Customer experience is enhanced it two ways, either improving services or resolving problems well. Either case cannot be achieved without engaging customers in innovation. However, for each customer-facing organisation (CFO) the cost and risks of building the necessary IT innovation infrastructure, individually, are considerable barriers. Worse still, such fragmentation is confusing for customers. The project will address these challenges by developing a single UK-wide innovation infrastructure seamlessly connecting customers to any CFO and their supply chain. The project will pilot the infrastructure on a range of CFO projects such as addressing the needs of the visually impaired passenger, better “wayfinding” at stations/platforms, reduction of disruption due to suicide attempts, innovative group ticketing e.g. families, school outings. They also want to develop customer experience enablers and digital assets including social media analysis, journey mapping, digital customer panels, extracting more insights from passenger surveys all of which will allow the industry to achieve a step- change in its ability to improve customer experience through innovation.

The introduction of innovative manufacturing techniques is steadily revolutionising the way we live in the UK and globally. Specifically, the possibility of printing materials and devices (including flexible printed electronics) herald a new era with unparalleled solutions to tackle many global economic and societal challenges, such as personalised healthcare, energy harvesting, information processing and sustainability. Organic semiconductors are a class of lightweight and flexible organic molecules with unprecedented potential for printing electronic devices, such as wearable sensors for personalised health monitoring. The electronic performance of thin films of these molecules critically depends on the degree of their molecular alignment in the deposited patterns. Nonetheless, current printing techniques (e.g., inkjet printing) are limited in the level of alignment that can be realistically achieved while patterning OSC films, thus ultimately hindering the integration of organic semiconductors in devices. In this project, we propose to develop a novel non-contact printing technique capable of improving molecular alignment in thin polymer films and, thus, of boosting the electronic performance of printed organic semiconducting films. Our approach will be based on the contactless transport of tiny droplets containing dissolved organic semiconductor molecules. While moving, these droplets can deposit material on a substrate with a preferential direction, thus enhancing processes of molecular alignment and self-assembly. We envisage that our novel approach to printing organic semiconductors will not only generate fundamental understanding about phenomena of molecular deposition, alignment and self-assembly, but it will also enable us to improve the performance of flexible printed electronics for the development of flexible electronic devices based on organic semiconductors.

Air quality in most East African cities has declined dramatically over the last decades and it air pollution is now the leading environmental risk factor for human health. There is a critical lack of data to assess air quality in East Africa, and therefore to quantify its effect upon human health. Air quality networks in East Africa are still in their early days, with the long term and systematic measurement of air pollutants only available at less than a handful of sites. Large spatial and temporal gaps in data exist. From a historical perspective, very little is known of air pollution concentrations before 2010. The lack of historical data makes it extremely difficult to assess the deleterious effects of air pollution upon human health. It also poses challenges for assessing the efficacy of air quality interventions. Hence informed decisions about infrastructure, which take air quality into account are difficult to make. This proposal forms a new network to co-create strategy and protocols to bring together data that relate to air pollution in East African Urban areas. It targets the capitals of Ethiopia (Addis Ababa), Kenya (Nairobi) and Uganda (Kampala). New data science techniques will be developed to synthesize disparate data streams into spatially and temporally coherent outputs, which can be used to understand historic, contemporary and future air quality. The proposal will provide a road map to harness the power of new data analytics and big data technologies. To design this roadmap, three high intensity workshops and interspersed virtual meetings will be undertaken in Stage 1. Each workshop will tackle a key knowledge gap or development challenge: - Workshop 1: Parameterizing the data problem in East Africa for assessing the causes and effects of air pollution (Kampala) - Workshop 2: Big data approaches to improve East Africa air quality prediction (Addis Ababa) - Workshop 3: Creating greater capacity and capability in analytic air quality science (Nairobi) The Stage 1 research outcomes will enable the development of tailored mitigation strategies for improving air quality. The methodologies developed in the proposal will be translatable and scalable throughout urban East Africa. Hence, the proposal will help realise multiple sustainable development goals (SDGs), including SDG3: Good health and well-being, SDG11: Sustainable cities and communities, and SDG17: Partnerships for the goals. To ensure the project reaches its maximum potential, it includes an extensive array of research translation activities: workshops with academic and non-academic stakeholders; a professionally designed website, which will hold both academic and non-academic outputs including open source academic papers and presentations; briefing notes directed at a range of external stakeholders, including top down governance and bottom up grassroots organizations. Project partners from business, academia, governance and public engagement with science are involved and will attend the workshops. They are Uber, Amazon Web Services, PA Consulting, Kampala Capital City Authority, African Population Health Research Centre, Birmingham Open Media, GCRF Multi-Hazard Urban Disaster Risk Transitions Hub, and the Alan Turing Institute. They offer an additional £102,951 of in-kind contributions to the project. Their incorporation widens the available skillsets and will help deliver long-term impact in the East African region.

