April 2021

NATIONAL MANUFACTURING SUMMIT 2021 REPORT n Summit 2021 National Manufacturing A CELEBRATION OF THE UK’S MANUFACTURING RESILIENCE, INGENUITY AND DIVERSITY. OnMarch 16-17 2021, the ManufacturingTechnology Centre (MTC) hosted the inaugural National Manufacturing Summit. This completely virtual and free-to-attend event broadcast more than 2250 hours of live content across 50 unique conference sessions. It included contributions from more than 100 speakers and panellists that included business and industry leaders, senior engineers and technologists, ministers from all four nations of the UK, academics, and a number of industry supporting organisations, such as trade bodies and think tanks. Attracting more than 1200 registrants, the event attracted attendees from across the United Kingdom as well as the United States, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. The National Manufacturing Summit has been identified as one of the most ambitious events for the manufacturing sector to be held during the lockdown period. It has helped raise the standard and showwhat is possible in an era of virtual and broadcast-led events, as new technologies drive newways to engage, collaborate and share information with an audience whose appetite is ever- growing and increasingly global. From the launch of M2R to the conception of the National Manufacturing Summit In December 2020, the newly created Midlands Manufacturing Resilience Commission (M2R), chaired by MTC CEO Dr. Clive Hickman, and endorsed by Andy Street, the Mayor of theWest Midlands and Sir John Peace, Chair of the Midlands Engine, launched its inaugural report and presented its 12 recommendations to support an economic recovery with a resilient Midlands’ manufacturing sector at its heart. Encouraged that the Commission would be viewed as a catalyst for positive change and action, Dr. Hickman committed to share a full report as to the progress of the original 12 recommendations, by the end of March 2021. Commenting on the Commission and its follow up plans, Chris White, MTC Director of the Industrial Policy Research Centre, based at Loughborough, who worked with Dr. Hickman on compiling the report said, “The M2R was never about one report. It was about creating a catalyst for meaningful change. We wanted to engage as many stakeholders from across the Midlands manufacturing community as possible, to come together and work towards a series of goals to build resilience in the sector after the challenges presented by COVID-19. After the launch, and while the work of the Commission continued, the next challenge became how do we best represent progress? How do wemaintain themomentum that beganwith the launch in December and how do we ensure that we increase awareness of the project and its objectives, whilst working with as many interested individuals and organisations as possible?” It was in answering these questions that Chris and MTC Group Marketing Director, Richard Watkins, began a scoping exercise that led to the creation of an idea that would become the 2021 National Manufacturing Summit. Taking its inspiration from the collaboration of M2R The Midlands Manufacturing Resilience Commission (M2R) was about engaging as wide an audience as possible from the region’s manufacturing stakeholders. The aim of the National Manufacturing Summit was to build on this strategy to connect and collaborate, while extending the scope to create a broader, more UK- wide view of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for our sector. This national focus enabled the Summit to discuss matters of national security and capability and focus on the key industrial sectors, including defence, energy, automotive, aerospace and the emergence of new sectors such as green technologies, food-tech and med-tech, that will drive future UK growth. The analogy of reaching the ‘summit’ and mountaineering ran through the entire narrative. This powerful visual branding of the event served to cement a vision that, despite clear challenges for the sector in re-establishing its economic importance in the UK’s recovery from COVID-19, with planning, preparation and teamwork, any challenge can be overcome, and any imaginary or real summit’ can be scaled.