UK materials innovation event is “phenominal success”

An event focusing on the richness of the UK materials research and innovation community has concluded as a “phenomenal success”.

Making the comments after the two-day 2018 Materials Research Exchange & Investor Showcase (MRE2018) came to a close yesterday (March 13), Dr Robert Quarshie, Head of Materials at organiser, the Knowledge Transfer Network, said the event has established itself as an event that brings together multiple stakeholders and industries.

“Materials Research Exchange 2018 has been a phenomenal success and is the established event focussed on research in the innovation of materials,” said Dr. Quarshie.

“The event attracted delegates from not only across the materials sector but a much wider range of sectors, as it provided a unique forum for increasing interactions between industry, researchers and policymakers from a range of disciplines and market sectors, across supply chains.”

The event, which last ran in 2014, was hailed an outstanding success with over 70 exhibitors showcasing their latest products and 1,300 delegates attending across the two days.

MRE2018 was officially opened by Lord Haskel, Deputy Speaker of House of Lords, where the conference and exhibition that followed welcomed over 80 influential speakers from across the industry and from within the wider industries with an interest in the materials sector.

On display at the event was a poster competition entered by graduate research students from universities across the UK, sponsored by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) and the winner was announced as Alexandra Groves, University College London.

The event also hosted teams of design students from Brunel University, Queen Mary University London and the Royal College of Art for the MaDE Challenge - Design for Materials Commercialisation.

“Innovation in Advanced materials is a UK strength and we were delighted to co-organise this exciting cross-sector conference. The event demonstrated the depth and breadth of UK materials research and presented opportunities to companies to grow their businesses through the research and innovation support available,” commented Ben Walsh, Lead Technologist in Advanced Materials at Innovate UK, who jointly organised the event with KTN.

You can watch a short video of the 2018 event below: