UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE
Siemens has made a sizeable investment in the future of the rail industry - and the UK economy in general. The firm’s Head of Innovation JO BINSTEAD talks to PAUL STEPHEN
Britain’s universities are renowned throughout the world for producing innovative people and projects, which is why Siemens is so heavily committed to collaborating with them in order to tap into a wave of new technologies and new ways of thinking.
The company already has a long-standing relationship with leading universities such as Newcastle University and the University of Huddersfield, with whom it has successfully tested and developed a range of advanced technologies, such as signalling solutions and intelligent track-monitoring systems.
But Siemens has now gone a step further by being a key partner in a newly created consortium, known as the UK Railway Research and Innovation Network (UKRRIN), which links 17 companies from the rail sector and seven universities.
Bringing together the rail supply chain and academia to undertake groundbreaking research and innovation, at the heart of UKRRIN are the three Centres of Excellence it is establishing in Digital Systems, Rolling Stock and Infrastructure.
UKRRIN is closely aligned with the aims of the Government’s industrial strategy to position the UK as a leading player in a number of global markets, including rail, but also the Rail Supply Chain’s Fast Track to the Future strategy to support productivity and growth in the UK rail supply chain.
The £ 92 million cost of creating UKRRIN has therefore been met under a funding formula whereby a £ 28.1m award has been made by the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund, and the remaining £ 64m pledged by UKRRIN’s supply chain partners, including Siemens. Non-financial support has also been forthcoming from Network Rail, HS2 Ltd and Transport for London.
Siemens Head of Innovation Jo Binstead says that UKRRIN is a win-win situation for all parties as universities are given access to industry experts and their students are provided with an opportunity to work on ‘real life’ projects, thereby boosting their prospects for employment after graduation. On the other hand, Siemens and its industry partners are able to identify areas of research that are relevant to their businesses and have wider benefits to the rail industry.
In recognition of Siemens’ leading role in university engagement and the strength of its commitment to developing the next generation of digital railway expertise, Binstead was chosen to chair UKRRIN’s interim steering committee.
She says: “Discussions to set up UKKRIN started about a year ago, and the University of Birmingham led the bid for funding through the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund, which is managed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. But it was clear that UKRRIN would also need industry support, so a call went out through the Rail Industry Association and the RSSB.
“The supply chain stepped up and the UKRPIF award was announced in July, so we are now putting together contract agreements with UKRRIN’s industry partners and are pushing ahead with the creation of the three Centres of Excellence.”
All three sites are expected to be complete by 2020 and will comprise a mixture of new and existing facilities at UKRRIN’s seven university partners. These are: University of Birmingham, University of Huddersfield, University of Newcastle, Loughborough University, University of Southampton, University of Sheffield and Heriot-Watt University.
Siemens will also provide a further £12m to support these centres in the form of PhD
studentships, training and continuous professional development and membership fees, which will help fund equipment and staff needed to support project development.
Binstead adds that membership of UKRRIN is not expected to be static, and it will be open to new suppliers and universities in order to increase the breadth of both its research facilities and expertise.
It is hoped that UKRRIN will eventually mirror the model used by other ‘Catapult’ organisations that operate in different sectors, such as high-value manufacturing, medicines and renewable energy, and which share its aim to bring research and idea conceptualisation closer to commercialisation.
Under this model, research and development can either be collaborative to support industry, or proprietorial for a single client with the associated protection of Intellectual Property rights.
Either way, the success of UKRRIN clearly holds the potential to transform railway operations in the UK, and support the delivery of major rail investment programmes such as HS2.
“This is not a closed shop, so other people will be encouraged to get involved,” says Binstead.
“If we’re really going to change the way railways operate, then we must understand what impact digitisation will have on rolling stock and the rest of the network. We have to ask ourselves questions, such as: ‘if HS2 is going to be a 21st or even 22nd century railway, what technologies does it need?’
“These Centres of Excellence are critical to answering those sorts of questions and equipping ourselves for the future, so we can continue to grow both individually and collectively, while supporting the supply chain and UK plc to prosper.”
If we’re really going to change the way railways operate, then we must understand what impact digitisation will have on rolling stock and the rest of the network. Jo Binstead, Head of Innovation, Siemens