Professor Sam Turner from the High Value Manufacturing Catapult joined us at the IfM on 11^th February, in the fourth guest talk in our ‘Distinguished Speakers’ series.

Providing an overview of HVMC’s strategic role in the UK manufacturing landscape, Professor Turner shared insights into the importance of providing a bridge between research and industry to commercialise innovation.

He emphasised the contribution of manufacturing in the UK economy, illustrated with a number of headline statistics. Manufacturing makes up 10% of gross value added (GVA) in the UK economy, employs 2.8 million people, and contributes 45% of the UK’s exports.

There is also an excellent research base underpinning UK manufacturing, he explained, with four of the top 10 universities in the world based in the UK. Professor Turner also pointed out that 3% of the world’s spending on research and development happens in the UK. As such, it is vital to capture the value from this outstanding research base.

HVMC, with its network of seven technology and innovation catapult centres and 3,000 engineers around the UK, aims to move research concepts and ideas into commercial reality, and to reduce the risk of innovation. The catapults focus on areas where the UK has inherent strengths.

The centres work with manufacturing businesses of all sizes and across sectors, and provide them with access to equipment, research knowledge and technical expertise. They employ expert engineers, scientists and technicians as well as providing strategic leadership across UK manufacturing, working closely with government (through the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy as well as Innovate UK and UKRI).

In its role between the world of industry and academia, HVMC is already a close partner of the IfM, and Professor Turner was welcomed by an attentive audience who engaged with an interactive question-and-answer session at the end of the talk.

We thank Professor Turner for his talk, and look forward to our ongoing collaboration with HVMC.