Good morning and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief.
The development and protection of Intellectual Property is gaining increasing salience in manufacturing. The MTA is about to undertake research on the effect that IP has on manufacturing, with a view to developing tangible members’ benefits. The research will also inform our Intellectual Property strategy and policy framework on this issue. Please read the below story to get a full indication of the scale of our research and if you are interested in taking part, please contact Tom Lane in the MTA office tlane@mta.org.uk.
In other MTA news we have launched our Events Calendar for the coming year, so make sure you mark your diaries to ensure you don’t miss out.
Strengthening the UK’s manufacturing supply chains is recognised as being key to the country’s economic vitality and a really important part of the opportunity that we have to drive manufacturing growth in the UK. Therefore we are very excited to be able to invite MTA member companies to participate in a new, Government backed, initiative aimed at boosting supply chain capability. Read below for full details and contact the MTA’s Head of External Affairs Paul O’Donnell on podonnell@mta.org.uk.
CECIMO will take part on 2 February 2016 in the event “3D-Printed in Europe - Additive Manufacturing and 3D-Printing challenges in the EU” held in the Covent Garden Building, in Brussels. Find out how you can attend with the Friday Brief.
Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence UK is giving a helping hand to the next generation of engineers at a new training facility at the MTC in Coventry, sponsoring apprentices. The apprentices will be able to learn an array of metrology skills and put them into practice on a wide variety of projects designed to develop innovative production processes.
In other members news, we have some open houses to tell you about: Swift-Cut open their doors on 4th February and NIKKEN Kosakusho Europe have also announced a series of open house events at the beginning of February too. To find out how you can attend see the respective stories below.
In Economic News this week we have the Bank of England Agents Summary of Business Conditions, January 2016 Update and information on the World Cutting Tool Conference too. We’ll be back next Friday, until then enjoy your weekend and if you’re going to be at the MTA Annual Dinner on Thursday 28th, we look forward to seeing you there.