07.04.2021Midlands Industrial Ceramics Group – Sector Profile
As a partner and founder member of The Midlands Industrial Ceramics Group (MICG), AEON Engineering play a vital role in supporting the development of a ground-breaking R&D centre of excellence in Staffordshire. Combining tried-and-trusted industrial and academic expertise, the Group’s aims are:
- Make the Midlands the go-to location for the global R&D and production of advanced ceramics
- Increase the competitiveness of the Midlands industrial base
- Enhance industrial ability to develop innovative ceramic technologies with speedy marketplace adoption
- Deliver a multi-sectoral approach with rapid translation of new technologies for the advantage of a whole range of industrial sectors
- Strengthen the UK advanced ceramics supply chain for the benefit of the Midlands advanced manufacturing sector.
New report sets out the scale of opportunity for the Midlands in advanced ceramics.
AEON have collaborated with other businesses and academics from across the region on the Advanced Ceramics Sector Profile, commissioned by the Midlands Industrial Ceramics Group (MICG) in partnership with the Midlands Engine Observatory.
Highlighting the global opportunities presented in the rapidly growing industry, the 28-page document sets out the fundamental importance of advanced ceramics to the performance of high-tech sectors worldwide.
It also gives an insight into the wealth of knowledge and key strengths already in place across the Midlands, and how the region is uniquely placed to tap into the significant growth opportunities globally.
“The Midlands, and in particular North Staffordshire, has always been synonymous with excellence and innovation in ceramics. As industry, across a range of sectors including aviation, medical technologies and space, increasingly turns to the unique properties of these new or advanced ceramics to enhance performance and durability, the Midlands has a leading role to play in accelerating the growth of this cutting-edge technology, both nationally and globally "
Sir John Peace, Chairman, Midlands Engine
Often unseen, Advanced Ceramics has a global market predicted to be £143 billion by 2025, and a year-on-year growth on average of 12.8% per annum. The sector provides vital products and services to an increasing and important range of advanced manufacturing industries and their supply chains, including automotive, aerospace, healthcare, power and energy, as well as space exploration, defence and telecommunications.
It is often not understood how fundamental Advanced Ceramics are to the performance of many high-tech industries, and how they are increasingly important for improving product performance across a wide spectrum of advanced manufacturing sectors.
Advanced Ceramics are critical to increase the competitiveness of key high-value manufacturing industries in the Midlands and vital to the nation’s economic recovery and self-sufficiency.
The Advanced Ceramics Sector Profile has been compiled by City-REDI and builds on an industrial consultation completed by themselves and SQW in 2020, which revealed that no other UK region has the equivalent mass of advanced ceramics specialist suppliers, end users and researchers. This is the first time that such a detailed sector report has been produced. It provides an overview of the potential size of the growth opportunity in the Midlands, and the benefits the sector brings for advanced manufacturing sector in the UK to innovate and sell new products.
With members from across blue chip companies and SMEs - including Rolls-Royce, JCB, Morgan Advanced Materials and Lucideon, as well as the universities of Birmingham, Leicester and Loughborough - MICG is an industry led group collaborating to tackle the barriers to expansion the industry faces.
The report also demonstrates how the Midlands is particularly well-positioned to unlock the potential opportunities within the sector, due to its ceramics legacy, prominent advanced manufacturing base and the strength of its academic institutions.
“Advanced ceramics are key to the performance of many of our products. “By working collaboratively with industry and universities, we expect to break boundaries with advanced ceramics technology which will boost not only our competitiveness but also that of the Midlands.”
Ian Edmonds, of Rolls-Royce, is the chair of MICG
The Advanced Ceramics Sector Profile is available at https://micg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Advanced-Ceramics-Sector-Profile.pdf
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At AEON we believe in solving complex engineering problems through originality, vision and innovation rather than imitation to solve problems. So naturally as providers of engineering, project management and product development support across R&D, scientific, defence and civil sectors, we’re thrilled to be a part of this important project group.
