Shooting for success: the launch of the Catapult centres

Hard at work in a series of very modern looking buildings dotted around the country, several teams of researchers are attempting to carefully construct the future of British manufacturing. In fact, if the seven organisations that comprise the High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult prove successful, they could play a major role in shaping industrial production around the world.

Launched in October 2011, the HVM Catapult is the first example of a key part of the government’s new industrial policy: a group of technology and innovation centres designed to bridge the gap between academic research and business in a number of key sectors. That the government even has an industrial policy is quite an amazing fact in itself given the last time the Conservative Party was in power it pretty much did away with the notion of state involvement with business. And the concept – and industry in general – remained rather unfashionable for the next 25 years.