Event Itinerary
Day 1 Day 2 Meet the experts
Session 20
Wednesday 17 March, 14:15 PM
The positive societal impact of manufacturing – Meeting the challenge of COVID-19
The challenges posed by COVID-19 created a number of high profile successes for the UK manufacturing sector. From the successful manufacturing of newly designed ventilators to the production of PPE our manufacturers delivered for the national effort. So how do we harness this newfound agility and confidence? How do we showcase the need to re-shore for both our national security and capability and and how do we create more ‘moon-shot’ projects that encourage collaboration and partnership? Led by the HMVC and VentilatorChallengeUK Consortium CEO Dick Elsy, the session will share his experiences of successfully meeting the UK’s ventilator challenge and wider societal benefits of a successful and prosperous manufacturing sector.
Dick Elsy
Chief Executive Officer, High Value Manufacturing Catapult
Dick Elsy is the Chief Executive of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, the go-to place for advanced manufacturing technology in the UK. With over £800m of assets, supporting both industry and academia, it represents the greatest concentration of advanced manufacturing research capability in Europe. Dick is a career veteran from the automotive industry, with the bulk of his time spent at Land Rover and then Jaguar, where he was engineering director. At Land Rover, where he started his career as one of the key project team members on the original Discovery programme, he became a member of the Board from where he led the creation, development, and manufacture of the Freelander. Prior to his current role, Dick was the CEO of Torotrak plc the FTSE listed developer of traction drive technology.
Dick takes a keen interest in engineering innovation at a national level as a board member of the Aerospace Growth Partnership and a member of the Automotive Council’s Technology group. He is on the council of the UKRI-STFC and is a non-executive director of AB Dynamics, an AIM listed supplier of integrated test systems for the global automotive industry. Dick is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a holder of its Silver Medal. He was recognised for his contribution to manufacturing and technology in the UK with a CBE in 2018.
In 2020, Dick chaired the VentilatorChallengeUK consortium, a collection of significant industrial and engineering partners from across the UK which manufactured and delivered over 13,000 ventilators for the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic.