£22m Composites Strategy announced

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

The Government has announced new investment totalling £22 million to further advance the development of ‘composite’ materials.

The new Composites Strategy explains how Government plans to support British firms involved in manufacturing, utilising and exporting composites and composite technology, with the aim of maintaining the UK’s global lead in this growth field.

Composites are increasingly used for their lightweight, super strength properties in aeroplane wings and racing cars.

The investment is made up of:

• £16m for a new National Composites Centre in the Bristol area (£12m from central Government, £4m from the South West Regional Development Agency.
• £5m for the winning firms to develop new composites manufacturing techniques (to be won via the Technology Strategy Board’s new ‘Grand Challenge’ competition, launched today) and £1m upfront funding to help develop challenge bids.

Video

Files to download

Advanced Manufacturing Composites Strategy (2MB)

• Northern Ireland overview 405KB
• Welsh overview 85KB
• Scotland overview 31KB
• UK Skills 85KB
• Technology Needs to Support Advanced Composites in the UK 586KB
• Activities of England’s Regional Development Agencies 54KB
• UK industry market profile 221KB

Press notices:

BIS: £22m for high-tech materials for a low carbon future

TSB: £5m prize to be won in unique advanced manufacturing competition

Images

For images, see the BIS Flickr photo account here.