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Coventry University part of bold vision to position West Midlands as global advanced manufacturing leader
Coventry University's Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME)
University news / Research news / Business news
Wednesday 27 May 2026
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A blueprint for the future of manufacturing in the Midlands has been published by a Coventry University-backed initiative.
Project Midlands Advanced Manufacturing Ecosystem (MADE) is a major initiative with the aim of positioning the West Midlands as a world-leading advanced manufacturing hub, potentially unlocking tens of thousands of jobs and billions in economic growth.
The initiative brings together Coventry University and a wide range of regional collaborators, including Unipart Manufacturing, HORIBA MIRA, Midlands Aerospace Alliance, Black Country Industrial Cluster (BCIC), Warwick Manufacturing Group, the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), Rigby Group, the West Midlands Combined Authority, WM Growth Company, Coventry City Council and the West Midlands Investment Zone, to strengthen the region’s advanced manufacturing sector and global competitiveness.
Project MADE has now launched its report - A vision and action plan for advanced manufacturing growth in the West Midlands – setting out a 10-year blueprint to create a globally competitive “advanced manufacturing supercluster”.
It outlines how co-ordinated action between industry, academia and the public sector could deliver £44 billion in annual output, create 50,000 new jobs and attract £1.6 billion in investment by 2035.
The report highlights the West Midlands as the UK’s industrial heartland and identifies the need for stronger co-ordination, increased investment, improved supply chain resilience and a step-change in skills to support future growth. Central to the plan is a new leadership body to align activity across the ecosystem and accelerate demand-led innovation.
Through its Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME) and Research Centre for Manufacturing and Materials (CMM), Coventry University will contribute to the development of the initiative’s future leadership structure, bringing expertise in applied research, innovation and skills to support the transition from research to industrial-scale production.
The region’s opportunity lies in turning a combination of world-class research and local industrial assets and capabilities into sustained, high-value production at scale. What we need to do now is to better connect these strengths to deliver innovation at scale.
Project MADE provides a clear and ambitious framework to do that by bringing together industry, academia and policymakers to drive long-term growth, strengthen supply chains and ensure that the region remains globally competitive in advanced manufacturing.
At Coventry University we are already demonstrating this in practice through our Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering. By embedding a university within a factory environment, we are showing how closer integration between academia and industry delivers real benefits for students, businesses and innovation.
Professor Marcos Kauffman, Director of CMM and AME at Coventry University
The report also warns that without co-ordinated action the UK risks losing ground as global competitors accelerate investment in advanced technologies, electrification and automation. It calls for urgent collaboration to close gaps in productivity and skills while unlocking new opportunities for businesses to scale.
Bringing research, skills and production together helps accelerate the path from ideas to real-world application, while developing the highly skilled workforce that industry needs.
Coventry University will continue to play a central role in this effort, working with collaborators to translate innovation into production and support regional growth. By aligning expertise across the region, Project MADE can help secure the West Midlands’ position at the forefront of advanced manufacturing and drive sustainable economic growth for the UK.
Professor Carl Perrin, Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Coventry University
Read the report here.
