A new partnership between Siemens (www.siemens.com) and the University of Sheffield (www.sheffield.ac.uk) has been launched to accelerate digitalisation, boost digital skills, and promote technology and knowledge exchange to meet the needs of an increasingly digitalised industry.

The agreement marks the first collaboration for a new UK-wide digitalisation network to link universities with the Internet of Things (IoT).

It comes as the widespread adoption of digitalisation — the technology behind Industry 4.0 or the ‘4th Industrial Revolution’, such as that being tested at the University of Sheffield’s Factory 2050 — is seen as crucial
to the UK’s competitiveness and productivity.

The partnership is based on the MindSphere Innovation Network (MINe) developed by Siemens to connect a university’s estate and research assets into its innovative IoT platform, MindSphere.

It then makes this data available to improve teaching and research collaborations between academics and industry partners, to uncover new business models and create commercial opportunities through digitalisation.

The University of Sheffield and Siemens have also invested in a bespoke space for collaboration and learning between students, local businesses and other partners.

The ‘MindSphere Lounge’ can be used by students, academics, industry partners and Siemens experts to harness the value of the data produced by the University and the various projects connected to the cloud-based platform.

Juergen Maier, CEO, Siemens UK, who has led the Government’s Industrial Digitalisation Review, said: “Using digital technologies to transform business operations is key for the UK to drive competitiveness, improve national productivity and take advantage of the commercial opportunities offered by an increasingly digitalised industry.”