Results Of The UK's Biggest Ever Composites Collaborative Technical Development Programme To Be Discussion Themes At The Composites Engineering Show 2011

A one year advanced engineering programme initiated by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) is now set to be a highlighted theme setter for industry briefings at the Composites Engineering Show 2011.

The UK is a world leader in many benchmark setting engineering disciplines of the future, not least of which is composites engineering. A great deal of that leadership derives from a national technology strategy that is not just supportive of work underway today but, as importantly, is prepared to invest in programmes to strengthen UK capabilities and to explore wider fields of application for those capabilities: in short, to establish leadership positions in the advanced engineering disciplines of tomorrow. One great example of this in recent times has been the £10 million i-Composites programme of collaborative research and development co-funded by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and 22 programme partners from a variety of market sectors, supply chain positions and scales.

During the year to 31st March 2011, partners in the i-Composites programme pursued research and development programmes across six main, and sometimes overlapping, activity streams in automation, energy reduction, materials, process time reduction, sustainability, and simulation. The overall intention with the i-Composites programme was to accelerate capability maturity across the Technology Readiness Level 3-6 band, from basic research to the point of demonstration using the collaborative nature of the programme to deliver rapid technology capability advances; compressing into 12 months, work that might have otherwise taken years. And although all of the technology developments covered within the programme are rooted firmly in enhancements to current industrial processes, they are still just one step removed from being totally accessible to the composites value chain and hence are providing a very useful starting set of projects for the National Composites Centre (NCC) as they represent the current hot topics in composites within the UK

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Programme partners included GKN Aerospace, leading the project; Bombardier Aerospace with Loop Automation and Kuka; Aircelle; Sigmatex; ACG; EPL Composite Solutions; Frazer Nash; and a dozen more. All have contributed to this powerful expression of UK engineering future-ready excellence, culminating in a presentation to the Composites Grand Challenge in Action event on 20th July 2011 at the newly opened National Composites Centre.

The Technology Strategy Board is now interested in using this Grand Challenge model in other areas of UK industry to stimulate the same sort of coordinated momentum that is evident within the composites sector.

Now, the i-Composites programme technical projects will be taking front stage at The Composites Engineering Show, November 9-10 at the NEC, Birmingham as the themes for individual presentations within the Composites UK Sponsored Industry Briefings.

For further information contact:

Ian Stone, Events Director, Advanced Engineering UK group of events