Multi-million investment to establish Scotlands’ role in global hot forging
13 Aug 2018
The University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) has secured £16.5 million to establish a major new advanced engineering facility for the global hot forging sector.
Future Forge will be funded by the UK Aerospace Research and Technology Programme (delivered by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Innovate UK and the Aerospace Technology Institute), Scottish Enterprise and the AFRC’s High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult funding.
Set to begin operation in two years, Future Forge aims to be the world’s most advanced hot forging research platform. It will draw partners from the oil and gas, energy and nuclear sectors among others, helping companies to increase their global competitiveness.
The facility will help generate around £40 million worth of new, collaborative R&D projects over 10 years and create more than 30 new jobs.
Scottish Government minister for trade, investment and innovation Ivan McKee said: “The new facility will put Scotland at the forefront of the latest industrial revolution, helping some of the most traditional manufacturing businesses and their supply chains embrace the latest in digital technologies.”
The news follows the announcement eight months ago that Scotland was investing in a £65m National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland (NMIS) in Renfrewshire, also in partnership with Strathclyde.
It also mirrors the recent announcement that Queens University Belfast was creating an advanced manufacturing base for business in Northern Ireland, aimed at helping local business to compete worldwide, with investment of £7.5 million.
Managing director of strategy and sectors at Scottish Enterprise, Linda Hanna, said: “Scotland is already leading the way across the UK in metal forming research, manufacturing technology and innovation. This investment, however, will develop a unique forging capability, not available anywhere else in the world.
“Together with the AFRC, we are focused on achieving the ambition to grow Scotland’s high value manufacturing sector through increased innovation, productivity and investment. Today’s announcement forms a key part of that action plan.”
