BCF Joins UK Sustainable Coatings Network as Founding Partner

The British Coatings Federation (BCF), the trade association for coatings manufacturers in the UK, is a founding partner of a new UK-wide research and innovation network backed by £1.38 million in investment. BCF has welcomed the funding, which will accelerate the development of more sustainable coatings and advanced surface technologies.

As the only trade association partner, BCF supported the successful funding proposal for the Surfaces for a Sustainable Future (S4SF) Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Network+ and will represent the priorities of UK coatings manufacturers within the network. The initiative is led by Newcastle University and Northumbria University in partnership with Sunderland Software City.

The network will bring together expertise from across industry, academia and government to tackle some of the key technical challenges facing coatings and surface technologies, while helping promising innovations move more effectively from research into industrial application.

Coatings play a vital role across the economy, from protecting infrastructure and extending the working life of assets to improving the performance of products used in energy, transport, healthcare, defence and advanced manufacturing.

The new network will explore opportunities including more sustainable raw materials and chemistries, lower-energy manufacturing, coatings designed with repair, reuse and recycling in mind, and greater use of digital technologies to accelerate materials development.
It will also seek to improve access to specialist facilities and expertise, support feasibility projects and industrial secondments, and strengthen skills and collaboration across the UK coatings and surface technology community.

Zoe Slade, Sustainability Manager at the BCF, said:
“BCF is delighted to support the Surfaces for a Sustainable Future Network+. Coatings have an important role to play in a more sustainable economy, not only through how they are made, but through the protection, durability and performance they provide throughout the lifetime of products and infrastructure.

“There are also significant challenges that cannot be solved by individual businesses working alone. Bringing together industry, academia and government provides an opportunity to combine world-class UK research with practical industry knowledge and accelerate the development and adoption of new technologies.

“For BCF, it is particularly important that innovation delivers sustainability improvements while continuing to provide the performance, safety and durability that coatings are relied upon to deliver. We look forward to working with our members and partners across the network to help turn research into practical solutions for industry.”

The initiative supports the ambitions of the UK's National Materials Innovation Strategy, which identifies advanced surface technologies as an important opportunity for UK growth and calls for closer collaboration between industry, academia and government to accelerate the journey from research to commercialisation.

The network also complements wider work across the coatings sector to improve resource efficiency and circularity, develop more sustainable materials and processes, and strengthen the UK's capability in coatings and surface technology innovation.

BCF will work with the network and its members to ensure that the priorities and practical experience of the UK coatings industry help inform its research and innovation activities.

Source : BCF

Image : BCF

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