Reimagining materials and manufacturing together

Now is the time to reimagine manufacturing together. The UK has clear potential to become a world-class destination of choice for advanced low-carbon manufacturing.

Materials and manufacturing play a vital role in the UK economy through driving innovation, exports, job creation, productivity and growth. These sectors must also adjust to meet climate change targets, adopt new technologies and adapt to changing customer demands.

Innovate UK’s 2050 vision document is a re-imagination of materials and manufacturing together. It’s a document that delves into the challenges and opportunities that lie in front of the UK materials and manufacturing sectors in the coming decades.

With more than 170 recent references analysed and more than 120 stakeholders consulted, this is one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind.

Key findings

To be internationally competitive we see that there are three strategic imperatives.
Adaptability

Net zero and resource efficient

To understand and minimise the environmental impact across the full operation and whole product lifecycle.

Experimentation

Resilient and responsive

To mitigate risks from critical supply, national/global disruption and climate change therefore becoming increasingly resilient.

Collaboration

Technologically advanced and digital

To adopt digital and advanced technology to improve efficiency, visibility across supply chains and apply novel business models.

Feedback

If you would like to offer feedback to help us further shape and inform the UK Material and Manufacturing Vision 2050, please use our feedback form to submit your comments.

Impact Stories

Explore a selection of successful projects supported by the Innovate UK’s Materials and Manufacturing team, including those funded under the NICER programme.

Our Experts

Related programmes

Resource Efficiency for Materials and Manufacturing (REforMM)

Resource Efficiency for Materials and Manufacturing (REforMM)

The programme aims for the UK to be a leader in resource efficiency with organisations understanding the environmental, social and economic impact of the full lifecycle and thriving from adoption of resource efficient solutions which are fundamental to UK and global Net Zero ambitions.

Sustainable bio-based Materials and Manufacture (SusBioMM)

Sustainable bio-based Materials and Manufacture (SusBioMM)

The sustainable bio-based materials and manufacture (SusBioMM) programme seeks to address the challenge of developing innovations in sustainable and scalable biomanufacturing processes.

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