Scottish Enterprise welcomes AFRC role in UK’s first National Technology and Innovation Centre for High Value Manufacturing
The UK Government today confirmed Scotland’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) near Glasgow will be a lead partner in the UK’s network of Technology Innovation Centres.
It will become a key facility in the first of a UK wide network of elite technology centres supported by more than £200 million of Government funding over the next four years.
Welcoming the news, Paul Lewis, Managing Director of Industries at Scottish Enterprise, which has been a funding partner for the AFRC, said:
“Scotland has a long and distinguished history in developing breakthroughs in engineering and manufacturing technologies. The AFRC was designed to build on that history and on our world class academic research from our leading universities.
“News that the facility will play a key role in the UK’s competitive advantage in high value manufacturing is rewarding indeed and a clear endorsement of the facility as a trailblazer at the forefront of innovative techniques for engineering.
“Since its formation less than three years ago, the AFRC has become a breeding ground for new technology, attracting significant private sector investment and internationally renowned engineering firms including Rolls-Royce, Boeing, Mettis Aeropace and TIMET. This latest announcement will further the facility’s ability to support greater collaboration between academia and industry and undoubtedly bring significant economic benefit to Scotland.”
The AFRC is a collaborative venture between the University of Strathclyde, Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish Government and internationally renowned engineering firms including Rolls-Royce, Boeing, Mettis Aeropace, TIMET, Aubert & Duval and Barnes Aerospace.
The facility is expected to be valued at £30 million by 2014 and contribute more than £73 million to the Scottish economy over the next decade.
The Centre’s leading-edge facilities include a high-power electron microscope, a £1.5 million screw press capable of exerting a force of up to 2,000 tonnes with pinpoint accuracy; precision measurement facilities and furnaces capable of temperatures in excess of 1200°C.
The Centre is the only research institute in the UK in possession of super-plastic forming technologies, which will enable researchers to shape complex materials at temperatures of up to 960°C. The facilities will support the manufacture of a range of advanced products for aircraft wings, engines, cars, ships, medical devices and power generation.