This ABACUS project is directly aligned with the research challenge of preserving the value of products at end-of-life and keeping them in productive use for longer. The consortium is led by Jaguar Land Rover and includes G+P Batteries, Potenza Technology and the University of Warwick – WMG. The ABACUS project aims to achieve a waste stream reduction of 50%-70% through new business models and new innovative approaches to battery system design that (a) support the in-service life of the battery and (b) extend its productive life beyond first vehicle installation. The project will define the complete value chain for the battery. It will identify key breakpoints, for example when it is economical to service, test, recover, remanufacture and redeploy the battery. The project will address the strategic need for accurate and easily obtained data for driving commercial decisions that are economically viable and environmentally sustainable. For the first time, strategic circular economy principles such as prevention, modularity, re-purposing and re-manufacture will be embedded with traditional automotive targets for reduced product cost, weight and volume.

Lightweight crash management systems are of increasing importance for most forms of ground transport. Automotive OEMs like JLR have advanced aluminium automotive body designs but still depend on steel for bumper beams. For rail applications steel based crash systems predominate. Constellium has developed considerably stronger extrusion alloys based on the AA6xxx alloy system that are fully recycling compatible with the sheet used for automotive structures and body panels. Brunel University has developed alloys and casting technologies that enable extrusions and castings to be combined in novel ways to produce a new generation of compact lightweight crash management systems. The envisaged work programme will include a high strength alloy being combined with casting alloys using overcasting techniques and the use of bonded and riveted joints to demonstrate the potential for both increased crash resistance and weight saving. The project will demonstrate and evaluate optimised designs for crash management systems for both automotive and rail transport.

Horizon will tackle the challenge of harnessing the power of ubiquitous computing for the digital economy in a way that is acceptable to our society and increases the quality of life for all. This will involve establishing a world-leading and sustainable centre of excellence for research and knowledge transfer for the ubiquitous digital economy. Horizon will conduct a five-year programme of research into the key scientific challenges involved in the widespread adoption of ubiquitous computing; collaborate with users to create, demonstrate and study next generation services; deliver a knowledge transfer programme that ensures that the results of our research are fully connected to the digital economy; train a new generation of researchers to meet the demands of industry for skilled interdisciplinary staff; engage with policy makers and the wider public in order to address societal concerns; and provide a focal point for international, national and regional research in this area.Horizon will exploit the distinctive nature of hub funding to develop a unique approach to this challenge. Our Collaborative Research Programme will be driven by the overarching concept of a lifelong contextual footprint, the idea that each of us throughout our lifetimes will lay down a digital trail that captures our patterns of interaction with digital services. Our research will explore the major infrastructural, human and business challenges associated with this concept, adopting a unique multidisciplinary approach that integrates insights from computer science, psychology, sociology, business, economics and the arts and humanities. We will collaborate with over 30 users from different sectors of the Digital Economy in order to create, deploy and study a series of next generation services 'in the wild' so as to drive our underlying research. We will initially focus on the creative industries and transportation sectors, but subsequently extend our focus to additional sectors in partnership with other hubs and major initiatives. In parallel, our Transformation Programme will drive knowledge transfer and long-term economic impact through partnership management, public engagement, international outreach, incubation of new ventures, the transfer of people, and training for 24 associated PhD students, funded by the University.Our team draws on leading groups at Nottingham spanning computer science, engineering, business, psychology and sociology, complemented by expertise at two spokes: distributed systems and communications at Cambridge, and mathematical modelling and advertising at Reading. A series of further mini-spokes will enable us to introduce other key individuals through hub fellowships.These multiple disciplines and partners will be brought together in a new centre at Nottingham where they will be able to engage with a critical-mass cohort of research staff and students to explore innovative and challenging new projects. The Hub will be directed by Professor Derek McAuley who brings extensive experience of working in academia, directing major industrial research laboratories, and also launching spin-out companies. He will be supported by Professor Tom Rodden, an EPSRC Senior Research Fellow who previously directed the Equator IRC. The net result will be a unique partnership between EPSRC, industry, the public, and the University, with the latter committing 16M of its own funds to match the 12M requested from EPSRC.

Jaguar Land Rover requires the development of cutting-edge electrified propulsion technologies to remain globally competitive. This aligns to the strategy for all new Jaguar Land Rover models to have an electrified option from 2020\. Jaguar Land Rover has created a consortium of world-class academic and industry partners to create a state-of-the-art highly integrated "High Voltage Integrated Battery Electronics System" (Hi-VIBES). The Hi-VIBES unit will be used to control Jaguar Land Rover's future BEV traction batteries, including power and thermal management, 2--way charging (V2G), and interfacing to the vehicle's 12V power supply systems. The Hi-VIBES unit will offer significant cost, weight and package benefits versus current industry solutions through its high level of integration, and will introduce innovative features such as 2-way charging, allowing the traction battery to dissipate power back into the grid during peak demand periods. To deliver this exciting project, Jaguar and Rover has assembled a consortium of UK based world-class experts including: **Industrial partners:** Lyra Electronics -- A UK based SME will lead in key areas of design and analysis, building on significant cutting-edge experience in the field of power electronics. Pektron -- A UK based electronics manufacturer and tier 1 OEM supplier will bring manufacturing expertise to the team, supplying prototypes and ensuring a design that is highly orientated towards efficient and modular mass production in high volume. **Academic partners:** Nottingham University will apply their world-renowned expertise in electronics to support the creation and analysis of the overall design concept. **Jaguar Land Rover** will provide overall coordination including futured target setting, software development, and lead integration of the unit into the Jaguar Land Rover family of vehicles. Successful execution of the project will result in significant opportunities for UK production sourcing to sustain and drive new jobs growth in the UK electronics industry during the critical transition period from conventional ICE to electrified powertrains. Hi-VIBES will also drive significant growth in electronic system design and manufacturing capability within the partnership and will provide the consortium partners with a competitive edge to create UK intellectual property (IP); a strong UK supply chain; and downstream exploitation opportunities in adjacent fields. The creation of the Hi-VIBES unit will cement Jaguar Land Rover's position as a provider of world class electric vehicles, evidenced through the recent Jaguar I-PACE triple award of "2019 World car of the year"; "World car design of the year, and "World car green award".

EPSRC's EngD was successfully modernised by WMG in 2011 with radical ideas on how high-level skills should be implemented to address the future needs of manufacturing companies within the UK and globally. In a continual rise to the challenge of a low environmental impact future, our new proposed Centre goes a step further, delivering a future generation of manufacturing business leaders with high level know-how and research experience that is essential to compete in a global environment defined by high impact and low carbon. Our proposed Centre spans the area of Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing. It will cover a wide remit of activity necessary to bring about long term real world manufacturing impacts in critical UK industries. We will focus upon novel research areas including the harnessing of biotechnology in manufacturing, sustainable chemistry, resource efficient manufacturing and high tech, low resource approaches to manufacturing. We will also develop innovative production processes that allow new feedstocks to be utilised, facilitate dematerialisation and light weighting of existing approaches or enable new products to be made. Research will be carried into areas including novel production technologies, additive layer manufacturing, net shape and near-net shape manufacturing. We will further deliver materials technologies that allow the substitution of traditional materials with novel and sustainable alternatives or enable the utilisation of materials with greater efficiency in current systems. We will also focus upon reducing the inputs (e.g. energy and water) and impacting outputs (e.g. CO2 and effluents) through innovative process and product design and value recovery from wastes. Industry recognises there is an increasing and time-critical need to turn away from using non-sustainable manufacturing feed-stocks and soon we will need to move from using processes that are perceived publically, and known scientifically, to be environmentally detrimental if we are to sustain land/water resources and reduce our carbon footprint. To achieve this, UK PLC needs to be more efficient with its resources, developing a more closed-loop approach to resource use in manufacturing whilst reducing the environmental impact of associated manufacturing processes. We will need to train a whole new generation of doctoral level students capable of working across discipline and cultural boundaries who, whilst working with industry on relevant TRL 1-5 research, can bring about these long term changes. Our Centre will address industrially challenging issues that enable individuals and their sponsoring companies to develop and implement effective low environmental impact solutions that benefit the 'bottom line'. Research achievements and enhanced skills capabilities in Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing will help insure businesses against uncertainty in the supply of materials and price volatility in global markets and enable them to use their commitment to competitively differentiate themselves.