Vince Cable and Mark
Prisk unveil plans for “Make it in Great Britain” campaign and exhibition
Captains of
industry from world leading UK companies are backing a new
Government campaign to highlight the best of modern British
manufacturing at an exhibition during the Olympic Games.
Business Secretary Vince Cable and Business Minister Mark Prisk
have today formally launched the Make it in Great Britain
campaign, which aims to transform outdated views of UK
manufacturing and dispel the myth that Britain ‘doesn’t make
anything anymore’.
Senior traders such as Joe Greenwell from Ford of Britain,
William Butler-Adams from Brompton Bicycles and Michael Ryan from
Bombardier Aerospace are behind the campaign. They will act as the
first ‘industry champions’ taking formal roles as part of the
campaign and supporting its work.
The exhibition will take place at the Science Museum and will run
from 24 July to 9 September 2012. The campaign builds on the
already successful See Inside Manufacturing initiative
and will celebrate the successes of the manufacturing sector and
encourage young people to consider a career in the industry. There
will also be a specific element, the Make it in Great Britain
Challenge, focusing on new innovations yet to be brought to the
market.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said:
“Manufacturing is our most exportable sector and is at the heart
of our long term economic vision. We have outstanding
manufacturing companies, both large and small and today I want to
call on them to join us in being part of the Make it in Great
Britain campaign.
“The Science Museum is home to some of the greatest technological
advances in history, so what better place for us to exhibit the
very best of British manufacturing as it stands today.”
Mark Prisk also announced that the campaign will be looking to
recruit 30 rising stars of manufacturing under the age of 30, ‘30
under 30’, to inspire young people with their own experiences and
support the campaign.
Manufacturing Minister Mark Prisk said:
”I’m very pleased that Joe Greenwell, William Butler-Adams and
Michael Ryan, to name a few, have volunteered to be our first
industry champions, I know they and their colleagues will bring
great enthusiasm and drive to the campaign.
”Historic British innovations such as Stephenson’s Rocket have
been inspiring young people to be engineers for generations.
But we, along with industry want to show off the best, most
innovative examples of British manufacturing as it is today. The
modern reality is much more exciting than people may believe and
the feedback from our existing See Inside Manufacturing
initiative bears that out. I want that reality to inspire our
young people to be our inventors, engineers and technicians of the future.”
Synonymous with advances in technology and home to examples of
some of the greatest manufacturing feats in the world, the Science
Museum has been selected as the perfect venue at which to display
British manufacturing excellence next summer.
Director of the Science Museum Ian Blatchford commented:
“We’re incredibly excited to be hosting next year’s Make it
in Great Britain Exhibition. The Science Museum and its
world leading collections demonstrate some of the greatest
engineering achievements of the last 200 years. We hope that as
many people as possible visit the Exhibition, and see at
first-hand how innovation in British manufacturing is still
thriving today”
Notes to editors
1. Background to the British Manufacturing sector:
a. The UK is one of the world’s largest manufacturers. The sector
contributes £140bn pa to UK economy (11.1% of GDP in 2009 –
similar to France and US, but well below Germany at over 20%).
b. Manufacturing is responsible for 55% of UK exports and over
2.5m workforce jobs.
c. Manufacturing accounts for 74% of all business expenditure on
UK R&D.
d. Around a third of the 1,600 new inward foreign direct
investment projects in 2009 were in the areas of advanced
manufacturing, life sciences, ICT and environmental technology.
2. The See Inside Manufacturing initiative has seen
companies in the UK automotive industry throw open their doors to
give students the chance to see one of the UK's vanguard
industries and learn more about careers. Data following the pilot
of the See Inside Manufacturing initiative showed:
a. 95% of those surveyed said their knowledge about the careers
and opportunities available in the automotive sector is better
than before.
b. 82% of those surveyed said their perception of the career
opportunities within the Car Industry is more positive.
c. 82% of those surveyed said they are more likely to advise
their students/contacts to consider a career in the automotive sector.
3. The Business Secretary and Mark Prisk launched the Make it
in Great Britain campaign at a stakeholder event in Central
London attended by 150 of Britain’s manufacturers and trade
associations. Photos will be available shortly on the BIS Flickr
site www.flickr.com/photos/bisgovuk
4. The call for industry champions to take part in the Make
it in Great Britain campaign was made on 24 October 2011.
There will be up to 30 industry champions who will help overturn
the persistent myth that Britain ‘has no manufacturing industry’
and will take part in, and support the campaign.
5. The full list of industry champions appointed so far are:
Steve Uden - Head of Skills, Microsoft
Computing
William Butler-Adams - Chief Engineer, Brompton Bicycles
Michael Ankers - Chief Exec, Construction Products Assoc
Stephen Blatchford - Chief Exec, Chas A Blatchford
Joe Greenwell - Chairman, Ford of Britain
Ian McCubbin - Senior VP, GlaxoSmithKline Michael
Ryan - VP, Bombardier Aerospace
6. For more information about the Make it in Great Britain
campaign, go to www.bis.gov.uk/makeitingreatbritain.
7. For 100 years, the Science Museum has been world-renowned for
its historic collection, remarkable galleries and inspirational
exhibitions. With around 15,000 objects on public display, the
Science Museum’s collections form an enduring record of
scientific, technological and medical change from the past few
centuries. Aiming to be the best place in the world for people to
enjoy science, the Science Museum makes sense of the science that
shapes our lives, sparking curiosity, releasing creativity and
changing the future by engaging people of all generations and
backgrounds in science engineering, medicine, technology, design
and enterprise.
8. BIS's online newsroom contains the latest press
notices, speeches, as well as video and images for download. It
also features an up to date list of BIS press office contacts. See
http://www.bis.gov.uk/newsroom for more information.
Contacts:
BIS Press Office
NDS.BIS@coi.gsi.gov.uk
Nick Evans
Phone: 020 7215 3496
nick.evans@bis.gsi.gov.uk