Invest in AEM in Yorkshire & Humber

Yorkshire & Humber is a world leader in the production of metals and alloys, particularly for industry sectors such as defence, oil & gas, aerospace, medical devices and the automotive industries.

This means we already have a fantastic infrastructure and supply chain in place, as well as an excellent science- and technology-based incubation infrastructure.

Yorkshire Forward would like to encourage even more AEM companies to take advantage of these, and to set up or invest here. For more information, visit the Invest in Yorkshire website.

Size & scope

Our region is already home to over 5,600 advanced engineering and materials companies, employing over 114,000 people and generating over £4.9bn a year for the region’s economy. We’re proud to offer internationally renowned expertise in high-precision, high-quality engineering, metals production and manufacturing.

The metals industry generates £1.3bn of GVA for the region, and includes world-class companies such as Corus, Outokumpu, Alvac and SFEL. Corus has a major R&D facility located at Rotherham, and Castings Technology International, Sheffield, is Europe's leading facility for the manufacture of titanium castings.

We’re investing in this sector

Yorkshire Forward has made AEM a ‘priority sector’; targeting investments to help the industry innovate, grow and compete for the future. We employ a sector manager and ‘strategic sector champion’ for AEM, helping to identify opportunities for innovation through collaboration, and brokering relationships between businesses and the science base. Call Yorkshire Forward on 0113 394 9600 to find out more.

Advanced skills

• Our industrial and manufacturing heritage means potential investors can benefit from an extensive engineering skills base
• More than 117,000 employees are working in 5,800 engineering businesses here
• The region's universities produce over 11,000 engineering graduates and postgraduates each year: that's 12% of the UK total
• Over 5,000 people are employed in the region's aerospace industry alone, with most companies supplying components to major assemblers
• Yorkshire & Humber is an important area for the automotive components sector, where over 500 automotive suppliers sell across Europe, employing over 13,500 staff
• There are 3,000 people involved in the manufacture of medical devices, employed in one of the largest concentrations of medical device companies in the UK.

Advanced R&D

Yorkshire & Humber hosts the UK’s only national research & skills centre for metals technology, the National Metals Technology Centre (Namtec), and the unique Advanced Manufacturing Park, focused on business-led materials research and technology.

The cutting-edge work being undertaken in our region includes the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre Factory of the Future, based at AMP. This is a multi-million pound collaborative partnership, combining the scientific excellence of the University of Sheffield's Faculty of Engineering with the expertise and innovation of companies involved across the aerospace supply chain.

Academic collaboration

Yorkshire’s Centres of Industrial Collaboration can unlock cutting edge technical expertise from the region’s universities:

• Precision Technologies CIC   
• Engineering Design CIC
• Polymer CIC.

Find out more about collaborating with our universities.

Funding & support

We welcome investment enquiries from UK and overseas companies. You may be able to find funding support in our funding for businesses section, our business support, and our priority sectors section. If you’re an overseas business interested in investing in Yorkshire & Humber, please also read our inward investment page.