The Intelligent Software Systems lab at BCU has secured a two-year, £6 million funding from UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) Innovate UK. DIATOMIC (Digital InnovAtion TransfOrMatIve Change) UK Accelerator is part of the wider West Midlands Innovation Accelerator funded by Innovate UK and the West Midlands Combined Authority.
This accelerator operates in collaboration with Birmingham City Council, STEAMhouse, and the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, striving to drive economic growth and meaningful impact for the West Midlands. It seeks to grow the innovation capacity and capability of the region, creating new jobs and opportunities. The programme is led by Connected Places Catapult alongside partners: Aston University, Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, Birmingham City Council, Birmingham City University, and the University of Birmingham.
The DIATOMIC project aims to enhance innovation capability and capacity to nurture growth and prosperity in the West Midlands. Its primary objective is to position Birmingham and the West Midlands as prominent UK hubs for digital innovation and inclusive growth. By accelerating innovation at the local level, the project endeavours to leverage the region’s existing international partnerships. Through targeted initiatives, emphasis will be placed on expanding the region’s clean tech, health tech, and med tech sectors.
This initiative seeks to empower civic leaders to articulate innovation challenges, assist local SMEs in addressing them, and enrich the community by establishing the UK’s inaugural Inclusive Innovation hub. Furthermore, it will advocate for the utilization of data to enhance localized decision-making processes and develop an impact assessment toolkit.
The aim is to develop three digital twins: traffic and air quality twin (BCU), energy systems and infrastructure (University of Birmingham), and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (Aston University).
The BCU DIATOMIC traffic and air quality digital twin will build on the work from earlier projects such as Big Data Corridor (BDC), and Data Science Collaboration (DSC), all are part of our BCU's collaboration with Birmingham City Council and other project(s) partners. The current DSC team will be actively involved in supporting the DIATOMIC project due to their involvement in traffic and air quality data access and processing.
Project Aims
The key aims of the DIATOMIC project encompass several critical objectives aimed at fostering growth and prosperity in the West Midlands:
- Positioning Birmingham and the West Midlands as prominent UK hubs for digital innovation and inclusive growth.
- Enhancing innovation capability and capacity to drive economic development.
- Accelerating innovation at the local level, leveraging existing international partnerships.
- Expanding the region’s clean tech, health tech, and med tech sectors through targeted initiatives.
- Empowering civic leaders to articulate innovation challenges and assisting local SMEs in addressing them.
- Establishing the UK’s inaugural Inclusive Innovation hub to enrich the community.
- Advocating for the utilisation of data to enhance localised decision-making processes.
- Developing an impact assessment toolkit to measure the project's effectiveness and contribution to the region's growth and prosperity.
BCU Project Team
The DIATOMIC project boasts a consortium comprising Connected Places Catapult, Birmingham City Council, University of Birmingham, Aston University, and the West Midlands Combined Authority.
- Dr. Abdel-Rahman Tawil Professor of Software Engineering leads the Intelligent Software Systems lab (ISSL) and serves as the BCU principal investigator.
- Dr. Sara Hassan
- Dr. Antonio Nehme
- Ahmad Wahab (Najiy)
- Konstantinos Vlachos
To find out more about the project, contact Abdel-Rahman.Tawil@bcu.ac.uk