Digital innovation in product safety - RAF107/2223 - a scoping study

***** THIS IS AN AWARD NOTICE, NOT A CALL FOR COMPETITION *****

This procurement is being concluded following a Open Tender as advertised on Contact Finder.

Brief Description of Requirement

Digital technologies such as digital twins are becoming more prevalent and integrated into everyday life. The conventional application of a digital twin is used for high cost, low volume assets such as aircraft engines and submarines, however recently the technology is being developed and integrated into lower cost, high volume assets that fall within the consumer product space - an example being EV batteries and chargers.

The aim of this research is to strengthen our knowledge and understanding of digital twins and other relevant digital innovations including how we should position ourselves in order to maximise the benefits and opportunities of this technology, such as enhancing consumer safety and/or reduce regulatory burdens on businesses (e.g. with product testing). The research should also examine commercialisation of this technology in the consumer product sector and forecast the direction it will take over the next few years.

The study should identify current trends and the latest developments in digital innovations/twins through conducting a literature review and consulting experts. The review should cover the associated costs, efficacy, opportunities, barriers and challenges in addition to how the technology is applied to other sectors to explore its transferability to the consumer product sector. It should also consider impacts it could have on processes of bringing products to market and if there's a risk to current testing and conformity assessments if novel methods are adopted. An example being that if having a digital twin or other innovations meant that you could possibly relax some of the upfront testing or make it easier and cheaper to test products (for e.g. the National Physical Laboratory project on creating a digital test bed for face masks [1]), where this could also be used to demonstrate product compliance.

[1] https://www.npl.co.uk/news/npl-creates-digital-test-bed-for-face-masks

The project will involve conducting a literature review to scope out primarily the digital twin domain against OPSS' remit and areas of responsibility (with a focus on product safety & testing) and to understand what is currently out there in the low-cost, high-volume asset domain.

The review should cover all novel and advanced areas of digital twins/innovations in the consumer products space. This will cover technical details, how they work in practice, opportunities it provides, associated costs/resources, efficacy, and barriers to implementation. It is important to note that the research should not rule out exploring technologies applied to other sectors which may be more developed. This will be important as it will capture any transferable knowledge/information that can be applied cross-sector.