Dr Annie Iakovaki, Head of Industrial Supply Chains at Digital Catapult, discusses how the next generation of industrial supply chains will be built on deep tech innovation.
Global supply chains are facing unprecedented volatility. From geopolitical tensions and trade disruptions to the race to decarbonise industry, mounting global uncertainty has highlighted the precarity and fragility of traditional supply chains. This is driving many organisations to conclude that traditional supply chain models are no longer fit for purpose.
As such, many business leaders are re-examining their supply chains and exploring how they could be adapted or enhanced using deep tech innovation. At Digital Catapult, we drive UK industrial supply chain resilience through targeted interventions, and in convening capabilities and accelerating the practical application of deep tech across industry, the next generation of industrial supply chains will be built on deep tech innovation.
THE STRUGGLE WITH TRADITIONAL SUPPLY CHAINS
Supply chain disruption can be catastrophic for global business. Disruption might delay the delivery of defence and security assets, for example, limit energy resources and push up prices, or obstruct overseas travel. The latest conflict in the Middle East and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz pushed oil prices up by around 10-13 percent recently, and research has identified a 89 percent increase in attacks by artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled adversaries around the world.
Both examples highlight the fragility of traditional supply chain models and underpin the need to integrate and apply novel solutions that can mitigate risk.
The demand for innovative solutions is also influenced by a growing consensus that traditional supply chain models are fraught with vulnerabilities that range from a lack of valid data to weak adaptability. Recent geopolitical events have brought these weaknesses to the surface, complemented by research that spotlights the precarity of supply chains and the impact of disruption.
McKinsey, for example, reported that supply chain disruption now typically lasts around one to two months as a new normal, while around 80 percent of organisations reported experiencing supply chain disruption in the last year alone. The perceived benefits of adopting new supply chain solutions are increasingly driving many business leaders towards deep tech innovation.
THE VALUE OF DEEP TECH INNOVATION
In offering technological and innovation consultancy to businesses on how deep-tech innovation can strengthen supply chain resilience, I am starting to see the emergence of deep-tech-enabled supply chains. These are supply chains that leverage deep tech like machine learning and AI to adapt, predict, and respond to disruption before it can have a tangible impact on a business.
This is in line with broader industry trends towards embracing deep technologies, with 70 percent of companies investing in AI to mitigate supply chain disruption and 59 percent looking for ways to adapt existing resources to withstand market shifts. It’s not only AI-led solutions that are unlocking new opportunities, but areas of deep tech innovation like distributed ledger technologies (DLT), too.
Across Digital Catapult’s programmes, we enable deep tech startups with supply chain solutions to scale. This includes SMEs that have developed distributed ledgers that can facilitate secure data-sharing between businesses and drive efficiencies across the entire supply chain. Distributed ledgers have been found by researchers to enable the real-time tracking of goods, while reports also note their ability to create tamper-proof records that can improve traceability across sensitive and complex supply chains.
THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERVENTION
While deep tech innovation like AI, digital twins and DLT are essential in strengthening UK industrial supply chain resilience, without appropriate intervention, business leaders will lack the necessary means to trial new solutions or integrate them into existing workflows.
This is why Digital Catapult continues to intervene in this space, which has seen us trial pioneering solutions that offer a glimpse into the future of industrial supply chains in the UK. This includes the Logistics Living Lab project, which saw us collaborate with AF Blakemore & Son, the family-run owner of Spar supermarkets, to explore how a shared digital infrastructure system could establish more intelligent vehicle slot filling, routing, and tracking. The project achieved a 37 percent decrease in overall transport costs and a nine percent improvement in vehicle fill rate for the business, highlighting the value of deep tech innovation and the interventions that enable its practical application.
Providing infrastructure to trial and validate new supply chain solutions is equally important in driving UK industrial supply chain resilience. Digital Catapult, alongside partners across the Catapult Network and in collaboration with the Ministry of Defence (MoD), is delivering the Defence Testbed Accelerator programme to support the MoD and its manufacturing supply chain.
By creating a trusted environment in which digital design files can be securely accessed, stored and shared, this work is strengthening supply chain resilience and accelerating innovation by providing an independent testbed where teams can rapidly experiment and validate technologies in a fraction of the time required under traditional procurement. The success of the programme speaks to the future of supply chains in the UK, and the transformative role deep tech innovation will have in strengthening them.
As businesses consider new ways to mitigate disruption, the next generation of supply chains in the UK will be underpinned by deep tech innovation that ranges from AI and machine learning to digital twins and distributed ledgers.
If businesses are to integrate and apply new tech-enabled solutions, however, there must be opportunities for them to do so, and this is where interventions and infrastructure remain key. In convening these capabilities, the UK will be better equipped to manage disruption in the longer-term.
To learn more about Digital Catapult’s supply chain interventions, click here.
This article was contributed by a guest author and published by the editorial team at EME Outlook, part of the Outlook Publishing global network of B2B industry magazines.
Outlook Publishing features leadership insights, industry perspectives, and company stories from organisations shaping sectors including manufacturing, mining, construction, healthcare, supply chains, food production, and sustainability.
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