwide channel. The commercial derivatives of the EnCore technology provide manufacturers of consumer electronics devices with an innovative low-power, high-performance microprocessor that they can customize to their specific application requirements, enabling the next generation of electronic devices.

Submitting Institution

University of Edinburgh

Unit of Assessment

Computer Science and Informatics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Computation Theory and Mathematics, Information Systems
Technology: Computer Hardware

Improving Road Investment Appraisal

Summary of the impact

HDM-4 is the most widely used system for road investment appraisal and decision making, generating improvements in public policies and services. Economic development and road agencies in developing countries are major users of the tool. HDM-4 has become the de facto standard used by the World Bank for its road investment appraisals and has been used to assess more than 200 projects since 2008, with some $29.5bn of World Bank loans, credits or grants drawn-down to fund these. Uptake of the tool has led to the commercial success of HDMGlobal, a consortium which manages the distribution and development of the software under exclusive licence from the World Road Association-PIARC, with revenues of £1.6m generated since 2008. HDM-4 has also been utilised for economic assessment and road systems investment management in the UK.

Submitting Institution

University of Birmingham

Unit of Assessment

Civil and Construction Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Economic

Research Subject Area(s)

Mathematical Sciences: Statistics
Engineering: Civil Engineering
Economics: Applied Economics

Saving Water through Optimal Energy and Leakage Management in Water Distribution Systems

Summary of the impact

Water distribution systems (WDS) are highly complex, spatially distributed networks comprising thousands of different components which deliver drinking water to customers. The impact described here has been achieved in areas of energy management, pressure control and burst detection in WDS. Some developed solutions, such as the model reduction method, model of pump stations and pressure control algorithms, have been widely accepted by the water research community and then filter down to industrial applications or implemented in a widely available shareware. Direct economical and environmental impacts have been achieved by projects for the UK companies with measurable benefits in pounds through reducing water losses and energy consumption as described in Section 4. These include South Staffordshire Water, Aquavent and Scottish Water in the pressure control area and Affinity Water (former Veolia) in the energy management and burst detection areas.

Submitting Institution

De Montfort University

Unit of Assessment

General Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Environmental

Research Subject Area(s)

Mathematical Sciences: Applied Mathematics, Numerical and Computational Mathematics
Information and Computing Sciences: Computation Theory and Mathematics

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