Researchers from IfM Fluids in Advanced Manufacturing Group have created a miniature winter scene for this year's IfM Christmas Card. The scene has been created using lasers and inkjet printing and the trees are no bigger than 10mm high. 

Huge congratulations to Ying Wan Loh, a former IfM student, who has been recognised with this prestigious award by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).

Sharing our content and perspectives from the largest manufacturing event in the UK calendar: an opening keynote from Tim Minshall, a series of IfM workshops, and engagement across the manufacturing community. Catch up with what you missed.

Professor Steve Evans, Head of the IfM’s Centre for Industrial Sustainability, gave a keynote talk at the prestigious ‘How to change the world’ conference in London on 28^th November, as part of a stellar line up of speakers including Malcolm Gladwell, Noam Chomsky and Robert Winston.

The IfM Briefing on 'Strategic approaches to digitalisation', held in Liverpool on 12th November, explored how manufacturing companies can use new technologies to underpin their business strategy.

Dr Doroteya Vladimirova and Ian Bamford from the Centre for Industrial Sustainability led a two-day course on Sustainable Value Innovation at the Norwegian Centre of Expertise iKuben in Molde, Norway.

Professor Tim Minshall, Head of the IfM, features in the latest episode of ‘Create the Future’ podcast from The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, alongside materials scientist Dr Anna Ploszajski.

Issue 11 of IfM Review considers how digitalisation is changing manufacturing and how organisations can best develop strategies to respond.

The Innovate Irrigation Challenge, launched this year by AB Sugar in partnership with the IfM and WaterAid, has announced the competition winners.

On Wednesday 16 October, the Cambridge Service Alliance hosted its annual industry day at which keynote speakers from some of the world’s leading companies shared their insights into the challenges and opportunities of developing digitally-enabled service businesses.

The Centre for Industrial Sustainability has joined a partnership with Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and ISQ in Portugal under the umbrella of TRUST aiming to boost research excellence in the area of INDUSTRIAL SUSTAINABILITY.

The IfM were proud to run a pilot scheme for Postdoctoral Awards - the first place in the University to take forward such a scheme. Awards were presented in three categories; Excellence in Teaching, Excellence in Research and Excellence in Academic Citizenship.

The IfM Briefing on ‘Developing Industrial Capabilities’ on 23^rd Sept drew a large audience to hear thought-provoking ideas from leading thinkers and practitioners.

The 'Digital Manufacturing on a Shoestring' open workshop drew in a large audience of SME manufacturers, providers and industry associations to find out how to engage with this radical research project.

Carlos López-Gómez of the IfM's Policy Links Unit delivered a seminar at BEIS for UK government policy makers, on the recommendations of an IfM report into strengthening value chains for economic growth.

This episode explores 'augmented humans', the engineering and ethical challenges of how humans interact with technology, with Dr Thomas Bohné and Dr Karina Vold.

Researchers at the Institute for Manufacturing are working with the Environment Agency to explore the potential use of incentives within environmental regulation.

A recent event organised by the Centre for Industrial Sustainability brought together researchers and business leaders to explore how industrial activities could have a net-positive environmental impact.

Professor Steve Evans, Director of Research of the IfM’s Centre for Industrial Sustainability, has been elected to the prestigious Academia Europaea in its 2019 awards.  

Young leaders from across the UK and Latin America will gather in Cambridge in September to discuss science, policy and innovation for a changing world. IfM's Cristina Rodriguez-Rivero, on the organising committee, explains more.

Issue 10 of IfM Review features work across the IfM, including policy, sustainability, ecommerce, inkjet in advanced manufacturing, intellectual property, and more, with a connecting theme of 'capturing value'.

David Leal-Ayala of IfM's Policy Links Unit delivered a keynote talk at the Global Manufacturing Summit (9-11 July, Yekaterinburg, Russia) on a new report on the Safety and Security Dimensions of Industry 4.0.

An entrepreneurial producer of alternative protein, Protifarm, has been voted as the winner of the IfM’s Open Innovation Forum Spring pitching event, held in London on 26^th June.

