Foresight Fellowship in Manufacturing - The Future of Additive Manufacturing
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Nottingham
Department Name: Faculty of Engineering
Abstract
Additive Manufacturing (AM) is seen as an underpinning technology that will enable developments in other scientific areas and will cut across all sectors. It is being used in a wide variety of research from topology optimisation, optics, flow chemistry, regenerative medicine and many 'traditional' engineering areas. The importance of AM to the UK economy has been identified in a number of recent reports, with Innovate UK defining it as one of the UK's 22 priority process technologies.
The vision of this fellowship is to scope the possibilities and see UK academics inventing entirely new AM processes that are orders of magnitude faster than current processes, and to establish a UK Strategy for Additive Manufacturing that enables and accelerates UK industry to be world-leading at exploiting the technology.
This Fellowship will marry academics from disciplines such as physics, chemistry and materials with the existing AM community in the UK to explore the potential for volume processing materials at high speed. Objectives are to:
Investigate Volumetric AM processes
Enthuse other academics to take up the challenges of next generation AM
Introduce these new academics to the existing AM community
Encourage the new community to generate radically new ideas
Assist the community to develop feasibility studies and full proposals for funding
There will also be activity to engage academics in the process to develop a UK Strategy and Implementation Plan.
This will occur by taking a dual approach across the value chain from discovery at low TRLs in a new research agenda to deployment at higher TRLs with a UK national strategy to provide a clear route to implementation paving the pathway to adoption of AM in UK industry.
Specific research outputs from this will be working visits each way with opportunities for researchers and academics to collaborate on innovative ideas for Volumetric Processing. This will also lead to stronger academic/industry links within the UK. It is expected that there will be joint publications and generation of IP and spin-outs.
The research undertaken within this Fellowship will complement current work at the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Additive Manufacturing and a proposed activity under a SAVI (Science Across Virtual Institutes) programme funded by NSF and EPSRC. Individually these activities can stand alone, but combined will offer a great opportunity for UK Science and Engineering.
A major output of the Fellowship will be an ambitious and challenging new area of research for UK academics in Volumetric AM. The UK will lead this exciting new area. There would also be the opportunity to assist the Government and EPSRC in the definition and implementation of research policy. The national work in AM fits directly to the EPSRC strategy as AM is one of the priorities for EPSRC, and falls into the theme of Manufacturing the Future.
Both of these activities are timely in that there is an urgent need to increase the processing speed of AM and also to ensure that the UK benefits in all areas of manufacturing, commerce and society through a coherent and clear strategy and implementation plan for maximum exploitation.
The key outcomes of this Fellowship will be:
An integrated community of academics investigating Volumetric AM with twice the number of research projects.
At least 4 new concepts identified as possible routes for Volumetric AM.
A UK strategy and implementation plan for AM which has been actioned and updated leading to an increase in the UK market share by x2.
The vision of this fellowship is to scope the possibilities and see UK academics inventing entirely new AM processes that are orders of magnitude faster than current processes, and to establish a UK Strategy for Additive Manufacturing that enables and accelerates UK industry to be world-leading at exploiting the technology.
This Fellowship will marry academics from disciplines such as physics, chemistry and materials with the existing AM community in the UK to explore the potential for volume processing materials at high speed. Objectives are to:
Investigate Volumetric AM processes
Enthuse other academics to take up the challenges of next generation AM
Introduce these new academics to the existing AM community
Encourage the new community to generate radically new ideas
Assist the community to develop feasibility studies and full proposals for funding
There will also be activity to engage academics in the process to develop a UK Strategy and Implementation Plan.
This will occur by taking a dual approach across the value chain from discovery at low TRLs in a new research agenda to deployment at higher TRLs with a UK national strategy to provide a clear route to implementation paving the pathway to adoption of AM in UK industry.
Specific research outputs from this will be working visits each way with opportunities for researchers and academics to collaborate on innovative ideas for Volumetric Processing. This will also lead to stronger academic/industry links within the UK. It is expected that there will be joint publications and generation of IP and spin-outs.
The research undertaken within this Fellowship will complement current work at the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Additive Manufacturing and a proposed activity under a SAVI (Science Across Virtual Institutes) programme funded by NSF and EPSRC. Individually these activities can stand alone, but combined will offer a great opportunity for UK Science and Engineering.
A major output of the Fellowship will be an ambitious and challenging new area of research for UK academics in Volumetric AM. The UK will lead this exciting new area. There would also be the opportunity to assist the Government and EPSRC in the definition and implementation of research policy. The national work in AM fits directly to the EPSRC strategy as AM is one of the priorities for EPSRC, and falls into the theme of Manufacturing the Future.
Both of these activities are timely in that there is an urgent need to increase the processing speed of AM and also to ensure that the UK benefits in all areas of manufacturing, commerce and society through a coherent and clear strategy and implementation plan for maximum exploitation.
The key outcomes of this Fellowship will be:
An integrated community of academics investigating Volumetric AM with twice the number of research projects.
At least 4 new concepts identified as possible routes for Volumetric AM.
