Technologies Introduction
Faced up to an increasingly competitive environment, aerospace companies have no choice but enter into strategic alliances, collaborate and innovate.
The North West of England is the largest aerospace production region in the UK with great expertise in airframe design and manufacture and aircraft engine subsystems. It is a centre of excellence for military aircraft production –Typhoon, Joint Strike Fighter, Nimrod, Hawk, UAVs...- and Airbus civil aircraft wings. The North West region is also home to 15 universities and state-of-the-art R&D centres such as Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus. The University of Manchester hosts the Aerospace Research Institute and the North West Composites Centre as part of a fully co-ordinated industry approach to developing innovative composite capability.
In the aerospace sector innovation is mainly driven by the Primes and the SMEs are used to working on a built-to-print basis. Universities perform well by international standards in science and technology but their research is often not industry-led and their outputs different from those required by the industry.
The purpose of this section is to offer the regional aerospace cluster a showcase of some key technologies available within the North West region and a new pool of resources to tap into when developing new products and processes. Contact details in specific areas are facilitated to initiate dialogue and foster collaboration between the industry and science community.
