The Industrial Opportunity: Mapping the Pathway to a Low-Carbon Future

In June, the UK Government published its new Industrial Strategy, setting out a 10-year framework designed to catalyse long-term investment, lift productivity and unlock sustainable economic growth. At its core, the Strategy aims to provide businesses with the certainty and stability required to invest at scale – moving beyond short-term signals toward durable industrial competitiveness.

The Strategy centres on eight priority sectors and frontier industries identified as having the greatest potential to drive growth and strategic advantage. These include advanced manufacturing, clean energy industries, defence and digital technologies, sectors that will be critical to modernising the UK economy, accelerating innovation and delivering the country’s net zero ambitions in parallel.  

Against this backdrop, this year’s Advanced Manufacturing & Industry Forum will focus on how these priorities are being translated from policy into action, with sessions focusing on:  

• Cutting Carbon Beyond the Grid: Decarbonising Clean Energy Manufacturing – Decarbonisation often focuses on transitioning away from fossil fuels, but the production of wind turbines, solar panels, batteries and other components carries a significant carbon footprint. This session explores the innovations and strategies driving reductions in embodied carbon across clean energy manufacturing.  

• The Industrial Opportunity: Building Domestic Supply Chains – As sectors such as offshore wind, hydrogen and CCUS scale rapidly, new opportunities are emerging across domestic supply chains. This session will highlight how British manufacturers with the right expertise, technologies and innovations can capitalise on these opportunities – rebuilding industrial capability, accelerating growth, mobilising investment, and creating economic opportunities for people and regions across the UK

Key thought leaders will address the complexities of decarbonising heavy industries and scaling green industrial processes, including:

• Yselkla Farmer, CEO, BEAMA
• Rob Gilbert, Director of Supply Chain, Great British Energy
• Tim Pick MBE, Chair, Offshore Wind Growth Partnership
• Jacqueline Castle, Chief Technology Officer, Aerospace Technology Institute
• Prof. Mercedes Maroto-Valer, Champion & Director, Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC)
• Raja Hanna, Head of Manufacturing Batteries, Finance and Innovative Technologies, Department for Business and Trade
• Jo Dally, Chief Business Officer, NCC
• James Clare, Director of Energy, Environment & Infrastructure, UK Ministry of Defence
• Andrew Kinniburgh, Director-General, Make UK Defence
• Rachel Cary, Head of Business Decarbonisation, Energy UK