Roundtable on UK-India manufacturing policy

Last month on April 9, my colleagues – Leena Arora (Science and Innovation Network) and Abhirup Dasgupta (UK Trade and Investment) – and I collaborated with the Institute for Manufacturing at the University of Cambridge to organise a roundtable discussion on UK-India manufacturing policy in New Delhi.

While the UK speakers came from organisations including the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), Government Office for Science, and the High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult, the Indian speakers represented the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, and the Global Innovation & Technology Alliance.

Apart from insightful talks from the speakers, Prof. Sir Mike Gregory chaired an engaging group discussion, which elicited ideas, suggestions, and recommendations for UK-India partnerships in advanced manufacturing from the delegates.

A sampling of the responses included linking the centres of excellence of the two nations, creating a web portal to share best practices and knowledge, and promoting technology transfer through university-industry partnerships. The delegates at the workshop acknowledged that it was necessary to understand the manufacturing challenges and priorities of the UK and India, in order to develop complementary initiatives. Partnerships between Indian organisations and the HVM Catapult, quality of engineering degrees, addressing societal problems through manufacturing, and effective dialogue between industry and government were among a slew of issues, which were deliberated upon during the group discussion.

 The day ended with a reception hosted by Sir James Bevan, the British High Commissioner to India, at his residence in New Delhi.

According to the Foresight report on the future of manufacturing in the UK, the manufacturing sector contributed £139 billion to the UK GDP and accounted for 53% of all UK exports in 2012. Over 70% of total UK business R&D expenditure was associated with manufacturing during 2000-11. The report proposes three systemic areas for the UK to focus on moving forward:

• integrated value creation
• targeted approach towards the value chain,
• and policy coordination over the long term.

The national manufacturing policy of India released in 2011 aims at increasing the contribution of manufacturing to the GDP by 25% and creating 100 million jobs – both by 2022, increasing the technological depth in manufacturing, enhancing the global competitiveness of Indian manufacturing, creating appropriate skill sets, and ensuring sustainability of growth with regard to the environment.

If you wish to catch up with the latest in advanced manufacturing, you might want to attend these events happening later this year:

• 19 June: BIS Manufacturing Summit 2014 in Liverpool, UK
• 07-09 July: International Conference on Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing in Nottingham, UK
• 11-13 September: India Manufacturing Show in Bengaluru, India