WMG News - Latest news from WMG

Hundreds of West Midlands-based manufacturing businesses are set to benefit from a new £15m programme, providing expert support and funding to help them capitalise on a new wave of economic opportunities, driven by the flagship West Midlands Investment Zone (WMIZ).

The Supply Chain Transition (SCT) programme will help SMEs strengthen supply chains, access R&D funding, and upskill their workforce for growth in sectors such as clean tech, electric vehicles, health tech, and digital manufacturing.

Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) has already begun delivering the programme, through its Developing Future Sustainable Manufacturing Leaders programme, which provides future manufacturing leaders with the confidence, skills and insights to lead their businesses towards sustainable success.

The safe and responsible deployment of generative AI for financial advice is being addressed by experts at Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), University of Warwick after securing new UKFin+ funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The 12-month collaborative research project, led by WMG’s Dr Anita Khadka and Professor Carsten Maple, comes amid growing concern about AI-generated misinformation, hallucinated advice, and regulatory uncertainty in high-risk financial contexts that has the potential to mislead consumers, and disrupt markets.

Working with experts from Keele University and Coventry University, the Responsible AI Systems for Ethical Finance project will investigate how Large Language models, such as GPT-4, perform when applied to real-world financial contexts (e.g., investment advice, credit scoring and customer facing automation). It will explore how hallucination risks can be detected, managed, and governed.

WMG is celebrating significant success after two collaborative projects, AeroMC and ZEST, secured major wins at the 2025 Aerospace Technology and Innovation Awards. Hosted by the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) as part of its annual conference, the awards recognise the pioneering research and development projects paving the way for zero-carbon aviation. This year, WMG was part of the winning projects that scooped the Team Award and the Shaping the Future Award, highlighting its leading role in advanced manufacturing and sustainable aerospace technology.

WMG has been chosen to deliver the Innovation Lighthouse Programme, designed to empower and upskill small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Bromsgrove and Redditch. Combining WMG’s manufacturing expertise, academic and research excellence, and world-class facilities, the programme will help SMEs grow whilst becoming more competitive and resilient. 

WMG has launched a new undergraduate programme, BEng Robotics Engineering with Artificial Intelligence (AI), expanding its undergraduate education portfolio. The course has been developed in response to significant technological transformations across industry, driven by the increasing use of robotics and AI.

The University of Warwick and the Tata Group have won the Royal Academy of Engineering’s highly esteemed Bhattacharyya Award for their pioneering partnership.

Launched in 2019 to honour the late Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya — founder of Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), University of Warwick — the award recognises long-term, impactful collaboration between academia and industry, and celebrates the projects that help make our world a better, more sustainable place.

The award is a testament to the commitment of both the University and Tata Group to pushing boundaries, driving innovation, and delivering high-level research, whilst helping secure the future of UK industry globally.

Goldman Sachs and WMG announced the launch of their partnership for an inaugural Digital and Technology Solutions undergraduate degree apprenticeship programme in Birmingham.

This new initiative builds on the decade-long success of the firm's established London apprenticeship programme, offering school leavers a unique pathway to gain invaluable professional experience at Goldman Sachs while simultaneously earning a fully funded university degree in engineering.

This significant expansion underscores Goldman Sachs' deep commitment to fostering talent and investing in the UK's future workforce. It follows the firm's £1.5 million pledge earlier this year to the West Midlands Combined Authority levy transfer scheme. These funds are dedicated to empowering small and medium-sized businesses, charities, and social enterprises across the region to invest in staff development, with a particular focus on critical digital skills.

Key visits to WMG in September 2025 

WMG was pleased to showcase its world-class research facilities and education programmes to international organisations, such as the Monash Centre for Additive Manufacturing, the UK Academic Alliance for Pavement and Highway Engineering and Beijing Research Institute of Chemical Industry, throughout September.

•  WMG and Wayve create first system-agnostic framework to improve AI safety
• Closing the AI safety gap is critical to the real-world deployment of autonomous vehicles globally

• WMG Professor presents framework to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)

Experts at WMG, University of Warwick and Wayve – a leading AI technology developer – have created the first system-agnostic framework designed to bring a standardised, scientific approach to the testing of datasets for self-driving vehicles.