A significant workshop took place in Sheffield on 1 October 2024, bringing together over 30 esteemed partners from digital and manufacturing industries. Participants included representatives from leading companies such as Siemens, Leonardo, Dassault, Rolls-Royce, and Deloitte. The event aimed to foster collaboration and knowledge-sharing across academia and industry, addressing the latest developments in data-driven design, artificial intelligence (AI), and manufacturing innovation.
The workshop featured a series of flash talks by the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and DIGIT Lab, University of Exeter, highlighting cutting-edge research on semantic networks, automatic classification for knowledge search, idea generation, large language models (LLMs), and synthetic data. These presentations were delivered by thought leaders, including Scott Herod (AMRC), Karl Johnson, Ji Han, Saeema Ahmed-Kristensen (Exeter DIGIT LAB), and Pingfei Jiang (INDEX, Exeter) The talks emphasised the role of AI in automating complex processes and enhancing knowledge generation.
Leonardo’s contribution focused on the transformative potential of AI and data-driven approaches in their industry. At the same time, AMRC presented their work on synthetic data, underlining its importance in AI training and advanced analytics.
The highlight of the event was a data-driven design workshop led by our Professor Saeema Ahmed-Kristensen. This interactive session provided participants with hands-on experience in applying data-driven design processes, showcasing the power of data in driving innovation across industries.
In conclusion, the workshop at Sheffield demonstrated the profound impact of data science and AI on the future of manufacturing and design. It underscored the importance of collaboration between academic research and industrial expertise. This event continues to push the boundaries of innovation in the digital and manufacturing sectors. The work is funded by DIGIT Lab and a UKRI RinR collaboration between AMRC.
