The lofty ambitions of Greater Manchester’s Advanced Manufacturing sector reached even greater heights when MIDAS attended the annual Farnborough Airshow last week (22nd July – 25th) to highlight the city-region’s aerospace expertise and capabilities.
The attending MIDAS team were on hand to highlight Greater Manchester’s innovations within the sector and demonstrate the commitment as a region to aerospace technology advancement and capabilities, positioning the area as a forward-thinking hub for innovation.
Greater Manchester is at the heart of the largest aerospace cluster in Europe and the UK’s second-largest automotive cluster and is perfectly located for supply chain opportunities in the UK’s automotive, aerospace and rail industries. Greater Manchester is a key location to manufacture, innovate and develop technology.
The themes of the Airshow for this year, included space, defence, sustainability, innovation and workforce, all of which Greater Manchester champions through an expanding aerospace presence in the region.
Innovation
Known for its innovation ecosystem, Greater Manchester is the birthplace of the revolutionary 2D material, Graphene, which was first isolated in 2004 by two researchers at The University of Manchester, Professor Andre Geim and Professor Kostya Novoselov, seeing them win a Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering work.
The material is 200 times stronger than steel and can be used for lightweighting, which is critical for the aerospace industry, and makes it possible to reduce the overall weight of aircraft in space, resulting in a considerable drop in fuel consumption.
The region is currently host to Europe’s largest school of materials based at The University of Manchester, which conducts cutting-edge research in aerospace materials and technologies.
Space
The University of Manchester conducts space-related research in fields such as astrophysics and aerospace engineering, with Greater Manchester known for its space research and education at the institute.
Greater Manchester is home to space companies such as MDA Space, which contribute to the technology used in space.
On the doorstep of Greater Manchester is Jodrell Bank Observatory, the major radio astronomy facility. The facility is directly affiliated with the University of Manchester and has played an important role in space research and exploration.
Defence
Greater Manchester hosts a growing cluster of aerospace companies, including both large international firms and innovative SME.
The city-region is home to a cyber cluster with companies including BAE Systems, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and GCHQ.
Sustainability
With an ambitious scienced-based target to be carbon neutral by 2038 – 12 years ahead of the UK’s target and home to world-leading research facilities such as Manchester Metropolitan’s Manchester Fuel Cell Innovation Centre, Salford University’s Energy House Laboratories, and the Energy Innovation Agency, Manchester is committed to transforming investible ideas into real world low carbon solutions spanning energy, transport and much more Manchester's aerospace sector is likely focusing on sustainable aviation technologies.
With a clearly defined 5-year environment plan, Greater Manchester has adopted a clear and ambitious approach to climate action and is pioneering green innovation and research; The Energy Innovation Agency, Energy House 2.0 and in the North-East of the region, Atom Valley’s Centre of Expertise in Advanced Materials and Sustainability (CEAMS), support the commercialisation of net-zero technologies and innovation, and commercialise sustainable material(s) to make the materials used sustainable.
Workforce
A key focus for Greater Manchester’s plans to expand its advanced manufacturing hub is to encourage people to work, study and live in the city, by retaining students who will then enter the Greater Manchester workforce, with 50% of graduates choosing to stay in GM beyond their studies.
Local institutions in the area offer specialised training programs to support the aerospace workforce, which includes apprenticeships and colleges in the city region alongside the universities.
There are currently over 121,000 students enrolled across five universities with over 36,000 studying STEM subjects accompanied by a skilled manufacturing workforce of nearly 114,000 people working in areas as diverse as aerospace, defence, electronics systems, software engineering and transport.
Greater Manchester also has world-leading cyber and AI capability with a strong academic AI and cyber community and a pipeline of talent three of the city region’s universities have established research groups working in AI and data science, achieving world-leading and internationally excellent work in the field.