CEO’s statement
Katherine Bennett CBE
CEO, HVM Catapult
Disruption excites some people and terrifies others.
If you are working to a tight production deadline, have supply chains at risk due to unpredictable weather, or simply at the mercy of public transport each day, it is a concept likely to keep you awake
at night.
At the High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult, however, being disruptive is our calling card.
For 14 years, we have matured pioneering technologies, harnessed emerging trends, opened doors for SMEs, developed supply chains, unlocked alternative investment models and trialled new approaches to talent and skills development.
By embracing disruption, successful companies grow; our 2025 Annual Report is testament to that.
The expert engineers, industry specialists and top-class technicians in our network are committed to solving manufacturers’ toughest challenges. From a space transport operation on the Shetland Islands, to a fibre cement manufacturer in Cornwall, and everywhere in between, our teams worked with over 6,000 companies in 2024, giving them access to world-class facilities and expertise to make step changes in their products, tools and services.
In this report we see the impact of some of those projects: increasing capacity for a family run sweet manufacturer, helping a MedTech company grow and working with an aerospace prime to optimise its aerodynamics.
It is important to reflect our impact across the UK, but we give just as much focus to what comes next.
The UK government has signalled with its Industrial Strategy that manufacturing is a key growth sector at the heart of our future economy. This will turbo charge our ability to stride forward, boosting our net zero ambitions and ensuring sustainable growth by harnessing the UK’s industrial assets.
Supported by Innovate UK, the applied research activities of HVM Catapult will be essential to the government’s core missions. Our value lies in our ability to develop critical clean energy industries, grow clusters, develop skills and transform high-value industries.
This year’s Annual Report sets out how our centres are working together and alongside our partners in industry, government and academia to tackle four strategic priorities and five landscape transformation priorities for UK manufacturing.
As Dr Lynne O’Hare says (page 28-29), 2025 is about building on cross-Catapult successes such as the Hydrogen Innovation Initiative (HII) and Carbon Accounting programme, with new collaborative programmes that deliver for UK manufacturing.
Our programmes are built on the strong foundation of technological excellence and the unrivalled capabilities of our centres; also in this report, Professor Chris Dungey describes how our network is connecting national priorities with practical technological solutions (page 34-35).
And, as Karen Green (page 40-41) explains, none of this will be possible without a pipeline of talent, skilled in the technologies of today and tomorrow.
2025 will bring challenges and opportunities for UK industry.