Innovate UK and Make UK join forces
Innovate UK has teamed up with Make UK, the manufacturers’ organisation, to help accelerate the adoption of innovative technologies in the manufacturing sector.
The two organisations held an event to bring together some of the UK’s biggest manufacturing organisations with some of the most innovative SMEs in the country.
Three Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) – JLR, ICE and Leonardo, were invited by Make UK to outline the technology areas they were interested in hearing from. The sectors were wide-ranging from Geospatial to Quantum and from Batteries to Industrial Decarbonisation.
Innovate UK then approached SMEs to invite them to apply to pitch to the OEMs. The manufacturers selected those they wished to hear from in further detail.
The audience also heard from Indro Mukerjee, CEO of Innovate UK, and Stephen Phipson, CEO of Make UK as they announced the partnership and the rationale behind it.
Innovate UK’s partnership with Make UK is a great opportunity to further support innovative start-ups and scale-ups to develop across manufacturing sectors. Our joint work will focus on connecting SMEs with primes and OEMs to support growth and resilient supply chains. This strategic collaboration between the two organisations will be developed across all sectors and throughout the UK to support productivity growth.
– Indro Mukerjee, CEO, Innovate UK
This new partnership with Innovate UK will help the country’s biggest manufacturing companies access the best local innovators to build stronger supply chains. We will work together to promote some of Britain’s most exciting start-ups, helping develop their technologies and then give those innovative start-ups the means to keep UK innovation here in the UK.
– Stephen Phipson, CEO, Make UK
This event marked the start of a partnership that will see similar activities in the coming months with an ambition to visit different regions and to cover different sectors.