The successful one-year i-Composites research programme was a £10 million competition run by the Technology Strategy Board on behalf of the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), known as the ‘Composites Grand Challenge’.
The i-Composites consortium of 22 cross-sector companies were led by GKN Aerospace and progressed 26 projects focused on five themes of research.
On 31 March 2011 i-Composites successfully concluded its unique challenge, having delivered:
- An innovative and fully collaborative programme of 22 small, medium and large UK companies sharing a range of innovations.
- Rapid technology which will reduce material costs, processing times and leverage automation to dramatic effect.
- New themes of research which have delivered step changed in technology while also identifying new future challenges.
- A programme of industrially funded outreach, public dissemination and ministerial reporting which continues to promot interest internationally.
- A range of outputs that will deliver the first direct commercial benefit of £7m within a year of programme end, and £200m in the longer term.
- A programme which demonstrates the UK as a world leader in composites across aerospace, automotive, marine and wind sectors and provides a voice to the industry.
A key element of the successful collaboration that was highlighted by both GKN and the Technology Strategy Board was the role of the independent Programme Management and Support Office provided by Axillium Research.
