A new £5.5 million national institute is to be launched to ensure that the UK has the technical capability and capacity across academia, research, education, and innovation to enable the UK to be a global superpower in science, engineering, and the creative industries.

The UK Institute of Technical Skills and Strategy (ITSS) is funded by Research England, which is part of UK Research and Innovation. It is being hosted by the University of Nottingham in partnership with a network of organisations and institutions across UK higher education and research, including the University of Warwick.

Technical professionals enable research and innovation in our universities and institutes and build, maintain and enable the use of the UK’s research infrastructure. Despite their critical contributions to UK R&D and HE, technical roles have experienced a lack of visibility, recognition and career development. Career pathways and professional development (PD) can be poor, and an aging workforce means that large numbers of skilled technicians are retiring.

The new institute will focus on technical skills, roles and careers, and their contributions to the economy and how the technical talent and know-how required to fulfil the government’s ambitions for the UK to become an innovation nation can be delivered.

WMG, University of Warwick, is supporting the Gatsby Charitable Foundation’s Technicians: We Make the Difference campaign.

We Make the Difference is a campaign by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation that aims to educate parents and young people alike on technician careers.

While some technicians work in a lab, most don't. Technicians are making a difference across society, doing exciting and interesting jobs in almost all industries. It's their balance of scientific, engineering, or technological knowledge with skills like attention to detail and critical thinking that makes technicians special. That can be almost anything - from making a life-saving vaccine to working behind the scenes at a music festival and with thousands of other interesting technician roles across almost every kind of industry - there's a good chance that there will be one out there that you would enjoy.

Find about more about how technicians make a difference every day via www.technicians.org.uk.

Over the next 8 weeks we will be showcasing the technical talent we have at Warwick. This will include introductions to 8 of our highly skilled technical staff working across 6 departments, but also hearing from Deputy PVCs, HoDs, senior administrators and our Sustainability Champions on their experience of working alongside technical staff.