Knowledge Centre

Preparing the workforce to deliver resilient, efficient and decarbonised networks

As the UK accelerates towards its ambitions for decarbonisation and resilient infrastructure, emerging technologies, such as quantum computing, are expected to play an increasingly important role across Energy, Telecoms and Transport. However, unlocking this potential is not just a technology challenge—it is a workforce challenge.

Six AI research teams completed the final stage of the TMF AI ICURe programmes and are now moving towards spin-out and investment readiness. The programmes, which ran across 2025/26 and finished at the end of March, supported researchers through every stage of the commercialisation pathway, from first exposure to market thinking through to investment preparation. Funded through the UKRI Technology Missions Fund, they were among the first to establish a clear route from UKRI Research Council funding into the Innovate UK ICURe programme, enabling teams to build on earlier research support and, in time, access wider Innovate UK support. Developing these pathways is a key focus of the ICURe strategy.

This online workshop brings together stakeholders from industry, academia, research organisations, supply chains, and government to help shape the opportunity.

Climbing Turn is a UK-based micro agency specialising in software, website, and app development, with expertise in design, UX, and marketing. Since its founding in 2009, the company has evolved from website development for clients across retail, manufacturing, and education in both the UK and the US, where it designed websites integrated with product inventories.

Founded in 2022, Planarific is a spin-out from the University of Cambridge developing a spatial intelligence platform for the built environment that makes retrofit planning faster and more energy-efficient. It uses computer vision and AI to process information captured by drones and collected by users, and convert point clouds into high-fidelity, semantically enriched 3D models of buildings.

Cahill Design Consultants is a UK-based acoustic design, fire engineering, and building surveying business, supporting commercial, residential, education, healthcare, and leisure projects across the built and natural environment.

Published in January 2026, the UK Government’s Warm Homes Plan outlines an ambition to upgrade 5 million homes to help cut energy bills and tackle fuel poverty.