Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é and Sellafield accelerate nuclear supply chain service-led innovation


A composite image of Sellafield, Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é, and a workshop event

Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é Management School (LUMS) brought together one of the world’s largest nuclear decommissioning sites with technology companies to accelerate the development of new business models in the north-west nuclear supply chain.

The LUMS workshop involved Sellafield, whose decommissioning operation in West Cumbria is among the most complex being undertaken, and both current and prospective SME suppliers.

It formed part of a collaborative Impact Acceleration Account project focused on servitization: the shift from selling products, equipment, or technical capability towards providing services that support customer outcomes and operational performance.

For complex organisations such as Sellafield, this shift creates significant opportunities to advance their mission of becoming “safer sooner”. However, it requires buyers and suppliers to develop a shared understanding of operational needs, risk, commercial conditions, technical capability, and the value created.

The workshop was developed by Professor Andreas Schroeder, Dr Quynh Do, and Professor Kostas Selviaridis, from the Department of Management Science. During its course, suppliers worked through Sellafield’s operational context and priorities before developing propositions linked to service-led and outcome-based opportunities.

Professor Schroeder, Chair in Digital Strategy and Services Innovation in LUMS, said: “The workshop demonstrated the importance of creating the right environment for buyer¨Csupplier learning. When suppliers and large organisations work through needs, constraints, capabilities, and value propositions together, it becomes possible to identify more realistic and more impactful pathways for innovation.

“The aim of the workshop was to support shared learning, identify friction points, and explore how supplier capabilities can be aligned more closely with Sellafield’s needs and mission.

“For the north-west nuclear supply chain, this is a significant opportunity. The region has strong technical capabilities, and the next step is to explore how that can be translated into service-led and outcome-based models that create value for both suppliers and large industrial customers.”

Participants examined customer needs, service propositions, experiment options, and possible pilot pathways. This allowed suppliers to move beyond describing their products or technologies and instead consider how their capabilities could contribute to wider outcomes, such as improved operational effectiveness, asset readiness, and long-term value.

The project reflects Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é’s commitment to supporting impactful research, regional innovation, and collaboration between academia and industry.

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