The Automotive Cluster Accelerator is part of the Made Smarter Innovation | Digital Supply Chain Hub programme. The cluster aims to enable Nissan and its key Supply Chain Partners to collaboratively address real industrial challenges in one of the North-East of England’s biggest supply chain operations. Funding of up to £100,000 is available for UK technology innovators and startups who can develop a challenge focused minimum viable product (MVP) solution.
Digital Catapult, as delivery partner, will facilitate and guide the partnerships between Nissan, its Supply Chain Partners and the tech innovators. Solution providers based in the UK are encouraged to choose a challenge aligned with their expertise and apply by 23:59 on Sunday 28 September 2025.
Accelerator Background
Supply chains facilitate the flow of information, materials, and money between members in that supply chain, and collaboration is key to enabling this. For collaboration to happen, supply chain members need to coalesce around use cases that deliver value to all participants.
The Automotive Cluster Accelerator, led by Nissan as the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), and bringing together its key Supply Chain Partners – Vantec and Treves. Collectively they are looking to address real operational challenges related to inbound logistics, packaging visibility, and supply chain disruption management.
This automotive cluster is focused on solving problems related to the flow of returnable packaging and inbound deliveries. A lack of timely, accurate information can lead to shipment delays, excess packaging production, inefficient scheduling, and missed operational windows. The overarching aim is to improve visibility, forecasting, and responsiveness across the shared supply chain loop. This will be achieved using deep tech solutions to reduce friction, increase reliability, and enable smarter operational planning.
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- Applicants must be a UK based registered company, or prove they have an establishment in the UK and undertake the majority of their activity in the UK.
- Tech providers that focus on innovative digital solutions which can be applied to any of the above challenge areas
- Tech providers that specialise in supply chain logistic technology that can provide visibility, capture and/or solutions facing the supply and return loop
- Tech providers must have strong technical teams and appropriate knowledge and ability to build an MVP against the chosen challenge brief.
- Applicants who are eligible to receive up to £100,000 in Special Drawing Rights/De Minimis Aid
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Challenge 1: Real-time analysis of packaging supply chain disruptions, in collaboration with Nissan
Nissan UK seek to develop a digital tool that captures and consolidates relevant packaging data, enabling users to visualise, explore, and analyse the data in real time. The tool should help identify anomalies or disruptions across the returnable packaging flow, such as late returns, inconsistent usage, or unexpected bottlenecks. It should also support users in acting on root causes rather than simply reacting to symptoms. The end goal is to reduce the time spent manually analysing data and improve the accuracy and speed of decisions relating to packaging movement, returns, and availability.
Challenge 2: Predictive flow tool for inbound deliveries, in collaboration with VANTEC
VANTEC seek to develop a digital solution that can use available data (such as ASNs) to predict the flow of inbound deliveries to Vantec’s warehouse operations. The tool should support operational planning, such as door slot scheduling, resource allocation, and storage space, by forecasting when goods will arrive and in what format. The solution should be designed to work with varying data quality and formats and be compatible with Vantec’s existing systems, with potential scalability across the wider supply chain.
Challenge 3: Visibility of return packaging shipments, in collaboration with Trèves
Trèves seek to develop a digital tool or interface that enables Trèves to view and track packaging being shipped back from Nissan, improving the efficiency of the packaging supply and return loop. Ideally, this will include:
- When the packaging is being returned
- How much is being returned
- What type of packaging is being returned
The tool needs to integrate with Nissan’s Supply Chain Collaboration system and be accessible to Trèves and potentially other Supply Chain Partners. This will enable the supplier to have visibility of the inbound packaging, improve planning, avoid delays, and reduce waste.
For full details of each challenge, visit the Digital Catapult website at the link below.
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- Funding – £100,000 in grant funding to develop a challenge focused MVP and supporting material within the timeframe of the project
- Industry partnerships – Build and expand relationships across key stakeholders within the UK’s automotive sector and North-East of England, working closely with Nissan and its supply chain partners
- Technical mentorship – Access to Digital Catapult’s technical experts to support solution development and push the boundaries of the art-of-the-possible, including systems architecture, security, and integration advice
- Validation & visibility – Develop use cases to showcase the practical business benefits of the solution within supply chains and to promote adoption beyond the initial project scope
- Other benefits – Networking opportunities, peer-to-peer learning and the opportunity to pitch the solution at the accelerator showcase event in 2026
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If you have any questions relating to the accelerator, you can speak to the Digital Catapult team directly by booking a call. Drop-in Q&A sessions are on 18, 19, 25 and 26 September.