The 2022 National Manufacturing Summit featured discussions with industry leaders, experts, influencers, academics and politicians representing all four nations of the United Kingdom
Accelerating a digital manufacturing revolution will be high-powered event focus.
The third annual National Manufacturing Summit will focus on digital manufacturing and how to accelerate a digital revolution to transform the UK economy.
Following on from two successful National Manufacturing Summits, the 2023 event will be an opportunity to set an agenda for the digitalisation of manufacturing, pulling together the UK’s world class manufacturing sectors, the opportunities of emerging technologies, and the need to improve productivity and remain globally competitive.
The summit, hosted by the Coventry-based Manufacturing Technology Centre on March 29 and 30, will be a hybrid event featuring live, face-to-face presentations and discussions as well as an interactive virtual audience. The event is sponsored by Lloyds Bank.
The 2022 National Manufacturing Summit was attended by more than 4,000 delegates, a combination of virtual and in person, who joined in discussions with industry leaders, experts, influencers, academics and politicians representing all four nations of the United Kingdom.
The annual event has grown in importance and influence and is now recognised as a summit of national significance for UK manufacturers, advanced engineering businesses, funders, the supply chain, and government and academic stakeholders. It brings together the many voices of the UK manufacturing industry, setting a framework for the sector to contribute to the national economy based on resilience, innovation, and the reshoring of manufacturing industry.
Prof. Chris White, director of the Industrial Policy Research Centre (IPRC) at Loughborough University, formed in collaboration with the MTC, said the summit was the perfect opportunity for the manufacturing sector to reflect on past achievements, but more importantly to come together to create a vision for the challenges that lie ahead.
“The event will frame the sector’s shared priorities; the agenda will be broad, engaging and interactive covering a wide range of manufacturing issues, but the over-arching theme will be the acceleration of digital manufacturing and the drive for productivity through digitalisation and automation. We will celebrate the resilience of UK manufacturing as well as its ingenuity and diversity, and demonstrate how those qualities, combined with emerging technologies, can enable change for a sustainable future,” he said.
The summit will focus on digital technologies that can enable growth, achieving long-term digital transformation, the skills needed for accelerated adoption of technology and digitally enabling sustainability.
Dave Atkinson, Head of Manufacturing at Lloyds Bank, said: “Manufacturing is a cornerstone of the UK economy and we are proud to support innovation across the industry. It’s an exciting time for the sector, with new technologies paving the way for automation, greater supply chain resilience and opportunities to drive towards net zero.
“As one of the key events of the manufacturing calendar each year, the National Manufacturing Summit will bring together the best of UK manufacturing to share knowledge and celebrate the sector’s diversity. This year it provides a chance to discuss the digital opportunities the industry is facing, as well as the challenges, and help manufacturers to drive growth and productivity.
“We are committed to supporting Britain’s manufacturing businesses through the MTC, having worked in partnership with the Centre for the past eight years to support the training and upskilling of engineers and apprentices into the sector. Recently, we decided to extend this sponsorship until at least 2029, in recognition of the key role the MTC will play in supporting the sector over the coming years.”
The MTC aims to provide a competitive environment to bridge the gap between university-based research and the development of innovative manufacturing solutions, in line with the Government’s manufacturing strategy. The MTC is part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, supported by Innovate UK.
Established to prove innovative manufacturing processes and technologies in an agile environment in partnership with industry, academia and other institutions, the MTC houses some of the most advanced manufacturing equipment in the world, creating a high quality environment for the development and demonstration of new technologies on an industrial scale. This provides a unique opportunity for manufacturers to develop new and innovative processes and technologies.
More information about the National Manufacturing Summit 2023 can be found at https://nmsummit.co.uk/.
