UK Government to Support Advanced Manufacturing with New Modern Industrial Strategy
On June 23, the United Kingdom launched its Modern Industrial Strategy for 2025—a ten-year blueprint aimed at driving investment into the industries of the future. Designed to accelerate business growth and provide long-term stability, the strategy seeks to make it faster and easier for companies to invest with confidence. At its core are eight high-potential sectors they’re calling the IS-8: advanced manufacturing, clean energy, creative industries, defense, digital and technology, financial services, life sciences and professional and business services. What unites these diverse sectors? According to the UK government, they represent the greatest opportunities for sustainable growth.
As a part of the Modern Industrial Strategy, each of these sectors has a bespoke plan for attracting investment, enabling growth and creating high-quality, well-paid jobs. Five of those plans have been published so far, including the “Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan.” In this document, Sarah Jones MP, Minister of State for Industry, highlighted the strengths of the advanced manufacturing industry. She testified that it is the backbone of the UK’s economy, directly supporting around 760,000 jobs and contributing more than £82 billion gross value added to the UK economy every year.
The Modern Industrial Strategy will encourage the AM industry to grow. (Photo Credits: UK Government)
Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan
To further enhance the advanced manufacturing sector, it will be backed with up to £4.3 billion in funding, including up to £2.8 billion in research and design over the next five years. The idea is to unlock the combined strength of the UK’s public finance institutions, including £4 billion from the British Business Bank’s Industrial Strategy Growth Capital and £27.8 billion from the National Wealth Fund for future priorities.
In addition to funding, the government aims to keep regulation at pace with innovation, citing, for example, the implementation of the Automated Vehicles Act that removes the need for a safety driver, enabling the self-driving car industry to thrive. Ultimately, according to the plan’s details, its “ambition is to nearly double annual business investment in the sector, giving UK firms an edge in six advanced manufacturing industries of the future.” These industries include advanced materials, aerospace, agri-tech, automotive, batteries and space.
Given that additive manufacturing falls under the umbrella of advanced manufacturing, the AM industry is sure to benefit. The “Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan” recognizes this, commending Renishaw for “pioneering precision engineering and 3D printing,” as well as the Make Smarter Initiative, which delivers collaborative R&D projects and industry-focused research in the field of Industrial Digital Technologies (IDTs) like 3D printing and AI.
The UK’s Ongoing Investment in AM
The new Modern Industrial Strategy plan is just one of several recent actions from the UK government that support AM. Just ahead of the Paris Air Show earlier this June, the UK Department for Business and Trade announced that aerospace would be boosted by more than £250m in funding for tech projects that drive greener air travel. One of the recipients, the Digitally Enabled Competitive and Sustainable Additive Manufacturing (DecSAM) project from Airbus and partners, will receive £38 million to scale up laser powder bed fusion. Additionally, GKN Aerospace’s Integrated System Level Aerostructures Assembly (ISLAA) initiative will be granted £10.5 million to advance large-scale AM using laser metal deposition by wire.
An Airbus racer in flight at the Paris Air Show on June 22 (Photo Credits: Paris Air Show)
The UK government has also historically supported AM for defense. In April of this year, the UK Ministry of Defence released the “Defence Advanced Manufacturing Strategy,” making the relationship that the UK armed forces already had with additive manufacturing official, and building upon previous work done by the MOD to adopt AM, including Project Tampa.
To learn more about the UK’s Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan, find the document HERE.
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*Cover Photo Credits: UK government
