Grand Challenge

The EPSRC's Innovation Manufacturing programme (IMP) promotes and supports high quality research and masters level postgraduate training in manufacturing engineering, so as to help improve the performance of the UK manufacturing sector and increase its contribution to wealth creation (View Website).

The IMP has funded four 'Grand Challenge' consortia to tackle major issues in manufacturing, building on the work of the 17 Innovative Manufacturing Research Centres (IMRCs). Total funding for the consortia comes to £14 million and each consortium involves several IMRCs, as well as other leading researchers and industrial collaborators.

AIM is delighted to be involved in two of the consortia: The Immortal Information and Knowledge, and The Innovation and Productivity both of which also receive support from the ESRC.

Immortal Information and Knowledge is to create a new kind of network-enabled information and knowledge environment. Dispersed, multidisciplinary operational teams will use sustainable knowledge, management systems to execute effective, timely decisions within an evolving engineering lifecycle. The project team includes partners from Bath, Cambridge, Heriott-Watt, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Loughborough, Reading, Salford and Strathclyde universities as well as the AIM.

The Innovation and Productivity seeks to develop existing knowledge about innovation, engineering and productivity to better understand how these connect together to improve productivity and how ideas flow from the science base to the market place. The objective is to develop robust mechanisms to assist in faster and more effective appropriation of research aimed at improving industrial performance. The project team includes partners from Cambridge, Cranfield, Imperial College, Loughborough, and Liverpool universities as well as AIM.

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