UK-India dialogue on advanced manufacturing in Bengaluru

The grand finale of the series of UK-India manufacturing events held this year unfolded in Bengaluru from 10-12 September.

I worked with my colleagues Gagan, Leena, Tom, Bincy, Priyanka, and Venkatesh to deliver this 3-day programme, which was jointly organised by the UK Science & Innovation Network and UK Trade and Investment.

A 9-member UK delegation representing high value manufacturing (HVM) catapult centres, leading universities, and Innovate UK participated in site visits and invigorating discussions over three days. On day 1, we visited the Central Manufacturing Technology Institute (CMTI).

This was my second time; I was previously here in August! P V Shashi Kumar, director of the institute hosted us for the afternoon. Following a tour of the facilities, we had a productive round table discussion, which was chaired by Prof S Mohan, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. The consensus among the participants was that the institute could potentially collaborate with the UK catapult centres in many ways such as short-term exchange of personnel to mutually benefit from the use of each other’s facilities, and leveraging the CMTI’s expertise to validate early stage technologies. Nevertheless, it was acknowledged that the implementation of such initiatives would require access to suitable funding sources in each country.

On day 2, we visited ACE Designers Limited, located in the Peenya industrial area, Bengaluru. ACE Designers Limited is part of the Ace Micromatic Group, which specialises in computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools. The founders and managing directors of the conglomerate, Shrinivas Shirgurkar and Benedict Machado, hosted us, and showed us the breadth of their group’s expertise and capabilities.

Interestingly, both founders are alumni of the CMTI. The visiting UK delegation was impressed with what they saw on the factory floor, and later shared the UK’s ongoing work in emerging manufacturing technologies such as additive manufacturing, which could potentially complement the group’s current business model.

We then proceeded to spend the afternoon at the India Manufacturing Show at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre. Exhibitors included companies from several industry sectors such as aerospace, automotive, and energy.

Day 3 kicked off with a closed-door round table meeting in the morning to further expand on the ideas and recommendations, which were brought out during the bilateral discussion in April earlier this year. The Indian participants included representatives from the academia, industry, and government. Several suggestions emerged from the deliberations among the delegates. These included developing manufacturing-laced programmes for high school students, skilling of teachers, collaboration between HVM catapult centres and MSME’s tool rooms, and mapping the ecosystems of relevant manufacturing based organisations in India and the UK.

In the afternoon session, UK organisations – universities, catapult centres, companies –showcased their capabilities and ongoing projects in advanced manufacturing. Such coming together of the different UK manufacturing stakeholders at one place represented the entire spectrum of technology development i.e. technology readiness level (TRL) 1-9 was a first in India.

The eventful day ended with a networking reception hosted by Ian Felton, British Deputy High Commissioner Bangalore, followed by dinner. We were joined by the delegates from the concurrent UK-India workshop on infectious diseases and anti-microbial resistance. Lots of cross-sectoral conversations on manufacturing and anti-microbial resistance ensued with an awe-inspiring inter-disciplinary spirit!

If you’d like to either know more about the catapult centres or get in touch with any of the UK manufacturing experts, please drop me a line.

We plan to follow up on the several suggestions and recommendations offered by the participants to continue the momentum of the UK-India dialogue. Watch this space for updates on follow on activities in the future.