The Composites UK Annual Conference, where the Association will be highlighting the opportunities and the support available to the UK companies, will be taking place from 13-14 May 2014 at the National Composites Centre (NCC) in Bristol.

The event has invited specially selected speakers to present to delegates on industry standing, available support, challenges faced by the industry and developing the UK supply chain.

In particular the Association has identified the following three key themes as critical areas for UK business.

Funding Support

The NCC’s Chief Executive, Peter Chivers, will be discussing the funding support that is available for technology, skills and training, which will be backed up by case studies provided by Far-UK, who used an AMSCI loan to set up its new manufacturing facility as part of the Composites Innovation Cluster project and Pentaxia leveraged funding to support training and skills.

Planning for the Future through Technology and Skills

The Association recognises the importance of planning for the future, making sure new applications are planned for in terms of technology and skills putting the UK one step ahead.

With this in mind, presentations on strengthening the UK supply chain through planning as well as developing the workforce will be given by Adrian Coronado of Royal Holloway University of London and Paul Shakspeare of Shakspeare Services respectively.

Chris Little of Consuta Training and Chairman of Composites UK will be discussing the Composites Approved Practitioner (CAP) Scheme. This scheme will integrate new and existing education and training, developing standards by the industry, for the industry.

HS2 – Getting Composites Involved

On the second day of the conference, Darryl Stephenson, who is the Head of Value Engineering for HS2, will be talking about the opportunities there are for composite materials within the project.

The first phase will see the rail link built from London to Birmingham, with at least two more phases to follow HS2 is still in the first development phase, therefore there is still time to develop and deliver the composite opportunities presented here into successful, high profile, medium and high volume applications.

www.compositesuk.co.uk