Catalyst Inc is calling on companies in the Life and Health Sciences industry sector to fill in a 15 minute survey.

The newly formed North West Centre for Advanced Manufacturing (NWCAM) based at Catalyst Inc and supported by EU Interreg VA funding aims to develop highly skilled, value-adding innovative industries that can compete in a global marketplace.

The virtual cross-border centre provides a collaborative support structure to bring applied research expertise and capabilities in Advanced Manufacturing from 4 world class research institutions (Ulster University, University Of Glasgow, LYIT and IT Sligo) to start-ups, SMEs and multinationals in the Life and Health Sciences sector.

The survey seeks to better understand how NWCAM can support those in the Life & Health Sciences industry including commercial needs and concerns, existing R&D and innovation capabilities/strategies; and views on engaging in state-of-the-art Advanced Manufacturing R&D.

NWCAM’s vision is to enhance the innovation ecosystem across three specific geographical regions i.e. Northern Ireland, the border region of Ireland and the West of Scotland, where an underinvestment in manufacturing research and development has severely affected the growth of indigenous companies. NWCAM’s core objectives include; increasing the number of cross border industry-to-academia strategic collaborations and partnerships; disseminating and sharing new knowledge from the NWCAM research programs; improving the regional skills requirement; enhancing workforce productivity and efficiency of the L&HS sector; providing tools to scale up, and driving growth through the development and diffusion of new products and processes.

This survey of L&HS companies within the region aims to better understand how NWCAM can support local industry. They want to find out about your company – your commercial needs and concerns, your existing R&D and innovation capabilities and strategies; and whether you have engaged or would be willing to engage in cross border state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing R&D. The information gathered from this survey will help align objectives to better meet business needs.