National Materials Innovation Strategy

Keynote summary:

The Henry Royce Institute, the UK’s national institute for advanced materials research and innovation, identified the need for a unified approach across government, industry, and the materials community to drive research into practical solutions. Materials development poses unique challenges as it spans multiple research disciplines, supply chains and industries before reaching commercial viability. Previous attempts at cohesion have often focused narrowly on specific sectors or capabilities, overlooking the complex interconnections between different research, industry and policy goals.

This talk will describe the development of a strategy which is different – it addresses the critical weaknesses in the lengthy and expensive commercialisation cycles of all material classes. It has been designed to break down the barriers between sectors and research, development and commercialisation activities – creating coherency and accelerating the materials development cycle. Fundamentally, it is driven by its mission to create an effective and integrated materials sector that serves all of the UK’s industrial growth.

The strategy:

• Presents a vision for an economy transformed by materials innovation over the next 10 years.
• Affirms the materials sector as the heart of UK industrial growth.
• Does not pick specific technology solutions to pursue but identifies opportunities for transformational innovations with the potential for global impact.
• Establishes an approach for creating an agile, responsive sector that adapts and delivers to emergent opportunities.
• Advocates for the wider activities needed to create an effective innovation environment for the materials community.