Challenge Area: Materials 4.0

In July 2021, Royce launched four new landscape reports to explore the common digitalisation barriers facing the materials community, with the aim of enabling discussion and progress towards Materials 4.0. This activity built upon the development of a concept submitted to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s (EPSRC) Big Ideas Programme, which sought to gather ambitious and transformative ideas from across the research community.

The main outcome of the Materials 4.0 Big Idea process was the identification of several key barriers to the development and adoption of Materials 4.0, including digital security and trust, digital standards, laboratory automation, and image storage and sharing. In response, the suite of landscaping reports set out specific actions that would contribute to the delivery of a more digital-first approach to materials science.

A core recommendation from this work was the establishment of a national coordinating body to examine the current state of digital materials science and to articulate the needs of the materials community, particularly in relation to skills, education and training, engagement with other strategic national programmes, and interaction with government. This recommendation has since been realised through the formation of the National Materials Innovation Steering Group for Materials 4.0, which provides strategic leadership and coordination across academia, industry and government to accelerate progress in this area.

Alongside this, Royce has now published an Outline National Framework for Materials 4.0, providing, for the first time, a shared definition, structure and common language to guide the UK materials community through the transition to a fully digitally enabled materials ecosystem. Developed through extensive stakeholder interviews, a nationwide review of Materials 4.0 activity and international benchmarking, the framework establishes a coherent foundation for aligning research, industry and government around the digital transformation of materials innovation.

The framework defines Materials 4.0 as the shift toward a digitally empowered materials sector, centred on an integrated materials informatics ecosystem that connects advanced modelling, high-quality data, artificial intelligence and machine learning, in silico experimentation, manufacturing informatics and life-cycle and circular-economy simulation. It organises Materials 4.0 into two interconnected components: materials processes, which describe the physical journey of materials across their lifecycle, and digital elements, which represent the cross-cutting data, infrastructure and digital capabilities that enable seamless data flow across this journey. Together, these elements aim to compress development timelines, optimise resource use, reduce waste and strengthen UK manufacturing resilience.

The framework also highlights a set of strategic exemplar applications, including battery materials, composites for wind turbine blades, sustainable packaging, functional polymers, and steels for nuclear applications, to demonstrate how coordinated digital innovation can accelerate UK leadership in clean energy, sustainable manufacturing and advanced engineering. As a core cross-cutting theme of the Royce-facilitated National Materials Innovation Strategy, the Materials 4.0 Framework complements wider national priorities, including the UK Government’s AI for Science Strategy, and marks an important step towards a coordinated, data-driven future for materials research and innovation.

In February 2021 Royce commissioned three reports into the state-of-the-art position in three key challenge areas, or barriers, to the successful development and implementation of Materials 4.0 technologies.

The chosen barriers are Data Security, Materials Data Standards, and Lab Robotics. These were chosen as a result of reviewing previous community engagement activities and reconfirmed during the development of the Materials 4.0 ‘Big Idea’ for submission to the EPSRC. The reports have been paired with a community questionnaire and were released in Summer 2021.