UK composites industry receives boost from govt

The Composites Innovation Cluster has been awarded over £11M from the initiative as part of AMSCI Round 2. The Composites Innovation Cluster (CiC) will deliver 13 integrated capability projects across 25 partners from Q1’13 and will aim to deliver a holistic supply chain model which will extend throughout the composites community.

The CiC Project is led by the new Cytec Industrial Materials (Heanor, UK), partnered by Axillium and Composites UK in response to the demand signals of all UK industry sectors. This underlines Cytec’s commitment to the UK’s advanced manufacturing sector and economy. The CiC brings Academics, Suppliers, & Primes together with the endorsement of the National Composites Centre.

The aim is to support the delivery of a nationally connected network of composite knowledge and technology providers to address the market failures facing composites for high value manufacturing applications in the UK. Under the leadership of the partners, the collaborative cluster project will be delivered by materials specialists, manufacturing & process businesses, and tooling & systems providers, all working with academic support from experts in the field.

£22M of joint funding from AMSCI & Industry will support the creation and safeguarding of over 200 jobs and create £190M growth by addressing market failures which challenge the wider adoption of Composites in the UK markets.

Market failures are the availability of composites skills, training & experience in the UK Suppliers & Primes (People), the development of new materials & formats for recyclable, high performance, rapid processing & handling in the manufacturing cycle (Materials) & the automated, high-volume, rapid manufacturing & joining methods of composite structures in volume (Technology).

The CiC brings these challenges together in a collaboration of industrial & academic partners from England with the support of UK Primes to build an intelligent, sustainable, competitive & highly networked UK Composites supply base which will enable the design & manufacture of lightweight vehicles, structures & devices (Knowledge).

Composites UK