The importance of advanced materials as one of the UK's “eight great technologies” for future growth is discussed by Professor Bill O’Neill in a series which focuses on research into advanced materials across the University of Cambridge.

Professor O’Neill, Director of the Centre for Industrial Photonics, and Professor Mark Blamire, the head of the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, have co-authored an article on how research in Cambridge is helping to advance the material world.

In the article, they say the scientific and technological importance of materials has not been widely appreciated in the past century and the term ‘advanced materials’ was coined only comparatively recently.

But the economic importance of advanced materials was recently highlighted in a key Government statement as one of the “eight great technologies” crucial for the UK’s future success.

UK businesses that produce and process materials are essential to the UK economy. They employ over 2.6 million people, and represent 11% of the country’s gross value added (GVA) with a turnover of £140 billion per annum and exports valued at £46 billion in 2013.

To read the full article visit here.

Picture credit: James Dolan