Workshop on Advanced Manufacturing in Bengaluru

As a follow up to the UK-India manufacturing round table held in New Delhi in April this year, I’m collaborating with my UKTI colleague, Venkatesh, to organise a one-day UK-India workshop on advanced manufacturing in Bengaluru on September 12, 2014.

If you’re interested in finding about the outcomes of the round table meeting, you might want to read the recently published report.

In a recent interview, the Indian Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Finance and Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, stated that manufacturing will be the focus of the imminent foreign trade policy. This sounds encouraging; the timing of the bilateral workshop could not be more appropriate! Interestingly, upon reviewing her profile on the Finance Ministry’s website, I found that Ms. Sitharaman had previously worked with the Agricultural Engineers Association, London. Also, she had a brief stint with the BBC World Service.

In his speech at the BIS Manufacturing Summit in Liverpool in June 2014, the British Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, underscored the ongoing role played by manufacturing in reviving the UK economy. He mentioned that the manufacturing sector had contributed around £140 billion in GVA (gross value added) last year alone.

For the invited delegates, the workshop will serve as the opportunity to elaborate on the recommendations, which emerged at the round table meeting. These include:

• Mapping manufacturing contributions to societal challenges
• Promotion of engagement between India and UK SMEs
• Sharing similarities and differences of UK & India manufacturing challenges and priorities in order to develop complementary initiatives
• Identifying global manufacturing trends for national industrial policy development
• Development of broader definitions of manufacturing
• Inspirational international engagement of young people
• Refreshment of manufacturing curricula
• Sharing of expertise and insights in the conduct of futures studies
• Identification of potential UK-India partnerships in ‘translational’ activities involving the UK’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult
• Identification of ‘game changing’ technologies e.g. ‘big data’, additive manufacturing
• Higher visibility for manufacturing opportunities including social networking

The visiting UK delegation will comprise experts from the academia, catapult centres, and industry. On the Indian side, we’ll involve a similar mix of delegates from within the academia, government and industry.

The anticipated outcomes of the workshop will potentially include identification of match funding opportunities for UK-India projects, establishment of a small executive UK-India manufacturing action group, and development of a rolling 1-year programme of relevant activities.

Participation in this workshop is by invitation only. However, if you’re interested in attending, please drop me a line.

What: UK-India workshop on advanced manufacturing
When: Friday – 12 September 2014 (9 AM to 4 PM)