Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-06-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to (a) promote and (b) co-ordinate research into the (i) use and (ii) manufacture of (A) steel, (B) glass, (C) plastics, (D) aluminium, (E) titanium and (F) other alloys.
Joseph Johnson
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Innovate UK oversee coordination and promotion of research in these and other areas.
The White Paper, ‘Success as a Knowledge Economy,’ set out the Government’s plans to create UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI will ensure our research and innovation system is sufficiently integrated, strategic and agile to meet current and future challenges and deliver national capability that drives discovery and growth.
EPSRC has a portfolio of over £450m of materials-related research covering the breadth of materials (including the metals/alloys identified, glass and plastics), from fundamental physics to the re-use and remanufacture of advanced new alloys and other materials.
Innovate UK’s Delivery Plan for 2016/17 sets out support through its Manufacturing and Materials Directorate which includes a twice-yearly £15m collaborative research and development fund aimed at both manufacturing and materials.
Innovate UK has also provided over £70m funding to the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, which includes some materials manufacturing and development research, for example materials research at the National Composite Centre (composites and plastics), the Advanced Forming Research Centre (powder metallurgy), the Manufacturing Technology Centre (Additive Layer Manufacturing) and Centre For Process Innovation (polymer research).
The Henry Royce Institute has a work stream in Advanced Materials Processing, and will seek to coordinate the infrastructure supporting UK-based advanced materials research providing national capability.
