̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Institute for Manufacturing (IfM)

Cambridge's Institute for Manufacturing launches 2025 UK Innovation Report

arc99 — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 09:45:39 +0000

This year’s report analyses the UK’s innovation landscape, by benchmarking industrial sectors against global competitors and delivering key insights into the country’s strengths, challenges, and opportunities.

The report arrives at a particularly significant moment, with the UK Government placing industrial strategy at the core of its plans to deliver growth, emphasising investment, technology adoption, and high-growth sectors.

Recent national consultations on scale-up financing, technology adoption, and industrial strategy have highlighted the demand for stronger data and analysis to guide decision making.

̽��ֱ��UK Innovation Report 2025 addresses this call by providing fresh data, deep insights, and expert perspectives to support informed policy making and strategic investment, which have significant implications for the UK's industrial strategy.

Key findings from this year’s report include:

There has been a significant decline in the UK’s share of global manufacturing value-added, from 3.1% in 2000 to 1.9% in 2022
̽��ֱ��UK remains a global leader in government financial support for business research and development but lags in direct funding
Skills mismatches persist, with 37% of UK workers feeling overqualified for their jobs
̽��ֱ��UK is a leading innovator in renewable energy technologies, ranking fourth in public R&D spending on low-carbon energy
Compiled by policy experts from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, the report provides an easy-to-navigate overview of key trends across UK industry.

Read the full report.

As the UK Government continues to develop its national industrial strategy, the Cambridge Industrial Innovation Policy group at Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing has unveiled the UK Innovation Report 2025.

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Cambridge Festival Speaker Spotlight: Professor Tim Minshall

zs332 — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:53:56 +0000

Professor Tim Minshall is the inaugural Dr John C Taylor Professor of Innovation at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, Head of the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) and Head of the IfM’s Centre for Technology Management (CTM). His research, teaching and engagement activities are focused on the links between manufacturing and innovation.

Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� engineer backed by Formula 1 star Sir Lewis Hamilton

sb726 — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 13:53:00 +0000

Chris Tagnon is the first Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� student to be awarded a Masters in Motorsport scholarship.

Five hubs launched to ensure UK benefits from quantum future

sc604 — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 06:30:07 +0000

̽��ֱ��hub, called Q-BIOMED, is one of 5 quantum research hubs announced on 26 July by Peter Kyle MP, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, supported by £160 million in funding.

̽��ֱ��hub will exploit advances in quantum sensors capable of detecting cells and molecules, potentially orders of magnitude more sensitively than traditional diagnostic tests.

This includes developing quantum-enhanced blood tests to diagnose infectious diseases and cancer quickly and cheaply using portable instruments, and sensors measuring tiny changes to the magnetic fields in the brain that have the potential to detect early markers of Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms occur.

Other research will include quantum-enhanced MRI scans, heart scanners and surgical and treatment interventions for early-stage and hard-to-treat cancers.

“Quantum technologies harness quantum physics to achieve a functionality or a performance which is otherwise unattainable, deriving from science which cannot be explained by classical physics,” said Hub Co-Director Professor Mete Atatüre, Head of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory. “Q-BIOMED will be delivered by an outstanding team of researchers from academia, the NHS, charities, government and industry to exploit quantum-enhanced advances for human health and societal good.”

“Our hub aims to grow a new quantum for health innovation ecosystem in the UK, and has already shaped the UK's new Quantum Mission for Health,” said Hub Co-Director Professor Rachel McKendry, from the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Division of Medicine at UCL. “Our long-term vision is to accelerate the entire innovation pipeline from discovery research, to translation, adoption and implementation within the NHS and global health systems, for the benefit of patients and societal good.”

“Quantum sensing allows us to gather information at cellular and molecular levels with unprecedented sensitivity to electric and magnetic fields," said Dr Ljiljana Fruk from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, a member of the Q-BIOMED team. "I look forward to learning from colleagues and engaging in challenging discussions to develop more sensitive, affordable tools for doctors and patients, advancing the future of healthcare.”

Cambridge researchers are also involved in three of the other newly-announced hubs:

̽��ֱ��UK Hub for Quantum Enabled Position, Navigation and Timing (QEPNT), led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Glasgow, will develop quantum technologies which will be key for national security and critical infrastructure and sectors such as aerospace, connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), finance, maritime and agriculture. Luca Sapienza (Engineering), Louise Hirst (Materials Science and Metallurgy/Cavendish Laboratory) and Dave Ellis (Cavendish Laboratory) are part of the QEPNT team.
QCI3: Hub for Quantum Computing via Integrated and Interconnected Implementations, led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Oxford, aims to develop the technologies needed for the UK to play a key role in the development of quantum computers, a market estimated to be worth $1.3 trillion by 2030. Ulrich Schneider (Cavendish Laboratory), Helena Knowles (Cavendish Laboratory), and Chander Velu (Institute for Manufacturing) are part of the QCI3 team.
̽��ֱ��Integrated Quantum Networks (IQN) Quantum Technology Research Hub, led by Heriot-Watt ̽��ֱ��, will undertake research towards the ultimate goal of a ‘quantum internet’, globally interlinked quantum networks connecting multiple quantum computers to produce enormous computational power. Richard Penty, Adrian Wonfor and Qixiang Cheng (Engineering), Atatüre and Dorian Gangloff (Cavendish Laboratory) are part of the IQN team.

̽��ֱ��fifth hub, UK Quantum Technology Hub in Sensing, Imaging and Timing (QuSIT), is led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Birmingham.

̽��ֱ��five hubs are delivered by the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), with a £106 million investment from EPSRC, the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Research Council, UKRI Medical Research Council, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research. Added to this are contributions from industry and other partners worth more than £54 million.

Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, said: “We want to see a future where cutting-edge science improves everyday lives. That is the vision behind our investment in these new quantum technology hubs, by supporting the deployment of technology that will mean faster diagnoses for diseases, critical infrastructure safe from hostile threats and cleaner energy for us all.

“This isn’t just about research; it’s about putting that research to work. These hubs will bridge the gap between brilliant ideas and practical solutions. They will not only transform sectors like healthcare and security, but also create a culture of accelerated innovation that helps to grow our economy.”

EPSRC Executive Chair Professor Charlotte Deane said: “Technologies harnessing quantum properties will provide unparalleled power and capacity for analysis at a molecular level, with truly revolutionary possibilities across everything from healthcare to infrastructure and computing.

“ ̽��ֱ��5 Quantum Technology Hubs announced today will harness the UK’s expertise to foster innovation, support growth and ensure that we capitalise on the profound opportunities of this transformative technology.”

A major new research hub led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and UCL aims to harness quantum technology to improve early diagnosis and treatment of disease.

James Tye/UCL

L-R: Professor John Morton (UCL), Professor Rachel McKendry (UCL), Professor Mete Atatüre (Cambridge), Professor Eleni Nastouli (UCL)

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Sowing seeds for sustainability

plc32 — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 11:06:44 +0000

Finding homes for used toasters, recycling batteries and inspiring a fondness for secondhand fashion are just three of the sustainability challenges Cambridge students addressed in the 2024 Easter term edition of the Engage for Change project.

Echion Technologies secures £29 million to help commercialise its sustainable battery technology

skbf2 — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 11:56:21 +0000

Echion, a Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� spinout headquartered just outside the city, has invented and patented a niobium-based anode material, XNO®, for use with re-chargeable lithium-ion batteries. ̽��ֱ��material enables the lithium-ion batteries to safely charge in less than ten minutes, last for more than 10,000 cycles and not lose power in extreme cold or hot temperatures.

By improving the power density and thermal stability of lithium-ion batteries, XNO® extends their lifespan. Batteries using XNO® have been shown to have a lower environmental impact than those based on other commonly used materials such as graphite. Graphite is the dominant anode material, with over 90% market share, due to its high energy density and low cost. But for fast charging, graphite-based cells are limited in maximum charge rate compared to XNO® based cells. XNO®’s higher capacity retention and cycle life when charging, across a wider temperature range, boosts available battery capacity. Despite the same volume and weight, higher total energy delivered across the lifetime of the battery lowers total cost of ownership.

̽��ֱ��£29 million investment will mean Echion’s XNO® anode material can start to be used in real-world applications, such as battery electric and hybrid trains, mining haul trucks, opportunity-charging e-buses, heavy-duty industrial transport and delivery vehicles.

Echion’s longstanding partnership with the world’s leading producer of niobium, CBMM, will see the opening of a 2,000 tonne per year XNO® manufacturing facility in 2024. This will provide Echion with the manufacturing capacity to supply its global customer base of major cell manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

̽��ֱ��investment round was led by specialist battery and energy storage technology investor Volta Energy Technologies (Volta), with participation from existing investors CBMM, BGF and Cambridge Enterprise Ventures.

Jean de La Verpilliere, CEO of Echion Technologies, said: “Our ambition is to deliver the best fast-charging batteries to unlock the electrification of heavy-duty vehicles. ̽��ֱ��investment from our partners Volta Energy Technologies, CBMM, BGF and Cambridge Enterprise Ventures cements our ambition to achieve full-scale commercialisation and full production volume.

