If last year was about celebrating ten years of ATI impact on the UK aerospace sector; this year has been about building on that legacy with renewed energy and ambition.
From announcing the first projects to be awarded funding through the SME and Non-CO2 Programmes, to showcasing capabilities from across the UK’s regions, the ATI is delivering on our mission to transform aerospace through technology and innovation.
This year we have seen the publication of the UK Government’s industrial strategy, identifying aerospace as a frontier industry and recognising the key role the ATI plays in maintaining, developing and promoting that. In agreeing a ten-year, £2.3bn, funding settlement, the Government has made an unprecedented commitment to our industry boosting growth and innovation.
It ensures continued joint government-industry investment in the world-leading technologies acting as a catalyst for further inward investment.
Our mindset is that of a strategic investor, deploying public funding to unlock private capital, accelerate innovation and strengthen the UK’s competitive advantage in global aviation. In 2024/25 the ATI Programme invested more than £240m into projects across the regions. I am pleased that we will start 2026 with an improved, more efficient funding application process for the Strategic Programme which promises to be quicker and easier for applicants. From January we will use a new streamlined Outline Stage application process with a presentation to a panel replacing the existing form-based process. Turnaround times for an outcome on the Outline Stage decision will be reduced to just seven working days from the date of the panel presentations.
If you’re applying to the ATI Programme in 2026, please do make the most of our popular Tech Clinics, Programme Clinics and draft application offer described as invaluable by those who applied this year.
We continue to support the sector’s growth more broadly too. In 2025 we shone a spotlight onto the UK’s market opportunity in composites, forming a working group and championing UK capability at a High-Rate Composites Showcase, held in partnership with the HVM Catapult. Similar to Sustainable Skies, Advanced Engineering and the ATI Conference, this event provided a platform to our SME community and we will continue to provide targeted support to unlock potential within the sector.
A new ATI website, updates to the ATI Toolkit and the publication of the final Hydrogen Capability Network reports are further examples of our work to support UK aerospace in 2025.
Looking ahead, the opportunities are immense. There is a critical inflection point for aerospace, with fierce global competition for market share on a next-generation aircraft and challenging commitments to reduce aviation’s environmental impact.
Now, more than ever, is the time to secure and expand the UK’s contribution. If you attended ATI Conference this year, you will have heard me announce the ATI’s new ambitious Vision 2035: For the UK share of the global aerospace market to increase from $9 billion today to over $18 billion by 2035.
Together, we can achieve this by strengthening UK competitiveness, increasing content on next generation aircraft and reducing aerospace environmental impact through innovation.
In Spring 2026, the ATI will publish a refreshed technology strategy to build on Destination Zero as an ambitious blueprint for growth out to 2050 and provide an independent assessment of the investment priorities for our sector through the ATI Programme. I don’t pretend that we have all the answers here – so we are engaging with industry to crowd in the best thoughts and ensure that this continues to be a practical, market-led strategy.
The aim of the ATI is to protect and grow the UK aerospace industry. If I can suggest a ‘New Year’s Resolution’ for 2026, it would be to challenge what’s possible – be that in technology innovation, achieving the rate ramp up or building new partnerships.
From myself on behalf of all my colleagues at the ATI, I wish you a peaceful Christmas break, with all good wishes for the new year.
