Budget signals national roll-out of Made Smarter

Donna Edwards, director of Made Smarter’s North West Adoption programme

Made Smarter Adoption, the UK Government’s programme helping SME manufacturers adopt technology and digital skills, will continue next year and expand into all regions of England. Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced in the Budget that it will spend £16 million expanding the Adoption programme to all nine English regions in 2025-26.

The decision means thousands more SME manufacturers will get access to technology advice, leadership, and skills training, as well as grant funding for digital internships and technology projects. These interventions will boost productivity, growth, create new high-value jobs and decarbonise SME manufacturers across the country.

The Budget set out plans for a modern Industrial Strategy, an extension of the Made Smarter Innovation programme with up to £37 million funding in 2025-26, as well as committing long-term funding for growth-driving sectors, including £975 million for aerospace, over £2 billion for the automotive sector, and up to £520 million for a new Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund.

Launched in the North West in 2019, Made Smarter has to date engaged with 2,500 manufacturers and funded 379 technology projects, which are forecast to create over 1,700 new jobs and upskill 3,200 existing roles. What is more, the investments in technology and people are projected to grow the economy by £267 million over the next three years.

Since 2022 a Government-funded Adoption programme has been running in the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, the West Midlands and East Midlands, along with a locally-funded programme in the West of England.

Brian Holliday, co-chair of the Made Smarter Commission and managing director of Siemens Digital Industries, said: “Wednesday’s budget announcements on the Made Smarter Adoption and Innovation programmes are a tremendously positive acknowledgement of the impact that Made Smarter is having on UK manufacturing. I am particularly pleased tht the programme has been supported by successive Governments, helping to stimulate longer-term thinking and long-term growth - now backed up by an emerging Industrial Strategy. Manufacturing leaders need Made smarter, which has become the best-known start-point and signposting service for the sector in support of productivity, competitiveness and sustainability improvement at scale.”

Donna Edwards, director of Made Smarter’s North West Adoption programme, said: “Over the last five years Made Smarter has transformed countless SME manufacturers, introducing them to new technologies and new digital skills. The programme has proven that by offering businesses specialist advice to help them select the right approach, level of investment and tools for their business, they can grow and build resilience. I am delighted that the Government recognised the impact that Made Smarter is having on the digital transformation of such a vital sector of the economy.

She concluded: “While we await further details on the funding package, the commitment to a national roll-out is a major positive to emerge from a Budget which promises to rebuild Britain and puts UK industry at the heart of that change.”