World class research centre to accelerate UK engineering

The £25 million Advanced Forming Research Centre will develop forming and forging technologies to support the design and manufacture of new products, including components and structures for aircraft wings and body parts, engines, cars, ships, medical devices, power generation and wind turbines.

The Centre - the first of its kind in the UK - is a collaborative venture between the University of Strathclyde, Scottish Enterprise, and engineering firms including Boeing, Mettis Aerospace and Rolls-Royce. It will make the UK's engineering sector even more competitive globally by delivering advanced products to the market place quicker and more cost effectively.

A bespoke building at Inchinnan, Renfrewshire, will open in early 2010 and will house cutting edge machinery, enabling the University's internationally renowned researchers to engineer new technologies on production scale equipment. The new Centre will also attract more top class researchers to the region - including a new professor funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council's 'Star Appointment' scheme.