Issue link: https://htpgraphics.uberflip.com/i/1214361
INNOVATION AND DEPLOYMENTS Each university partner within RAIN has experience of collaborating with industry. However, we recognised early on that bringing in external support would enable everyone in the Hub to maximise their potential. We joined forces with people that have years of experience driving innovation in the nuclear industry. The innovation consultants were tasked with engaging with operators, tier 2 suppliers and SMEs to: • Understand the challenges and opportunities available, to inform our research and allow us to make sure the right people were paired with the right challenge. • Understand how companies were able to engage with the Hub, informing how we can work collaboratively. • Understand what industry does and does not know about the Hub, to inform our communication. Over 15 organisations were contacted and interviewed. Everyone that was spoken to gave highly useful feedback and input. Key positive feedback included comments about our openness and engagement, the working groups, and our efforts to bridge the gap between research and industry. The reputation of our more prominent researchers was also highlighted. Areas for improvement included, highlighting of the breadth of research we are doing and making sure the engagement models are clear to industry. We take all feedback on board, and appreciate the time given by each company for this exercise. FUTURE PLANS We are creating technology briefs to make it clearer which stage of development each piece of technology is at, and how industry could engage with us. We will continue to do more matchmaking with industry and researchers that have the relevant expertise, leading to more research and deployments. The RAIN Hub has supported collaborative proof of concept projects through the expansion scheme. One example of these was work linking Createc with the Oxford Robotics Institute. We funded 4 months of research to adapt Createc's radiation sensor modules so that they could be integrated with mobile robots. This resulted in improved mapping and sensing capabilities for Oxford's robots, and enabled Createc's sensor to be mounted onto multiple platforms. The success of this collaboration has led to an Innovate UK project. We are very open to working collaboratively with industry, and welcome interested parties to get in touch. 24