The Future of Manufacturing in the UK

A new report, ‘The Future of UK Manufacturing: A New Era of Opportunity and Challenge for the UK’, has just been published by the Government Office for Science.

The report looks at how manufacturing is set to enter a dynamic new phase, driven by rapid changes in technology, new ways of doing business, global competition and potential volatility in resource prices and availability. In addition to examining important changes facing the sector, the report puts forward a framework for Government and industry action to ensure that the UK manufacturing sector is able to compete and thrive in this new world.

Professor Nick Crafts, Director of CAGE, was one of the Lead Experts invited by the Government Office for Science to help them answer the question ‘What is the Future of Manufacturing in the UK?’ The lead experts were responsible for overseeing the writing of the report, commissioning research and providing advice to enable the Government Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir Mark Walport, to deliver the final report.

The scope of the report was primarily evidence-based looking at the main trends in manufacturing and considering the framework in which industrial policy should be conducted.

All of the project reports and supporting evidence papers are available for download from the Foresight website www.bis.gov.uk/foresight/manufacturing.

• The future of manufacturing - summary report (PDF, 2.4 MB)
• The future of manufacturing - project report (PDF, 5.5 MB)

There were 37 evidence papers produced as part of this project. Professor Crafts and Prof Alan Hughes (Cambridge) paper ‘Industrial Policy for the Medium and Long-term’ is available as part of the CAGE working paper series. To see a copy of the paper please visit our website.