Yorkshire Forward invests £9.65 million in Advanced Engineering
Yorkshire Forward invests £9.65 million in Advanced Engineering
Yorkshire Forward is to invest £9.65 million in the region's Advanced Engineering and Metals (AEM) industry to help researchers and businesses to develop and exploit close to market new technologies and to bring the resulting new innovations to the open market.
A further £3.1 million of private sector funding is also expected to be attracted into the programme, which is predicted to create more than 500 jobs and safeguard a further 870.
Universities and businesses will be able to bid to Yorkshire Forward for funding to develop projects in four key areas of the industry – near net shape processing, surface engineering, powder metallurgy and design modelling and simulation. The tenders will require that the work should be undertaken in the Yorkshire and Humber region with a strong preference for them to be located on the Advanced Manufacturing Park at Waverley, leading to a further enhancement to the value proposition of that site.
The investment comes after three reviews of the AEM cluster found that companies needed support if they were to exploit the latest innovations in their sector.
The AEM cluster, which has a strong presence in West and South Yorkshire,employs some 170,000 people in Yorkshire and the Humber and is worth £5.2 billion to the region's economy.
To remain competitive, the reports said there was a clear need for smaller companies to increase their research and development work to stay ahead of other firms.
The emergence of manufacturing locations in low cost countries mainly in Eastern Europe and the Far East have increased the need for companies in the region to find new ways to compete.
Yorkshire Forward will be tendering for projects in these four key industry areas, which will bring the most benefit to the region, by creating jobs and enhancing the expertise which is already in Yorkshire and the Humber.
Susan Johnson, Yorkshire Forward Executive Director of Business Development,said: “The Advanced Engineering and Metals cluster of companies is a key area for future growth. This investment will not only help the cluster to compete on a global scale, but it will particularly look to fund projects which have the potential to reach the market soon.
Focusing on these four key technology areas will ensure that our cluster companies continue to innovate and work at the very cutting edge of technology.”
