From green steel and recycled plastics to turning waste into new materials and using AI to boost productivity, four hubs funded by UKRI will tackle UK manufacturing challenges.

Backed by £44 million through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), their work will cut carbon, create high-value jobs and boost regional economies.

The new Manufacturing Research Hubs for a Sustainable Future will bring together world-class researchers with over 180 industry and civic partners to drive practical, sustainable innovation across the UK.

The four hubs have attracted a total of £38.8 million in direct and indirect contributions from partners.

Each hub will focus on a critical area of manufacturing, from creating net zero supply chains and resilient production systems to transforming waste and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.

Their work will support businesses of all sizes, deliver impact in regional economies and provide workers with new skills in areas including AI, sustainability, and engineering biology.

Carbon-Loop Hub 

One of the hubs will be located at The University of Edinburgh. Led by Professor Stephen Wallace, the Carbon-Loop Hub, will develop engineering microbes capable of converting industrial waste into high-value, sustainable chemicals and materials.

The hub will also launch the UK’s first ‘BioFactory’, a national platform for scaling up bioprocessing innovations that cut emissions, reduce landfill, and help build a fossil-free manufacturing base.

Over 45 partners, including UK and global companies from across seven industry sectors are involved in the hub.

EPSRC’s £11 million investment will enable these hubs to work with partners across industry, academia, local government and the public, creating new supply chains, upskilling the UK workforce, and supporting job creation in high-value industrial sectors.

“Amid a growing population, diminishing natural resources, and a changing climate, there is now an urgent environmental, industrial and political imperative to rapidly harness engineering biology technologies to defossilise manufacturing and accelerate the UK’s path to net-zero,” Prof Stephen Wallace said.

“C-Loop brings together diverse expertise from across academic disciplines, industrial sectors, and the entire value-chain to drive the growth and scale-up of this emerging technology, unlocking its full climate and economic potential.”

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Other Projects

Swansea University will host the IGNITE Hub, led by Professor Cameron Pleydell-Pearce, which aims to deliver environmental and economic resilience for key areas of the UK manufacturing economy, with an emphasis on green steel production.

The Co-AIMS hub will focus on using regenerative, AI-powered, people-centric manufacturing ecosystems that eliminate waste, empower workers, and enhance autonomy, hosted at the University of Birmingham.

The University of Warwick will host the EPSRC Manufacturing Research Hub in Sustainable Engineering Plastics, collaborating with researchers from The University of Manchester and University College London, to improve the way durable plastics are created, reused, and recycled.

An additional six projects will also be funded to the tune of nearly £7.5m, focusing on the evolution of manufacturing technologies.

This includes a project at The University of Glasgow focusing on the prototyping of superconductors for critical technologies.