West Midland universities to play a key role in new TIC

WEST Midland universities are to play a key role in the Government’s first Technology and Innovation Centre it was announced today.

WMG at Warwick University and Coventry’s Manufacturing Technology Centre – a joint operation between universities in Birmingham, Loughborough and Nottingham, together with former welding institiute TWI – will provide a major input into the new TIC, which is focused on High Value Manufacturing.

The Technology Strategy Board will be investing £140m over the next six years with the aim of stimulating manufacturing in the UK, reducing the risk of innovation for new and established UK manufacturing businesses and attracting international business to the UK.
 
The HVM TIC is part of the Government’s plan to grow the UK economy. The new centre will be the first of at least six to be established by April 2013.  
 
The centre will capitalise on existing expertise and facilities at seven leading research facilities which in addition to Warwick and Coventry include: the Advanced Forming Research Centre (University of Strathclyde); Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (University of Sheffield); Centre for Process Innovation (Wilton & Sedgefield); National Composites Centre (University of Bristol) and Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (University of Manchester and Sheffield).

The TIC is designed to support a number of different industries including pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, food & beverages, healthcare, aerospace, automotive, energy, chemicals and electronics.
 
It will commercialise business-led research and innovation that will help UK manufacturing businesses become more competitive on a world stage. As well as receiving funding from the Technology Strategy Board, direct contracts with UK business will form a significant part of the overall funding for the centre. The centre will also target Research and Development grants and EU funding.
 
Iain Gray, chief executive of the Technology Strategy Board, said: “High value manufacturing is a priority for the Technology Strategy Board. The future of manufacturing in the UK needs to be high value, delivering strong financial performance, strategic importance, and positive social impact.

“The UK has some of the best manufacturing businesses in the world, the industry accounts for 12% of GDP, around half of exports and in 2010 employed 2.5m people in the UK.

“The new centre will help UK businesses stay at the leading edge of manufacturing technology and create and protect jobs long into the future.”
 
Business Secretary Vince Cable said the Government was committed to supporting the manufacturing sector because of the long-term growth prospects it offered.

“We are assisting manufacturing companies and their supply chains directly through the Regional Growth Fund and other schemes and supporting them to build strong businesses via our commitments to apprenticeships and fostering technology,” he said.
 
“We are also challenging the perceptions of what it is like to work in manufacturing and seeking to raise the status and profile of engineering.”