“ ̽��ֱ��entire Echion team has worked tirelessly to develop our flagship XNO® material into what it is today and this has enabled us to establish partnerships with many major OEMs and cell manufacturers which have recognised the benefits of our materials. I look forward to being able to satisfy their demand for innovative niobium-based anode materials, and to see industrial and commercial applications powered by XNO®.”

Dr Jeff Chamberlain, CEO and Founder of Volta Energy Technologies, said: “We are excited to lead Echion’s Series B and make Volta’s first investment in Europe. Echion and their XNO® technology complements our growing portfolio of technologies that address significant market needs through innovations in the supply chains of battery and energy storage technology. We believe the power of XNO® can uniquely improve performance, lower cost, and meet the demands of the growing, international markets across mining, logistics, railways, automotive and more.”

Rodrigo Barjas Amado, Managing Partner and Commercial Head of Battery Program at CBMM, said: “Having invested in Echion since 2021, we are pleased to see the progress that has been made through our partnership so far and we are proud to support bringing this ground-breaking, niobium-based technology to the market with our 2,000 tonne per year manufacturing capacity.”

Dennis Atkinson, Investor at BGF, said: “Echion is a world class UK based battery technology business. We are proud to have them as part of our climate and deeptech portfolio, and excited to support the team and their XNO® technology in electrifying and decarbonising heavy transport.”

"Echion is entering the market with their next generation battery material at scale. This is a great team that has combined great technology, great talent, great partners and great money for their go-to-market journey. We’re pleased to have been with Echion from the start and to continue our relationship into this B round with a terrific syndicate of co-investors,” says Chris Gibbs, Investment Director, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures.

Adapted from media release published by Cambridge Enterprise.

Cambridge spinout, Echion Technologies has raised £29 million in investment capital to help it increase the production of its fast-charging, long-life battery material based on niobium.

Echion Technologies senior management team (L-R: Dr Alex Groombridge, Chief Technology Officer, Dr Sarah Stevenson, Chief Operating Officer, Jean de La Verpilliere, Chief Executive Officer, Ceri Neal, Chief Financial Officer, and Benjamin Ting, Chief Comm

Yes

It’s high time for alliances to ensure supply chain security, researchers urge

sc604 — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 18:00:00 +0000

An international team of researchers, including from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, are calling on government agencies and national banks to support an effort to map the billions of connections in the global supply network which, among other impacts, could reduce tax evasion by as much as €130 billion (about £113 billion) annually in the European Union.

̽��ֱ��researchers say that understanding supply networks could also improve supply security, promote objective monitoring of the green transition, and strengthen human rights compliance. Writing in the journal Science, they emphasise that international alliances, backed by government organisations and the research community, are needed for such an understanding.

Even though most companies know their immediate trading partners, they depend on countless other relationships up and down the supply chain. A shortage anywhere in the supply network may aﬀect suppliers, suppliers of suppliers, and so on, as well as customers and their customers’ customers.

“Supply disruptions caused an estimated loss of 2% of global GDP in 2021 – approximately $1.9 trillion (£1.6 trillion) – and signiﬁcantly contributed to the current high inﬂation,” said lead author Anton Pichler from the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) in Vienna. “For a long time, it was unthinkable to analyse the global economy at the company level, let alone its complex network of supply interconnections. That is changing now.”

“Understanding supply chain interdependencies between companies, sectors, and countries is vital for many challenges, from identifying how disruptions may emerge and cascade across economies, through to monitoring carbon emissions and ensuring ethical and sustainable practice,” said co-author Professor Alexandra Brintrup from Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing.

For almost a century, only aggregated data – such as the average values of entire sectors – could be analysed. Predicting how individual company failures would aﬀect the system was simply not possible. What happens to the economy when a speciﬁc company stops its production? What if an earthquake paralyses an entire region?

“Now, a combination of new micro-datasets, methods based in machine learning, and multiple government initiatives are creating the ability to map entire economies, which can give us the tools to answer some fundamental questions with real and timely impact,” said Brintrup.

Although the volume of data is vast – there are approximately 300 million companies worldwide, each with an average of 40 domestic suppliers, resulting in up to 13 billion supply connections – researchers can map the connections between individual companies.

Currently, value-added tax (VAT) data is the most promising option for reconstructing reliable large-scale supply networks. Countries including Spain, Hungary and Belgium use a standardised VAT collection that practically records all domestic business-to-business (b2b) transactions. With these, it’s possible to map the entire national trade of a country.

In most countries like Germany, Austria, or France, where VAT is not collected for individual b2b transactions but only accumulated over a speciﬁc period, such mapping is not possible.

