Tata Steel and Royce to set up new advanced materials centre

The new organisation will be located at the Royce Institute’s headquarters at the University of Manchester, with Tata Steel set to invest £10m into the venture over the next four years. According to the partners, research will focus on medical materials, 2D materials, and second-life materials with an emphasis on reuse and recycling.

“This important Royce collaboration with Tata Steel further underscores the opportunities for advanced materials and manufacturing both in the North West and across the UK – securing the experience and reach of a global player in materials manufacturing to further accelerate the translation of materials-based technologies to address challenges in health, sustainability and net-zero,” said Professor David Knowles, Royce CEO.

“Critically the Centre leverages on Royce’s national network of partners to support a project which has a foot in the North West. We are looking forward to this programme building momentum for the region and feeding into a number of national supply chains supporting regional economic growth around the UK.”

According to Tata Steel, its business is expanding to encompass areas including composites, graphene, and medical materials. The research programme at the new centre will not only focus on these materials, but also explore other 2D and second-life materials. Establishing recycling technologies for materials is claimed to be a core tenet of the new endeavour.

“The establishment of the Centre for Innovation in the UK represents a strategic move for Tata Steel towards harnessing the global technology and innovation ecosystem,” said Tata Steel CEO & MD, TV Narendran.

“The Centre at Royce will enable us to work with world-class scientists and a rich partner network to create sustainable, breakthrough, market-ready applications for the benefit of both the company and the community.”