WMG Chairman and Founder, Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, has been recognised in the Coventry Telegraph Business Awards with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

The award was presented at the Coventry Telegraph Business Awards ceremony on Friday (19 June) at the Ricoh Arena.

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognises Professor Lord Bhattacharyya’s contribution and the key role he has played in enhancing the region’s long-standing reputation for research and innovation in the automotive sector. The establishment of WMG and now the National Automotive Innovation Centre keeps the region at the forefront of the development of new technologies, all in collaboration with the motor industry. He also played a major role in securing thousands of jobs by helping to broker Tata Motor’s purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford. Now Jaguar Land Rover is stronger than ever, providing thousands of jobs for people in Coventry and Warwickshire and investing billions in research and development.

Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, Chairman and Founder of WMG at the University of Warwick, explores the research challenges facing the automotive sector in his first paper for a Royal Society journal.

In “Smarter – lighter – greener: research innovations for the automotive sector” he writes about how legislation controlling vehicle emissions has brought urgency to research underpinning the industry, with a more rapid development of technologies than at any time in the past century.

Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, Chairman of WMG at the University of Warwick, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Monash University in a ceremony held on Wednesday 20th May in Melbourne, Australia.

Awarded in recognition of reinvigorating global manufacturing and advising industry and international governments over the last thirty years, Monash University cited Professor Lord Bhattacharyya’s success in building WMG into a “unique group focused on academic engineering, research and business education”.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya founded WMG in 1980 to help reinvigorate UK manufacturing. From its inception WMG’s mission has been to improve the competitiveness of organisations through the application of value adding innovation, new technologies and skills deployment, bringing academic rigour to industrial and organisational practice. Today it is a world-leading research and education group and the largest single organisation dealing in the multi-disciplinary facets of manufacturing developments.

WMG Founder and Chairman, Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, has been recognised by Lord Kenneth Baker for his significant contribution to professional education in the UK.

In his comments made during a House of Lords debate on improved vocational alternatives for young people, Lord Baker said:

Through the Warwick Manufacturing Group, [Lord Bhattacharyya] has driven forward the reputation of Warwick University to become one of the best universities in the world. He has also supported, I am glad to say, the university technical college [WMG Academy for Young Engineers] opened only last month…His personal contribution in the whole scale of technical education is quite remarkable.”

See video: Parliament TV

The Manufacturing Excellence Awards (MX), run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), were held at the University of Warwick on 30th September. Ahead of the ceremony, Professor Lord Bhattacharyya hosted a drinks reception for the nominees and guests in WMG's International Digital Laboratory.

Guests were welcomed by Lord Bhattacharyya and Colin Brown, Engineering Director at the IMechE, and given private tours of WMG's materials research and Energy Innovation Centre.

MX is a business improvement and awards programme that supports and promotes manufacturers in the UK ensuring industry productivity and worldwide competitiveness within SMEs, Mid-Caps and OEMs. WMG has been a partner of the MX Awards for many years and Professor Lord Bhattacharyya said:

The MX awards show the very best of British manufacturing, and I’m delighted to congratulate every company and every innovator who has had a part to play in the success stories being highlighted this evening"

On Friday 11th July Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, Chairman of WMG, attended the Admission Ceremony for New Fellows of the Royal Society to sign the Charter Book. The Royal Society and the Fellowship, gained by Lord Bhattacharyya, is the highest accolade possible in British science.

The Royal Society was formed in 1660 at the time of the Restoration of the Monarchy, and was given a Royal Charter by King Charles II in 1662. He provided the Society with a magnificent gold Mace, to signify the "presence" of the Monarch at all formal meetings of the Society - and the Ceremony commenced with the pomp of a procession of the Officers and Senior Official of the Society behind the Mace.

Each of the 59 new Fellows, after their citation were read to the audience of 300, were invited by the President to sign the Charter Book (which contains the signatures of all Fellows since 1662). After the signing The President, Sir Paul Nurse, of The Royal Society, formally admitted each new Fellow - "I do by the authority and in the name of the Royal Society of London for improving natural knowledge admit you a Fellow thereof".
 
Lord Bhattacharyya's formal admission to Fellowship was an honourable recognition for WMG’s Chairman, although he acknowledges that WMG is what it is today not only because of his vision but because of the commitment and hard work of each member of staff.

Previous: Professor Lord Bhattacharyya elected as a Fellow of The Royal Society

It has been announced today that Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya has been elected as a Fellow of The Royal Society.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya has been recognised and made a Fellow for his contribution to engineering research and education. As Chairman and founder of WMG his mission, for the last 34 years, has been to improve the competitiveness of industry through innovative collaborative research, educational and knowledge transfer programmes. It has a global reputation in automotive research, the built environment, digital technology and healthcare systems. He was the primary architect of the Integrated Graduate Development Scheme, now considered best practice in CPD by many Universities, and was the first to run the Eng Doc programme on similar principles. In 30 years, the Education programmes have involved over 25,000 individuals and over 500 UK companies. Professor Lord Bhattacharyya has received many international honours, awards and honorary doctorates.

Founder and Chairman of WMG, Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, has been presented with a Coventry Award of Merit, an honour established in order to highlight the efforts of local people in raising the profile and reputation of the City.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya was chosen as a recipient of the prestigious award for his outstanding personal achievement as the founder of WMG, raising the status of engineering and manufacturing in the UK and for his service to the promotion of the University of Warwick and the City of Coventry.

Chairman and Founder of WMG, Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, has been recognised by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar with an honorary award which was presented to him earlier this month.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya was conferred with the degree of D.Sc. (Honoris Causa) during the 2^nd Convocation of the Institute held on 7^th September.

The award was presented to him by the Honorable President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, who also delivered the Convocation Address at the ceremony.

It has been announced, today, by the Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts that WMG’s Applied Engineering Programme will be one of the programmes benefiting from a £50m Catalyst Fund.

WMG, at the University of Warwick, has an established reputation of working with business and industry to deliver cutting-edge research, innovative products and services, and world class education programmes.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, Chairman and Founder of WMG said “We welcome this announcement from HEFCE which will help us to continue to deliver an education programme that meets the needs of industry. It is vital that our engineers have the right skills and knowledge to be able to develop world-class products that keep the UK on the global stage.”

The new Applied Engineering Programme is aimed at advancing industry-relevant skills of graduate engineers and those working in advanced manufacturing. A novel learning environment will focus on Manufacturing Engineering or Product Development Engineering, which will be taken into the workplace including through higher apprenticeships. The programme, will focus initially on the automotive sector, with Jaguar Land Rover as an initial co-investor.