Working together

Both organisations have been working together for the past 12 months on a pan-European automation project called ROBOTT-NET with partners in Germany and Spain, and as a result of this, the MTC and DTI have signed a ‘letter of intent’ signalling greater collaboration.

Founded in 1906, DTI is one of Europe’s leading Research and Technology Organisations (RTO) with bases in five countries, working across a number of diverse sectors to deliver innovation.

This agreement supports both organisations in expanding their international activities and will see the MTC, based in Coventry, enhance its robotics and automation knowledge.

It is a further boost for the MTC which is driving innovation across a broad range of industrial sectors.

Jeremy Hadall, chief technologist at the MTC, believes the arrangement will be extremely beneficial in developing the MTC’s robotic and automation capability.

“DTI are one of the strongest RTOs in Europe in the robotics field. The intent is for the MTC to do much more with DTI be that on a one-to-one basis or on wider European projects,” said Hadall.

“They have been very successful in developing robotics and automation in Denmark and are participating in the OdenseRobotics and RoboCluster initiatives which seek to bring together organisations researching and developing this technology, to collaborate and strengthen the industry.

“This is a model we could look to try and replicate in the UK, bringing together companies working in robotics to collaborate and develop for the next generation of manufacturing.

“Being close to the DTI and seeing how they have done this will be interesting and informative.”