Delivering Connected Digital Design Through Multi-Partner Innovation

The partners’ ​‘Digital Design Accelerator Platform’ (DDAP) which aims to connect computer models of active material design through to product performance prediction, has been awarded £1.8M of Round 1 funding in the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) Manufacturing Made Smarter challenge programme; against a project worth £4.4M to the UK economy. This funding will enable partners to incorporate Industrial Digital Technologies (IDTs) into the design and development of robust products and manufacturing processes, focusing on the design, production and utility of pharmaceuticals. 

The DDAP consortium is joining the 13 other innovative projects funded by Innovate UK in this Round 1 investment. The goal of this project is to define the process and data requirements, developing a smart data platform in which data can be added, searched, visualised, modelled and exploited. This will help incorporate digital designs from concept to the production of pharmaceuticals. 

Tony Jackson, Formulations Director at CPI, said: ​“We are very pleased to have been awarded Round 1 funding in the Manufacturing Made Smarter challenge as part of this innovative, collaborative project. This will certainly help accelerate the adoption of advanced digital technologies in pharmaceutical manufacturing in the UK.“ 

Sophie Bailes, Associate Director in Digital Transformation at AstraZeneca said ​“We are pleased to lead this exciting collaboration between end users, technology providers and academic research in order to deliver a transformational platform with the potential to accelerate development of new medicines for patients. Through adoption of digital tools we can build in operational excellence right from the start of pharmaceutical development, improve product robustness, and drive more efficient manufacturing processes. Thereby delivering more medicines to more patients, more quickly”.