The Institute for Manufacturing recently co-hosted an event 'A roadmap to create effective strategic and innovation plans' in Milan, Italy.

Problem Solvers: the IfM podcast. Episode 1: We explore sustainable innovation in the food industry, with Professor Steve Evans and Gary Punter.

The first in a new series of IfM Briefings provided a platform for leading research and industrial case studies on sustainability and security in the global food industry.

The IfM convened a roundtable event for researchers and policy analysts from leading international organisations (the OECD, UNIDO, UNCTAD and World Economic Forum) at Madingley Hall to consider issues for the future manufacturing workforce.

To celebrate International Women in Engineering Day on 23^rd June we asked some of IfM’s brilliant females to tell us about their work and what inspires them about engineering.

New solutions for low-cost automation for SME manufacturers were demonstrated to project partners at the Digital Manufacturing on a Shoestring meeting.

The economic value of manufacturing to the UK is being underestimated in official statistics, potentially by as much as half, according to a new report by Jostein Hauge and Eoin O'Sullivan.

This year’s MET Design Show on 5^th June once again saw an impressive array of creative student inventions on display. 

On 6^th June the IfM threw open its doors to over a hundred collaborators, friends and new connections, to showcase the diversity of work that takes place here.

IfM colleagues discuss how simple technologies are transforming millions of lives each day, how VR is being utilised to safely train staff in some of the most dangerous jobs, and how the latest lasers are being developed to build the cities of the future.

IfM Education and Consultancy Services is part of 'ACCESS', a European project which is bringing together experts and governments around joint challenges to support larger uptake of low carbon grid-related technologies in communities and ‘Smart Cities’.

HCL Technologies officially joined the Cambridge Service Alliance as a gold member during a recent signing ceremony held in Cambridge. 

April's meeting focused on the theme of delivering health and well-being, and was hosted by Walgreens Boots Alliance in Nottingham, with over 60 participants from Forum members. We welcomed three new member companies to the consortium.

Building on the growing momentum around our Digital Manufacturing on a Shoestring initiative for SMEs, a recent workshop explored the possibilities for low-cost digitalisation options for larger companies.

‘Pulsar’ engine was designed and constructed from scratch by Cambridge University Spaceflight (CUSF) students from the Engineering department.

John Reddaway, who has died aged 92, was a Cambridge engineer who introduced what became known as the “Reddaway plan”, a pioneering approach that brought engineering students face-to-face with the practical demands of manufacturing industry and which remains the inspiration for much teaching and training at the IfM today.

In March 2019, a series of IfM-related events were held in Tokyo, Japan to develop mutual learning opportunities between Japan and the UK.

Dr Jag Srai has been appointed as the new Co-Chair of the Cambridge Global Food Security Interdisciplinary Research Centre, replacing Professor Chris Gilligan.

We threw open our doors once again this year for an exciting afternoon for families, with robots, lasers, microscopes and virtual reality.

Tim Minshall provided an enthusiastic keynote at the Business Weekly Awards, celebrating Cambridge's 3Cs - creativity, collaboration and change.

A tour of the IfM included a visit to our robot lab, photonics, and a chance to try out our virtual reality gear.

This well-deserved award for Kate Willsher, IfM ECS's Chief Operations Officer, recognises positive impact in leadership practice and leading teams.

The Future of Open Innovation Practices Day was hosted by the IfM in Cambridge on 13^th February, as the culmination of the EC-funded project Science2Society.

An exciting culmination to an innovation project in Thailand, using a creative approach to upcycling waste products, saw one of the local entrepreneurial teams win a design award.

Scientists Should Spend Time in Industries, Learn Their Problems

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.

IfM and IfM ECS support teams were proud to receive a 2018 University of Cambridge Vice Chancellor’s Professional Services Award; well-earned recognition of the amazing work that goes into making the IfM such a friendly, collaborative and innovative place at which to work and study.

Contribute to the latest research into the digitalisation of roadmapping by taking a survey on the customer perspectives. If you have used roadmapping in your organisation or taken part in roadmapping workshops, we would appreciate your feedback.