The vision for our CDT in Optical Medical Imaging is to train the next generation of entrepreneurs with a "Heart for Science and a Brain for Business". The CDT will focus on a major priority area in applied physical sciences, optical imaging. Optical imaging /sensing is a major technological platform that is now ubiquitous in biomedicine and is rapidly emerging as an efficacious 'point of care' sensing and imaging modality in clinical medicine exemplified by its rapid, economic and high-throughput applicability. The future expansion and dissemination of physical sciences in optical imaging will depend on scientists with both academic and commercial acumen. Therefore alongside excellence of training and supervision in world-leading scientific environments our training program features a bespoke masters course in Healthcare Innovation and Entrepreneurship delivered by the University of Edinburgh Business School and the Hunter Centre (at University of Strathclyde) with the expectation that this unique and formal entrepreneurial training will breed a new generation of physical scientists trained within a clinically focused setting with the ability to fully exploit the UKs research potential in healthcare technologies. Key elements of our CDT are: (i). From outset we will engender 'cohort' cohesiveness. This will be achieved through initial weekend team building activities (including supervisors) at outdoor centres. Specific scientific training will be delivered 'en-bloc' in summer and winter schools and the establishment of 2 virtually-linked physical 'hubs' will allow activities such as a weekly journal club. Furthermore, twice monthly meetings of the entire CDT will ensure efficient communication/networking/collaboration. We will also explore the use of portable communication tools that allow all CDT members immediate communication and sharing of papers and information between the hubs. (ii). PhD in Optical Medical Imaging: "CDT Scholars" will be assigned a supervisory committee comprising at least two supervisors originating from different schools (e.g. physical and medical/clinical), a pastoral mentor and a clinical mentor with the aim of enhancing the level of collaboration and the multi-disciplinary nature of the training. The PhD will encompass taught scientific components alongside week long intensive summer and winter schools to consolidate subject specific training. Scientific excellence is an absolute prerequisite. (iii). CDT Scholars will gain an MSc in Healthcare Innovation and Entrepreneurship: A key aim of our training program is to produce business-ready graduates who are equipped with the skills required to translate their advanced knowledge of physical and clinical sciences into commercial and clinical reality. The cohort of CDT scholars will participate in MSc training encompassing business and entrepreneurship skills; ethical innovation and new idea generation; venture financing; corporate partnering. CDT Scholars will also participate in comprehensive problem-based learning modules and 3-month secondments including placements with regulators, patent attorneys, innovation/incubator centres and companies. (iv). Clinically focused training: "CDT Scholars" will receive generic and bespoke training. Generic training will include comprehensive problem-based learning modules in: Ethics; Regulatory governance; GLP/GMP processes; First-in-man clinical study development delivered by regulatory consultants and active clinicians. Bespoke training/exposure will be provided by clinician mentors aligned to the individual CDT projects who will provide bedside teaching within the adjoining Royal Infirmary. In Summary, this CDT in Optical Medical Imaging will train the 'next generation' of healthcare scientists who will be empowered to gain the maximum impact from their research, commercial ventures, industrial applications and social engagements.

The RBOC (Resilience Beyond Observed Capabilities) Network Plus will create new knowledge, new capabilities and new opportunities for collaboration to help the UK prepare for security threats in the coming decades. The starting point is a scenario of a catastrophic attack on digital and energy networks in the year 2051. RBOC N+ will convene some of the UK's leading experts in engineering, physical sciences, mathematics, health sciences, social and behavioural sciences, arts and humanities, and cross-disciplinary topics such as AI, security studies and urban planning, together with government and industry, to refine, deepen and test this scenario and to use it to create immersive simulations. These simulations will support 'Reverse COBR' workshops, in which government, industry and academia will work back from the scenario's impacts to understand how they developed and what could have been done to prevent and mitigate them. This and other outputs - a flexible research fund, community events, an online platform developed and maintained by a project partner - will develop insights, innovate and create impact in response to possible and likely security threats and capabilities. Insights will come from the network's investigation into what capabilities, techniques and vulnerabilities could be exploited by adversaries to mount high-impact attacks against the UK, and what capabilities could be used by public authorities to prepare for and respond to them. Innovation will come from original research using novel combinations of disciplines and methods, from new relationships between researchers and policy makers and practitioners in government and industry, and from a prototype simulator for modelling the scenario with outputs addressing policy and practice implications, technology requirements and research gaps. Impact will come from the creation of new understanding and capabilities for government and industry to prepare for, respond to, and mitigate the impacts of major attacks from hostile actors through research, academic engagement, cross-sectoral partnerships and a host of technological, organisational, legal and behavioural capabilities ready for practitioner use. RBOC N+ will deliver a simulation toolkit with tools, concepts, definitions, problem spaces and a digital application designed specifically for policy-makers and practitioners. And RBOC's impact will be sustainable: RBOC's demonstrable return on investment will stimulate and support applications for continued funding, through grant applications and direct investment from industry, policy makers and practitioners. RBOC N+ will respond to eight challenge areas, each being an important theme of future security threats or responses. 'Adversary Capabilities' will investigate how the UK's enemies may be able to attack, while 'Our Capabilities' will address how the UK can prepare and respond, particularly through technology. The 'Physical Environment' challenge area will explore how cities will change by the 2050s, and 'Societal Challenges' will address potential developments in the social and political contexts. 'Responding and Decision-Making' will examine organisational and policy responses. 'Data, Information and Communications Infrastructure' will explore developments in enabling digital technologies, infrastructures and resources. To ensure that RBOC and its outputs manage security and ethical risks in ways that maintain trust, the final challenge area addresses 'Responsible Innovation and Trusted Research'.