Digital roadmap to fast-track UK net-zero steel
The roadmap highlights hurdles to digital transformation.
New research identifies the ‘most pressing barriers’ to adopting Industrial Digital Technologies (IDTs) and provides ‘actionable guidance’ on how these barriers can be overcome to achieve decarbonisation of steel in the UK.
It is supported by the InterAct programme, developed by a team of academics from the University of Warwick.
The UK steel industry (comprising over 1,100 companies and contributing £2.3bln to the national economy) is under increasing pressure to reduce its environmental footprint.
While steel can be endlessly recycled, its production remains energy intensive.
InterAct is part of the Made Smarter Innovation initiative and explores how IDTs can be leveraged to support the industry's shift to resource and energy efficiency (REE), with a special focus on overcoming sector-specific adoption challenges.
The result is a seven-layer hierarchical framework that maps the interdependencies between 12 critical barriers – including investment uncertainty, skills shortages, regulatory complexity, and environmental considerations. InterAct claims it provides clear guidance for policymakers.
The research team used a Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) technique complemented with MICMAC analysis.
The team’s findings have been well received at AISTech, the Iron and Steel Technology Conference in the US.
Plans are now underway to publish a dedicated practitioner’s report to further inform industry strategy and support cross-sectoral collaboration.
The methodologies developed through this research are already being applied to other industries, including ceramics and glass, reinforcing the UK's leadership in industrial sustainability innovation.
InterAct is a Made Smarter Innovation-funded, Economic and Social Research Council-led network that brought together economic and social scientists, UK manufacturers, policymakers, and digital technology providers to address the human issues resulting from the diffusion of new technologies in industry.
The Network recently received additional funding, totalling almost £1mln, aimed at supporting UK Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with the effective adoption of new industrial digital technologies (IDTs) to improve sustainability in the manufacturing sector.
‘This is the first empirical analysis of its kind to map the causal relationships between barriers to IDT adoption,’ said Dr. Aitana Uclés Fuensanta, the project’s lead researcher. ‘Our insights will enable stakeholders to prioritise action, share best practices, and drive meaningful progress toward net zero.’
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