A UK strategy and implementation plan for AM which has been actioned and updated leading to an increase in the UK market share by x2.
Planned Impact
The proposed activities will catalyse and enable new research opportunities across a broad spectrum of Additive Manufacturing research, with benefit to a wide industrial, academic and societal community. The UK Strategy and Implementation Plan will benefit a wide variety of industrial sectors such as aerospace, automotive, healthcare, defence and different groups in research, education, training, finance and many others.
People |
ORCID iD |
Phill Dickens (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Description | A UK Strategy for Additive Manufacturing has been produced. |
Exploitation Route | A UK Strategy for Additive Manufacturing is being implemented. |
Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Agriculture Food and Drink Chemicals Construction Creative Economy Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Electronics Energy Financial Services and Management Consultancy Healthcare Government Democracy and Justice Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology Retail Transport |
URL | http://am-uk.org/ |
Description | A key output has been a UK Strategy for Additive Manufacturing. |
First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Agriculture, Food and Drink,Construction,Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology,Transport |
Impact Types | Economic Policy & public services |
Description | 3D Printing: Reinventing UK Manufacturing in the 21st Century - Houses of Parliament |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Meeting at the Houses of Parliament for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Manufacturing to discuss 3D Printing. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | AM Strategy Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | A workshop to explore AM opportunities in Sectors and to kick-start the Thematic Workgroups |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Ad+it 2018, Steyr, Austria |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Made a presentation on the UK AM Strategy and lessons learned. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Additive Manufacturing talk at Imperial College |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Produce talk on Additive Manufacturing |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Congress of Advanced Manufacturing and Machine Tools, San Sebastion |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Presentation on the formulation of the UK Strategy for Additive Manufacturing. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | East Midlands AM & 3DP Cluster Meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | First meeting of the East Midlands AM & 3DP Cluster meeting |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Emerging technology initiatives lessons learned event - Additive manufacturing presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Presentation to policy group at the Royal Academy of Engineering on lessons learnt from developing a UK national strategy |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Expert Workshop on Future Trends in Manufacturing and their Implications for Energy Usage: The Case for Additive Manufacturing |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Workshop to discuss implications of Additive Manufacturing on energy usage. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | KTN AM Special Interest Group Breakfast Meeting Daresbury |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to help industry understand the benefits of Additive Manufacturing. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | KTN AM Special Interest Group Breakfast Meeting London |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to help industry understand the benefits of Additive Manufacturing. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | KTN AM Special Interest Group Breakfast Meeting Peterborough |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to help industry understand the benefits of Additive Manufacturing. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | KTN AM Special Interest Group Breakfast Meeting Sunderland |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Meeting to help industry understand the benefits of Additive Manufacturing. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | KTN AM Special Interest Group Huddersfield |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | KTN AM Special Interest Group Breakfast Meeting |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | KTN AM Special Interest Group Portsmouth |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | KTN Breakfast meeting |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | KTN AM Special Interest Group Ripon |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | KTN Breakfast meeting |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Marine AM Strategy event |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | A workshop with the Marine sector to explore possibilities of Additive manufacturing. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/exploring-innovation-in-additive-manufacturing-and-rapid-prototyping-i... |
Description | Presentation at 3D Food Printing Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Presentation on the UK AM Strategy. A follow-on workshop is planned to roadmap research strategy. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.manufacturingfoodfutures.com/manufacturingfoodfutures/documents/workshop-doc.pdf |
Description | Presentation at 3DP-RDM workshops - Cambridge - 13-14th January 2016 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presentation on the UK AM Strategy and opportunities for academics |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | https://capturingthevalue.wordpress.com/2015/11/27/3dp-rdm-dissemination-and-scoping-workshops/ |
Description | Presentation at AVS Conference, Palo Alto |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presentation on AM Research in the UK |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.avssymposium.org/Account/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2f |
Description | Presentation at HP |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Presentation on UK AM Strategy and research at University of Nottingham |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Presentation at Metrology for Additive Manufacturing, MTC |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | A presentation on the UK AM Strategy |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/3dprg/documents/metrology-am-flyer.pdf |
Description | Presentation at Missouri University of Science and Technology |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Presentation to AM Research Group at Missouri University of Science and Technology. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Presentation to 3D-PRINTING AND ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING IN HEALTHCARE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP (SIG) run by Medilink |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | A presentation on the UK Strategy was made. Pharma sector is now involved in the UK Strategy for AM. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.medilinkem.com/events/events-list/2015/09/23/3dprintingaddmansig230915 |
Description | Presentation to board of EAMA on UK AM Strategy |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | A presentation was made to EAMA on the UK AM Strategy. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Research into Volume Additive Manufacturing |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A workshop at Durham University to introduce academics to the concept of Volume Additive Manufacturing so that they could formulate proposals to EPSRC. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | UK Additive Manufacturing Strategy |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Gave a presentation to TCT attendees on the status of the UK Additive Manufacturing Strategy |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHx87HyVe5E |
Description | Visit to AM labs by U3A |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A group from U3A Grantham visited the AM labs. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |