Detailing the technologies encompassed in Electech from electronics to photonics the Electech sector: a roadmap for the UK report reviews the technology of Electech and lays out a roadmap for the sector including: trends and drivers, application areas, system level capabilities, technologies and enablers.
The report published by Innovate UK, with contributions from all Electech sectors including photonics, examines the industrial sectors that most rely on and benefit from Electech: aerospace, automotive, healthcare, manufacturing, consumer and retail.
Key recommendations for industry and government, outlining the ways in which Electech can enable UK industry to deliver innovation and increase productivity and competitiveness include:-
The electech sector should:
- improve promotion of enabling electech technologies to all UK industry sectors as a way to deliver innovation, increase productivity and competitiveness in a skills-scarce environment
- orchestrate its sub-sectors to work more closely together, frame their long-term individual and collective interests in a common vision
- develop a comprehensive measure of its composition, scale and economic impact, both nationally and regionally
- work more closely with universities and further education colleges for the design and delivery of higher education courses to address skills gaps and encourage students to enhance their skills and employability through work placements and relevant projects
UK industries should:
- consider innovation in electech technologies when drawing up their strategies and roadmaps and when seeking support from government
- invest in realising the cross-cutting benefit of electech technologies in new application areas
- ensure acceptance of UK electech in international markets through continued UK influence in development of international standards that support safe data exchange, communication, interoperability,
compliance and testing
Government should
- recognise the cross-cutting role electech technology will play in delivering the Industrial Strategy’s grand challenges and the associated Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund programmes
- support research and development in electech to meet the challenge of integrating technologies into systems, of providing demonstrator and test facilities and of developing longer term programmes for new strategic electech capabilities that will have wider applicability across UK industry sectors
- promote UK excellence in electech abroad to support exports and international collaboration in research and innovation
- develop ambitious public-private partnerships to invest in capital intensive plant facilities and advanced manufacturing processes using the compound semiconductors cluster in South Wales as an example
- work with the electech sector to address skills shortages by promoting and extending activities that encourage more young people from more diverse backgrounds to study electech science and engineering disciplines and to pursue engineering careers in the sector