Boost for aerospace industry
Business Minister Anna Soubry yersterday opened new cutting edge research facilities in Coventry. Whilst opening the Aerospace Research Centre and National Centre for Net Shape and Additive Manufacturing (commonly referred to as 3D printing) she announced four research projects, which are jointly funded by industry and government. Anna Soubry also announced the launch of a new £10 million competition to find game-changing aerospace technologies, aimed at small firms. This will open for bids next week and is being run by Innovate UK.
The Minister said: "Government and industry are working together to keep Britain at the forefront of the global aerospace market. [...] Demand for new aircraft is at record levels - around 45,000 new aircraft and 40,000 helicopters are needed between now and 2032, worth over $5 trillion. This will provide billions of pounds of work to the UK economy given our leading capability in wings, engines, helicopters, advanced systems and services."
The Aerospace Research Centre and National Centre for Net Shape and Additive Manufacturing are jointly funded by government and industry, and were announced by the Chancellor in January 2014.Both have each received £15 million government investment.
The aerospace centre will allow companies to develop new materials such as lightweight carbon fibre for use in planes, jet engines and civil helicopters. The 3D printing centre will develop new products for aero-engines and aircraft landing gear, as well as automotive and medical devices.
The 4 projects announced today are receiving funding from the joint government and industry £2.1 billion commitment for aerospace R&D, guided by the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI). The projects are:
- £7.2 million for Airbus to research ways to remove imperfections on wing surfaces which cause drag – making them ‘slippery’
- £5 million for 5 partners, led by Meggitt, to research how pioneering technologies, such as the Internet of Things, can be applied to aircraft factory production
- £6.4 million for Spirit AeroSystems, the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and Aeromet to research advanced automated assembly technologies – a factory of the future - to improve the cost competitiveness of the UK supply chain.
- £4.4 million to support UTC Aerospace Systems, working with the AMRC, to set up production lines to manufacture high volume, low cost advanced composite products
Innovate UK’s HITEA 3 (Highly Innovative Technology Enablers in Aerospace 3) competition is a £10 million funding pot to support innovative, novel ideas in aerospace technology to take off and move from research to commercial application. It is primarily aimed at small and medium-sized enterprise, academia and research and technology organisations.