“ ̽��ֱ��standardised b2b collection could reduce administrative overheads for companies and would contribute substantially to tax compliance,” said co-author Christian Diem, also from CSH. Estimates suggest that VAT-related fraudulent activities in the European Union (EU) amount to €130 billion annually.

Beyond tax evasion, other global challenges also depend on the detailed knowledge of supply networks. “For individual companies, it’s nearly impossible to ensure that all trading partners, their suppliers, and their suppliers’ suppliers operate in an environmentally friendly way and in compliance with human rights,” said Pichler. “If this were centrally documented in a gigantic network, it could be more easily ensured.”

̽��ֱ��next step is to link trade data from diﬀerent countries. Currently, the EU records trade in goods between its member states at the company level. If it also included services and linked them with VAT data, this could lead to a comprehensive cross-border company-level network. According to the authors, this would represent almost 20% of the global GDP.

̽��ֱ��European Commission laid the legal foundation by proposing ‘VAT in the Digital Age.’ “Unfortunately, this is far from being realised,” said co-author Stefan Thurner, of the Complexity Science Hub. “So far, we do not have a single situation where the supply chain networks of any two countries have been joined and merged. This would be an essential next step.”

To create a truly international picture of supply interconnections, hundreds of datasets must be joined, analytical tools developed, and an institutional framework must be created, together with secure infrastructure for storing and processing enormous amounts of sensitive data.

“To advance this endeavour, a strong international alliance of various interest groups is required, including national governments, statistical oﬃces, international organisations, central banks, the private sector, and academia,” said Thurner. ̽��ֱ��ﬁrst collaboration in science, involving authors in macroeconomics, supply chain research, and statistics, now aims to establish a foundation. ̽��ֱ��researchers hope to inspire others to join their eﬀorts.

̽��ֱ��researchers hosted representatives of European ministries, national banks, statistical oﬃces, and researchers at a workshop in Vienna on 5–6 June 2023.

Reference:
Anton Pichler et al. ‘Building an alliance to map global supply networks.’ Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.adi7521

Adapted from a CSH press release.

̽��ֱ��COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the interconnected nature of global supply chains, and showed how a disruption in one part of the world can have global effects. In 2021, supply disruptions were cost the global economy an estimated $1.9 trillion.

Understanding supply chain interdependencies between companies, sectors, and countries is vital for many challenges

Alexandra Brintrup

Abstract Aerial Art via Getty Images

Aerial shot of parked trucks, Scunthorpe, United Kingdom

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Cambridge and Boeing celebrate a 20-year partnership

skbf2 — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 12:09:32 +0000

Over the last two decades, the two organisations have worked together on a wide range of topics such as transitioning the aviation sector to net zero, developing electric and hybrid-electric propulsion, making breakthroughs in materials and manufacturing technologies and managing airport disruption.

To recognise the success of the partnership, Todd Citron, Boeing’s Chief Technology Officer, and Pat Stokes, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Research Portfolio Lead for Boeing, presented Professors David Cardwell and Duncan McFarlane, and Philip Guildford, Chief Operating Officer of the Department of Engineering, with awards recognising their outstanding leadership and dedication supporting 20 years of collaborative research excellence.

As well as sharing ideas and reviewing a wide range of projects with ̽��ֱ�� researchers, the Boeing and Cambridge teams toured the ̽��ֱ��’s Whittle Laboratory and Institute for Manufacturing.

Inspiring the next generation of aerospace engineers is also an important facet of the longstanding partnership. As part of the summit, Scott Walston, vice president of Boeing’s Enterprise and Technology Office talked to students about Boeing research and life as an engineer in the aviation sector.

"We are immensely proud of our 20-year partnership with the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, a collaboration that has exemplified the power of global research and development partnerships in driving aerospace innovation,” said Pat Stokes. “Together, we've tackled some of aviation’s biggest challenges, including finding ways to accelerate sustainable aviation. Our partnership underscores the importance of academia and industry working hand in hand to shape the future of aerospace and demonstrates how much we can achieve when we come together.”

Philip Guildford added, “ ̽��ֱ��relationship works so well because the engineers and scientists from these two organisations are truly world-class and they get to talk with each other, be creative and work on innovative projects. Everyone gives their best to make aviation more efficient, sustainable and safe.”

Senior executives and employees from research and technology teams at Boeing spent three days in Cambridge to celebrate 20 years of successful collaboration and to identify the next set of challenges they want to address.

Boeing

Dr Louisa Michael from Boeing talked about her work on multi-physics modelling of the impact of lightning strikes

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes