InterAct Hub
The Storytelling Fellowship programme is a core element of the InterAct Network. It aims to harness the power of stories to learn from, and address, the human aspects of the diffusion of new technologies in industry. These human aspects include themes such as:
• Productivity
• Resilience
• Competitiveness
• Sustainability
• Levelling-up/inclusion
• Wellbeing
Our Storytelling Fellows have created a growing archive of digital, video stories that you can access below:
As we embark on the next stage of our industrial evolution, digitalisation will shape the future of our economy, manufacturing ecosystem, and workplace. Digital technologies can enable us to create the future we want and move beyond consumption driven economic growth.
Our challenge is to create a future digital manufacturing ecosystem that meets our net-zero ambitions, whilst being resilient and productive. Thus, ensuring that everyone has the things that they need, at a price that they can afford, without damaging the environment or society.
To create the future digital manufacturing ecosystem we want, we need to work together. In order to combine our expertise from the broadest range of perspectives around this common goal, we need to InterAct.
Find out more about the outcomes of our first annual conference below.
We were delighted to welcome a roster of world-leading speakers, who shared unique insights and perspectives on their areas of expertise in relation to the theme of ‘Creating the digital manufacturing future we want’.
Our speakers were drawn from a wide range of backgrounds across industry, policy, think-tanks, and academia. Together they represent a diverse collection of voices that we want to draw into the wider conversation about what it will take to build a future that delivers for everyone.
View or download artwork of all talks below.
Keynote Speaker
Futurist and author
Keynote Speaker
Deputy Director at the International Monetary Fund
Speaker – Future of Digital Manufacturing Ecosystems
EMEA Director at SupplyVue
Speaker – Future of Digital Manufacturing Ecosystems
Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT
Director, Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity
Speaker – Future of Digital Manufacturing Ecosystems
EMEA Head of Enterprise Software & Visualisation Segments at Nvidia
Speaker – Future of Work
Head of Policy and Campaigns at Make UK
Speaker – Future of Work
Managing Director at BAMUK Group Ltd
Speaker – Future of Work
Strategy, Communications & Marketing Head at Booth Welsh
Speaker – Future of the Economy
Chair of Urban and Regional Economics at Alliance Manchester Business School.
Speaker – Future of the Economy
Member of House of Lords, former Chief Economist at Goldman Sachs.
Speaker – Future of the Economy
Managing Director at CamdenBoss Ltd
Panelist and Keynote Speaker
UKRI Challenge Director for Made Smarter Innovation
Panelist
Head of Manufacturing Policy at the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
Panelist
Senior Economist at Make UK
InterAct Co-director and host
Dean of the School of Business and Economics at Loughborough University
Storytelling and critical question formulation workshop lead
Senior Lecturer in Applied Storytelling
| 09:00 | Arrival and coffee |
| 09:30 | Welcome and objectives |
| 09:45 | Keynote speakers Tamim Bayoumi Chris Courtney |
| 10:15 | Future of Digital Manufacturing Ecosystems Kim Lloyd John Hart Jason Southern |
| 11:00 | Break |
| 11:30 | Future of Work Troy Barratt Aimee Doole Bhavina Bharkada |
| 12:15 | Future of the Economy Katy Davies Lord Jim O’Neill Professor Philip McCann |
| 13:00 | Lunch |
| 13:45 | Keynote speaker Sean Culey |
| 14:00 | Storytelling and critical question formulation workshop |
| 15:00 | Break |
| 15:30 | ‘Critical questions’ panel debate Chris Courtney Clare Porter Troy Barratt Katy Davies |
| 16:20 | Closing comments |
| 17:00 | Storytelling screening and drinks reception |
Sustainability in manufacturing is a hot topic. And rightly so – many manufacturers produce large amounts of waste, much of which the supply chain creates. Rather worryingly, our supply chains make up 60% of carbon emissions in the UK.
The UK government’s initiative to reach net zero by 2050, as well as the legal obligations under the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, is now well known. However, there is much, much more that can be done to reduce emissions – and digital technologies have a crucial role to play.
Click below to read more about the five best ways to promote sustainable practices within your supply chain.
Find out more about InterAct, our aims and how we’re helping to build a more sustainable, effective manufacturing future.
InterAct Co-Director and Dean of Loughborough University’s School of Business and Economics, Professor Janet Godsell, hosts a panel discussion on ‘Leading global manufacturing operations against the backdrop of a highly disrupted supply ecosystem’.
Hear from InterAct Co-director, Professor Jillian MacBryde, as she answers some of the frequently asked questions around our Early Career Researcher (ECR) Fellowship.
Refer to our funding opportunities webpage to find out when the ECR Fellowship application windows are open.
UK manufacturing supply chains have been tested to their limits by the global disruptions of recent years, from Brexit to COVID 19 and the crisis in Ukraine.
To regain competitiveness during this turbulent time, firms are urged to take stock of their supply chains and consider:
• What could the future of UK manufacturing look like? • What are the associated business models?
• How can they leverage industrial digital technologies to create a more sustainable, responsible future?
This webinar examined the results of a survey of manufacturing firms in the Midlands region and launching the ‘Future of Digital Manufacturing Ecosystems’ project. This is a joint programme between the InterAct Network led by Professor Jan Godsell (Dean of the School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University), Make UK and Midlands Engine.
This session, led by InterAct Co-director Professor Jan Godsell and featuring successful InterAct grant applicant Dr. Andreas Schroeder examines examples of successful applications, developing opportunities for networking/feedback, and through sharing our knowledge of navigating the administrative processes associated with funding calls.
Find out more about how you can develop better funding proposals and more effectively tie your research in to the overall aims and objectives of InterAct and Made Smarter Innovation.
Hear from InterAct Co-directors, Professors Jan Godsell and Jillian MacBryde, as they discuss the specifics InterAct Open Funding Call and answer numerous questions pertaining to the call.
The InterAct Open Funding Call is a single Commissioned Research call with a budget of £400,000. There will be up to eight awards, with no minimum value for a request, but the maximum that shall be awarded to any single project is £62,500 (at 100% FEC), of which 80% will be funded by InterAct (i.e., £50,000 maximum funding for a single project).
Projects are welcomed from a broad range of economic and social sciences, that will create ‘actionable insights’ to support the delivery of the five Made Smarter Innovation challenge objectives.
Full details of the funding call are available on our funding opportunities page.
Hear from the InterAct Network team as they discuss the specifics InterAct Open Funding Call in this launch webinar.
The InterAct Open Funding Call is a single Commissioned Research call with a budget of £400,000. There will be up to eight awards, with no minimum value for a request, but the maximum that shall be awarded to any single project is £62,500 (at 100% FEC), of which 80% will be funded by InterAct (i.e., £50,000 maximum funding for a single project).
Projects are welcomed from a broad range of economic and social sciences, that will create ‘actionable insights’ to support the delivery of the five Made Smarter Innovation challenge objectives.
Full details of the funding call are available on our funding opportunities page.