Project complete October 2021
Project brief: This project will deliver a new dedicated skills facility. The Digi-Tech Factory will provide a modern, industry-standard and efficient environment to meet the skills shortages within the digital sector. It will underpin the training of students in industries, such as engineering and construction, where digital skills are increasingly vital. It also recognises that Industry 4.0 will require digital skills to be at the heart of driving Norfolk and Suffolk’s economy and enhancing productivity.
The facility will include 12 digital studios for the teaching of digital based learning and 5 e-labs. This will support hands-on application of learning in robotics, machine learning, virtual and augmented reality, hardware and infrastructure engineering and electronics, bringing together digital technology, engineering and design courses. It will be home to a wide range of full and part-time courses, as well as apprenticeship learning, from creative media, to software and programming, and ‘hard’ digital skills relating to networking, infrastructure development, electronics and automated manufacturing. The aim is to create a high-quality learning environment for students that feels more like a professional environment than a classroom.
Its presence will add to the already thriving digital tech sector in Norfolk and Suffolk by supporting the teaching and research of nearly 500 students per year, providing experience opportunities to over 100 apprentices and creating new jobs on campus, as well as providing support to 68 businesses more widely in Norwich, through training of employees or via providing facilities and resources for in career development of staff.
