Business Secretary Grant Shapps has announced a £95 million boost to develop the super-materials of the future, supporting research and innovation in advanced materials at the Henry Royce Institute, headquartered in Manchester.
The significant cash injection, awarded via the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), cements the UK’s position as world-leader in advanced materials, and follows an initial £258 million government investment made over the course of 5 years.
Advanced materials (including biomaterials, smart materials and nano-engineered materials) possess unique properties enabling superior performance to their traditional counterparts, and are critical in a wide range of industries including health, transport, energy, electronics and utilities.
Activities supported by Royce and backed by government funding, have included 3D bioprinting for healthcare uses such as tissue engineering in regenerative medicine, turning waste materials into sustainable plastics, and new materials to enable quantum technologies.
One project also brought together academia and industry to advance knowledge of how Zirconium alloy insulation can improve the safety and cost-efficiency of highly radioactive fuel used in nuclear reactors as well as reducing their carbon emissions. This technology could be essential to the success of Britain’s future nuclear fleet, which the government aims to ramp up in order to boost energy security and slash bills.
Another project is revolutionising the way the UK’s 35,000 tonnes of annually imported titanium, 90% of which is turned into waste during manufacturing, can be reused to create lightweight alloys used for more efficient vehicles, cutting waste and reducing emissions.
The funding will advance the Institute’s work to support early-stage research in these materials by providing financial backing, access to research facilities, and opportunities for collaboration between businesses and researchers.
Speaking during a visit to the Institute, based at The University of Manchester, the Business Secretary said:
R&D investment is a critical way to turbocharge Britain’s growth. Growing an economy fit for the future means harnessing the full potential of advanced materials, making science fiction a reality by supporting projects from regenerative medicine to robots developing new recycling capabilities, right across the country – including here in the heart of Manchester.
Today’s £95 million investment will do just that, bringing together the brightest minds across our businesses and institutions to help future-proof sectors from healthcare to nuclear energy.
The Royce was formed in 2015 with a £235 million government investment through EPSRC. To date, the Royce has worked with 295 UK SMEs and industry users and facilitated 350 collaborations between academia and industry.
Its mission is to support the growth of globally recognised excellence in UK materials research, accelerating their use in commercial settings and delivering positive, real-world impacts for our society and economy.
Examples of projects supported so far include:
- new fuel cladding for fuel in advanced reactors to improve safety, cost and efficiency
- developing materials needed for quantum computing
- using waste materials from the shellfish industries to develop bioplastics
- an innovative method for manufacturing titanium that greatly uses machining waste
- using computer simulations and robots to accelerate materials discovery in clean energy, sustainable materials and healthcare applications
- the use of 3D bioprinting techniques in the development and manufacture of bioengineered systems and devices for application in Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine, Drug Development and other more traditional areas of healthcare
Advanced Materials and Manufacturing were identified in the government’s Innovation Strategy as 1 of 7 technology families in which the UK has globally competitive R&D and industrial strength.
UK businesses dependent on production or processing of materials, in which advanced materials play a significant role, employ a workforce of 2.5 million (source).
Image: courtesy of https://www.ukri.org/councils/epsrc/
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