Professor Lord Bhattacharyya was pleased to welcome the Associate Parliamentary Group on Manufacturing to WMG today.

The Group, which is co-chaired by Chris White, MP for Warwick and Leamington, exists to encourage the exchange of knowledge and understanding between Parliament and the manufacturing industries, helping to raise the profile of manufacturing both inside and outside of Parliament.

Meeting with Professor Lord Bhattacharyya they were interested to understand the diverse research undertaken by WMG. They had the opportunity to discuss the quality and impact of the Groups research and approach to collaboration with industry.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya said “We have developed a world-wide reputation of working collaboratively with global companies to help them develop innovative products and processes. We are delighted to show our colleagues from Parliament the excellent applied research that we are involved in and the impact this has had for our collaborating partners”, a number of whom took part in a roundtable discussion on Driving Regional Growth through Higher Education

There was also a tour of WMG which included visits to R&D teams in the International Manufacturing Centre which gave them the opportunity to meet with staff, to discover the breadth of our multi-disciplinary capabilities and the wide range of sectors the Group works with. Professor Mark Williams highlighted the £5m research and development Customer Interface Technologies Centre of Excellence, which gives companies direct access to the latest product evaluation technologies and processes. Dr David Clark showed some of the new materials research that is being undertaken with global companies and the highly innovative work being taken in support of green motor sports. The Group also saw how well the development of our fifth building, the International Institute for Product and Service Innovation, is progressing.