Manufacturing Growth: New technologies promise long-term benefits
INNOVATIVE use of new technologies will help to keep the Midlands’ manufacturing industry competitive, sector experts have said.
All this week, TheBusinessDesk.com, in association with DLA Piper and Deloitte is taking an in-depth look at the region’s manufacturing sector and identifying areas of potential growth. Click through to read our other coverage.
While current growth strategies are heavily reliant on traditional sectors such as automotive and aerospace, long term, growth is expected to come in areas such as the development of low carbon technologies, sustainable energy and medtech.
Government recognition of the important role innovative new technologies will have for high value manufacturing has been evidenced by the opening of the first Technology and Innovation Centre.
WMG at Warwick University and Coventry’s Manufacturing Technology Centre – a joint operation between universities in Birmingham, Loughborough and Nottingham, together with former welding institute TWI – will play a leading role in 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 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.
Manufacturers are expected to tap into the resources available to develop cutting edge technologies that can in turn produce pioneering new products capable of being exported around the world.
The newly reconstituted Manufacturing Advisory Service is also expected to take the lead in steering firms towards product development.
David Raistrick, partner and head of manufacturing for the UK and Switzerland at Deloitte, said: “I am incredibly confident about the future – it’s looking bright. We have the skills needed (in greater abundance than many parts of the world), we have established R&D centres in major manufacturers across the UK and we develop technology-advanced products that are in high demand in the rest of the world.”
Meanwhile, Noel Haywood, partner at DLA Piper, said the Prime Minister’s pledge to lead the greenest government to date should open up a wealth of opportunities for manufacturers to innovate and take a lead in the development of new technologies.
“With global demand for low carbon, energy efficient products, it is essential that we act quickly to support pioneering companies or risk losing out as a region and a nation in a fast-moving competitive market,” he said.
