Bringing together UK SCALE Centre’s academic expertise with the MoD’s operational insight, the collaboration is designed to accelerate innovation and enhance national capability.
Professor Jan Godsell, Director of the UK SCALE Centre, said:
“This collaboration brings together academic insight and real-world defence expertise to tackle critical end-to-end challenges in UK Defence supply chains. In a more contested world, their ability to operate seamlessly from source to front line is fundamental to protecting the UK and sustaining Defence readiness. Through UK SCALE, we are translating research into practical solutions that strengthen decision-making, enhance resilience across the Defence supply base, and deliver real operational advantage.”
The collaboration will focus on areas critical to the future of Defence, including strategic base resilience, digital manufacturing, data and analytics, artificial intelligence, and the energy transition, ensuring research is directly aligned to real-world challenges.
By combining academic insight with operational priorities, the initiative aims to translate research into practical, deployable solutions that strengthen readiness and resilience across Defence supply chains.
Vice Admiral Andy Kyte, Chief of Defence Logistics and Support, Ministry of Defence, said:
“Our partnership with UK SCALE reflects our priority to strengthen Defence’s ability to generate, sustain and adapt at pace in an increasingly complex and contested environment. By bringing together operational insight with leading academic and industrial expertise across Loughborough University, we are harnessing the power of the network. This collaboration represents a whole‑of‑society effort – linking Defence, academia and industry – to strengthen supply chain resilience, accelerate innovation, and turn academic insight into tangible outcomes that directly support warfighting readiness and the protection of the UK.”
Through the collaboration, UK SCALE – based at Loughborough University and part of the MIT Global SCALE Network – will provide access to leading research, facilities and technical expertise. The MoD will contribute operational insight, subject matter expertise and, where appropriate, access to data and environments to ensure outputs are both relevant and impactful.
Professor Dan Parsons, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Loughborough University, added:
“We are delighted to welcome this collaboration with the Ministry of Defence and the UK SCALE Centre. It represents exactly the kind of partnership we value at Loughborough University, bringing together world-class research, real-world challenge, and a shared commitment to delivering impact. By working closely with key defence partners, we can ensure our research and innovation not only advances knowledge, but directly strengthens national security, capability, and resilience in an increasingly complex global environment.”
The collaboration reflects a shared commitment to addressing increasing global complexity and uncertainty, building more resilient, agile and future-ready supply chains that support UK national security.