A £30 million research and innovation investment in British manufacturing will ensure that the UK can seize new opportunities in steel production, pharmaceuticals and the revolution in transport infrastructure.

As a result, three new £10 million Manufacturing Research Hubs will link major industry players — including Tata Steel, Siemens and Rolls-Royce — to world-class research teams.

The Hubs will pioneer new practices to ensure that these established manufacturing sectors can meet evolving industry need, seize new opportunities and tackle key issues such as sustainability and productivity.

They will focus on steel production, bio-manufacturing and electrical machines and will be funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Their addition takes the total number of Manufacturing Hubs to 13 across the UK.

Professor Lynn Gladden, the EPSRC’s executive chairman (www.epsrc.uki.org), said: “There’s a real need to mesh fundamental research with our manufacturing industries.

By doing so, we can ensure that research is relevant to industrial need and that UK businesses can be in touch with the latest developments in their fields.

"These three new Manufacturing Hubs cover industries that are important to the UK’s future capacity to make products sustainably and improve the country’s prosperity.”

The Sustain Manufacturing Hub will be led by Professor David Worsley at Swansea University. It has been co-created by the five major UK steel producers (Tata, Liberty, British Steel, Celsa, and Sheffield Forgemasters) and the three principal universities that have expertise in this area (Swansea, Warwick and Sheffield).

It aims to provide academic leadership in steel innovation, influence policy, work with existing hubs and speed the implementation of research findings through to manufacture.

The Future Biomanufacturing Research Hub (FBRH) will be led by Professor Nigel Scrutton at the University of Manchester, with ‘spokes’ at Imperial, UCL, Nottingham, the UK Catalysis Hub, IBioIC and CPI.

It will develop new ‘underpinning technologies’ based on industrial biotechnology to enable efficient, sustainable and innovative bio-based manufacturing in pharmaceuticals, value-added chemicals and engineering materials.

The Future Electrical Machines Manufacturing Hub will be led by Professor Geraint Jewell at the University of Sheffield, with spokes at Newcastle University and the University of Strathclyde.

This Hub will address key manufacturing challenges in the production of high-integrity and high-value electrical machines for the aerospace, energy, high-value automotive and premium consumer sectors.

Partners that have helped create this Hub include Rolls-Royce, Siemens, GKN plc, Dyson Ltd, Protean Electric Ltd and Hoganas AB.