Advanced Manufacturing
The Northwest boasts some of the UKs most advanced manufacturing and engineering businesses with regional expertise that includes aerospace, automotive, chemicals and advanced flexible materials.
Aerospace: The region is recognised worldwide as a leader in the aerospace industry and has been home to the development over 100 models of aircraft. Contributing one third of the UK's entire GVA in the aerospace sector, Northwest companies such as BAE Systems generate £7 billion per year to the local economy.
>>> The Northwest Aerospace Alliance (NWAA): The NWAA is the flagship organisation representing some 750 member companies and stakeholders involved in the UK's premier aerospace cluster and the model for industry-led organisations throughout Europe.
Chemicals: Over 43,000 skilled workers are directly employed in the process industries which support a further 120,000 employees in the supply chain and related industries. The industry contributes £10bn to the Northwest economy - more than any other sector - and over half of the world's leading 50 chemicals companies have major bases in th
>>> Chemicals Northwest (CNW): Based at The Heath Business & Technology Park in Runcorn, Cheshire, Chemicals Northwest is the industry-led chemical cluster support organisation for the region. CNW represents the interests and activities of the chemical and chemistry-using industries, with many organisations being corporate or individual members. CNW’s Runcorn office now has the advantage of co-locating directly with the newly-launched national Chemistry Innovation Knowledge Transfer Network (CI KTN), and also Britest, bringing significant advantages for regional chemistry industry/academia.
Automotive: The automotive sector generates an annual turnover of £9 billion for the Northwest and boasts 450 automotive companies, 200 of which are major automotive supply chain companies, employing 43,000 people. The region's major players include Jaguar/ Land Rover based in Liverpool, Vauxhall in Ellesmere Port, and Cheshire based, Bentley Motors. Sixty years since the first car left the factiry, the Bently plant now produces close to its capacity of 10,000 cars per year with sales exceeding £800 million.
>>> The Northwest Automotive Alliance: The Northwest Automotive Alliance (NAA) aims to support the development of World Class Standards of excellence in Manufacture, Engineering, Supply Chain Management, Innovation and Workforce Skills for the Northwest Automotive Industry.
Textiles: The proud heritage within the textile trade has not been lost either as the region has become a pioneering region in the development of advanced textiles and today, posseses market leading expertise in fast-growing, highly specialised textiles, such as Advanced Flexible Materials (AFM)
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Case studies
- Lindisfarne Mead
Joint venture
With the help of RTC North, in 2007 Lindisfarne Mead finally won its 40 year f...
- Yorkshire Forward
Yorkshire Forward is the Regional Development Agency charged with improving the Yorkshire and Humber economy. RTC Nor...
- Trends Business Research
Future Matters worked with Trends Business Research (TBR) for 3 months in 2007. The main aim of our work together was...








