27 Apr 2022

Enabling a National Cyber-Physical Infrastructure Consultation | Briefing Video Recordings | techUK and BEIS

Enabling a National Cyber-Physical Infrastructure to Catalyse Innovation

Enabling a National Cyber-Physical Infrastructure to Catalyse Innovation

Understanding the opportunities for connected digital twins and other advanced cyber-physical systems

 

As part of our digital twin programme,  we held two focussed sessions in collaboration with the team in BEIS on their consultation on a national Cyber-Physical Infrastructure

On 1 April we held a briefing session on Security and Resilience and People and Culture. 

Security and Resilience

This theme examines how secure and resilient systems will underpin Cyber-Physical Infrastructure.

Risks and Challenges

  • Increased connection, automation and data availability can give hostile actors greater insights and potential impact
  • Increased risk of cascading failures from more connected systems
  • Technical systems requirements will be needed for secure and resilient systems (e.g. autonomous monitoring, fail safe mechanisms and partitioning)

Questions

  1. Increasingly connected cyber-physical systems
  • What are the greatest security risks?
  • What are the greatest resilience risks, including cascading failures?
  • What should industry, academia, government and wider society do to address these?
  1. Greater automation across cyber-physical systems
  • What are the greatest risks and benefits of increased automation?
  • What should industry, academia , government and wider society do to address these?

People and Culture

This theme examines how people engage with cyber-physical systems and the socio-technical challenges involved.

Challenges

  • CPI will require a broad range of roles (e.g. developers, operators, business implementation, end-users)
  • Skills may include data modelling, business analysis, commercial, analytics and intelligence
  • Digital and data skills are already in high demand (greater than supply)
  • Business models will need to change to adopt cyber-physical systems

Questions

  1. Technical and non-technical skills requirements
  • What are the greatest unfulfilled technical and non-technical skill requirements for developing, implementing and utilising cyber-physical systems?
  • What should industry, academia, government and wider society do to address these?
  1. Business models
  • How will businesses models need to adapt to adopt these systems and CPI - and what will be the greatest barriers?
  • What should industry, academia, government and wider society do to address these?

 

On 12 April we held a briefing on Connection and Interoperability and Sustainable Markets 


Connection and Interoperability

  1. What are your current approaches to connecting cyber-physical systems (e.g. bespoke integration, conformance to industry standards, use of single-provider solutions, shared/common architectures and interfaces with partners etc.)?
  2. What value and risks do you see in greater interoperability and sharing of data between your and/or your partners’ cyber-physical systems, and for what purposes?
  3. What are the current barriers to greater interoperability and data sharing between your and other organisations’ cyber-physical systems?
  4. What are specific examples of data that you need but can’t access?
  5. Where and how are government, industry and academia best placed to help overcome these?


Sustainable Markets 
Cyber-Physical Infrastructure will need to be commercially sustainable and well-functioning technology and data markets will be critical to this.

  1. What are the specific challenges you face to securing investment to develop, procure or implement cyber-physical systems (investment from within your own organisation or from external funding sources)?
  2. Where and how are government, industry and academia best placed to help overcome these?
  3. What are the specific barriers you face to developing, procuring and adopting cyber-physical systems?
  4. Where and how are government, industry and academia best placed to help overcome these?

 

techUK will be collecting members' views on this consultation and submitting an official response. 
The full consultation document could be found here. 

 

Teodora Kaneva

Teodora Kaneva

Head of Smart Infrastructure and Systems, techUK

Teodora’s rich background varies from working in business development for a renewable energy lobbying association in Brussels to the fast moving technology innovation startup scene in the UK.

She has designed the market strategy for a German renewable energy engineering scale up for the UK, listed on Nasdaq private market, and now one of the fastest growing scale ups in the world. Previous experience also includes managing a renewable energy startup in London, which has built a small-scale biomass CHP power plant. Teodora is passionate about cross-industry collaboration and working together with academia to inform the design of future educational models and skill building.

Most recently Teodora has ran the commercial activities and business development at Future Cities Catapult, focusing on innovation in cities, digital health and wellbeing, mobility, and infrastructure. Teodora is a passionate STEM Ambassador and a vocal advocate for women in tech.

Email:
[email protected]
Phone:
020 7331 2016
Twitter:
@Teodora_K
Website:
www.techuk.org
LinkedIn:
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/teodora-k-2969b021

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