About this event
This event is delivered in collaboration with the High Value Manufacturing Catapult (HVM Catapult), hosted at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), in Coventry.
The Aerospace Innovation Showcase: AI for Manufacturing at Rate will bring together aerospace manufacturers, technology providers and adoption partners to explore how AI can be applied practically to increase manufacturing rate. Through expert discussion, project examples, implementation journeys and innovator pitches, attendees can expect to discover where AI could create value, understand what adoption involves and connect with organisations to take opportunities forward.
Building on the ATI and Capgemini AI for Aerospace report, this showcase brings a focus to manufacturing and assembly as part of a wider approach to AI adoption across aerospace. While AI has potential applications across the aerospace lifecycle, including product design and through-life maintenance, repair and overhaul, these areas are outside the scope of this event. This showcase will concentrate on technologies and capabilities that directly support the planning, engineering, execution, inspection and improvement of aerospace manufacturing.
This focus is central to UK aerospace competitiveness. The national aerospace technology strategy Engineering Growth sets out an ambition to increase the UK’s aerospace market value from $9 billion in 2024 to approximately $18 billion by 2035. Capturing this opportunity will require UK companies to develop mature, competitive technologies and demonstrate that they can manufacture them at the rate, cost and quality required by future aircraft programmes.
Informed by consultation with aerospace manufacturers and end users, the showcase will prioritise practical applications and honest adoption experience over general discussion about AI. The ATI and the HVM Catapult will convene the relevant ecosystem to support informed conversations that could lead to research, pilot, or commercial collaborations and help drive adoption. Participation does not guarantee a specific outcome.
Who is this event for?
Organisations able to adopt, provide or support practical applications of AI technologies in aerospace manufacturing, including:
- Aerospace OEMs, primes, tier 1s and supply-chain manufacturers;
- Manufacturing, operations, quality and industrial engineering leaders;
- Digital, data, IT and operational-technology specialists;
- AI and industrial-software companies of all sizes;
- Systems integrators and infrastructure providers;
- Research and technology organisations, Catapults and universities;
- Assurance, cybersecurity, standards and regulatory organisations;
While the showcase has a civil aerospace sector focus, we welcome applications from adjacent-sector organisations with credibly transferable capabilities.
Manufacturers may benefit from attending with senior colleagues and decision-makers from several functions, reflecting the cross-functional nature of AI adoption, including strategy, operations, engineering, quality, digital technology, and industrial systems; however, space will be limited per company to accommodate broad industry representation.
Innovator pitches and project presentations
As part of the event, companies are invited to apply to present their expertise and experience in deploying AI technologies to increase manufacturing rate. Selected organisations will have the opportunity to present their solutions, capabilities and project experience to the curated audience.
Innovator pitch: Put your AI solution in front of potential buyers in aerospace manufacturing by explaining the manufacturing problem it addresses, how it would work in practice and the evidence supporting its potential.
Project presentation: Share your experience of an AI project to demonstrate what is possible in increasing manufacturing rate including the problem tackled, what you did differently, progress or results, challenges and lessons learned.
To apply for a ‘innovator pitch’ or ‘project presentation’ slot, please select the relevant option in the registration form.
Areas of interest
For this showcase we are particularly interested in the following, non-exclusive areas:
- AI-enabled planning, operations and asset coordination, including production scheduling, supply-chain visibility, procurement, inventory management, maintenance and operational decision support.
- AI for manufacturing engineering, simulation and programming, including process planning, industrialisation, digital twins, virtual commissioning, machine inspection and robotics programming.
- AI-enabled quality systems, manufacturing process intelligence, metrology, machine vision, anomaly detection, measurement interpretation, traceability and root-cause analysis.
- Physical AI, intelligent robotics and adaptive process control, including vision-guided automation, dynamic adjustment, flexible assembly, autonomous inspection and human-machine collaboration.
AI applications should relate directly to aerospace manufacturing or assembly or have clear transferability. Solutions focused primarily on product design, aircraft operations, or maintenance, repair and overhaul are outside the scope of this showcase. Applications from adjacent sectors are welcome where their relevance and transferability to aerospace manufacturing are clear. Applications may span more than one area but should be anchored to a defined manufacturing user, problem and rate-related outcome.
Applications for presentation slots close at 17:00 on Friday 13th November however we may close the application process early if we receive suitable applications ahead of this date.
Agenda*
08:30-9:15 – Arrival, networking and coffee
09:15-09:30 – Welcome and overview
09:30-10:30 – Opening panel
10:30-12:00 – Innovator pitches/project presentations
12:00-13:00 – Lunch and networking
13:00-13:30 – Keynote
13:30-14:45 – Innovator pitches/project presentations
14:45-15:15 – Coffee break and networking
15:15-16:30 – Innovator pitches/project presentations
16:30-16:45 – Summary and next steps
16:45-17:30 – Networking and close
*Subject to change
How to register
Attendees can apply to attend in one of three ways: attendee, innovator pitch or project presentation.
If you would only like to attend the showcase, please select ‘attendee’ in the registration form. To apply for an ‘innovator pitch’ or ‘project presentation’ slot, please select the relevant option in the registration form.
Please note, places for this event are limited and we expect demand to be high. We will confirm attendance based on relevance to the outlined scope above; in case of oversubscription, we will be operating a waitlist.
