Global leaders in the engineering industry attended a high-profile event to hear about cutting-edge technology and celebrate 50 years of the Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) was among the partners of the Driving Technological Change within British Manufacturing event in the build-up to the British Grand Prix at the Northamptonshire circuit.
Around 240 delegates attended the one-day event which attracted industry leaders and organisations to discuss a wide range of topics in a series of seminars and question and answer panels.
Paul Bostock, senior manager, hybrids and electrification at Jaguar Land Rover, and Mark Amor-Segan, principal engineer at Warwick Manufacturing Group, were part of a discussion on energy capture and storage while Dominic Cartwright, managing director of Prodrive Composites, spoke about innovations and developments within the sector.
Pete Richings, Director of Engineering Technical Services at Jaguar Land Rover and CWLEP board member, said it had been a fascinating day which had identified advances in technology and new opportunities for the UK supply chain.
He said: “Coventry and Warwickshire has a global reputation in the engineering world for its innovative work which is constantly raising the bar.
“It was interesting to hear how state-of-the-art technology can be transferred from motorsport to automotive and other areas.
“There are elements of processes involved in motorsport which can be used to improve industries you wouldn’t necessarily think of such as insurance, logistics and products because of the way elements of each task are completed quickly and efficiently which we see in the pit lane during each Grand Prix.
“Skills are widely transferrable since each area of engineering is a hot-bed of development and it was exciting to hear some of the initiatives being developed as well as to debate topics such as regulations within motorsport influencing future developments in the mainstream automotive sector.
“The message was clear from the speakers who are all experts in their field – there is a huge skills base in the UK which we should be proud of.
“It was clear there continues to be great opportunities for businesses within the supply chain as well as global automotive companies to build on the success we are currently enjoying since engineering is a world-wide market which is growing.”
The one-day event was developed by Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership in association with Local Enterprise Partnerships in Coventry and Warwickshire, the South East Midlands, Oxfordshire, Leicestershire and Bucks Thames Valley together with UK Trade and Investment, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Automotive Council, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and the Motor Industry Association.