Full Conference Agenda

As the electrification of transport accelerates, the materials inside battery packs have never mattered more. From electrical insulation and thermal management to structural integrity and long-term reliability, material selection is fundamental to how well a battery pack performs and how safely it does so. This panel examines which advanced materials are proving most effective in modern EV battery pack design, what testing and performance standards engineers should be applying, and how the industry is navigating the tension between high performance and the growing imperative to deliver more sustainable, recyclable solutions. A practical session for engineers, designers and materials specialists working at the sharp end of electrification.

Discussion Points:
• Which advanced materials are best suited to the electrical insulation and thermal management demands of modern EV battery packs, and why?
• What testing methods and performance standards should engineers be applying to ensure long-term reliability and safety in battery components?
• How can the materials industry balance high performance requirements with the growing pressure to deliver more sustainable, recyclable battery solutions?

Artificial intelligence is reshaping how advanced materials are discovered, developed and manufactured. From accelerating materials discovery through machine learning to optimising production processes, improving characterisation and enabling predictive maintenance, AI is opening up possibilities that would have been unthinkable even a few years ago. This panel brings together experts from across research, industry and technology development to examine where AI is already delivering measurable impact in the advanced materials sector, where the hype still outpaces reality, and what organisations need to do to build the capability and data infrastructure to make the most of it. 

Discussion Points 

Where is AI currently having the most meaningful impact in advanced materials, whether in discovery, characterisation, process optimisation, or elsewhere? 

Materials discovery has long been constrained by the time and cost of experimental iteration. How significantly is AI changing that, and what are the remaining limitations? 

What data infrastructure and organisational capability do materials companies need to put in place to genuinely benefit from AI tools? 

Where does the hype still outpace reality, and what should the advanced materials sector be sceptical about when evaluating AI solutions? 

This Royce-facilitated panel will bring together experts from deep-tech entrepreneurship, industry and research to explore how advanced materials innovations make the journey from early-stage laboratory discovery to scalable commercial success.

Turning world-class materials science into real-world products requires far more than breakthrough research. It demands the right sequence of technical validation, market insight, customer engagement, IP strategy, team building, pilot partnerships and of course the right forms of capital at every stage.

Our panel will examine the many steps between lab proof-of-concept and market adoption, with a particular focus on how founders, universities and investors can build ventures that are both technically credible and fundable. Join us to discover how researchers, founders, manufacturers and investors can work together to accelerate the path from materials innovation in the lab to transformative impact in the real world.

Discussion Points:

• Navigating the full commercialisation pathway from fundamental research and proof-of-concept through spin-out, scale-up and market entry.

• Understanding the venture capital mindset – what investors are looking for in advanced materials and deep-tech opportunities at from pre-seed to growth stages.

Ceramics manufacturers face growing pressure to improve yield, reduce risk, digitise processes and scale faster. Midlands Advanced Ceramics for Industry 4.0 was designed to meet these challenges head on, focusing on practical, industry ready solutions. This presentation showcases what the programme has delivered: new products, smarter manufacturing processes, and capabilities and skills services to support the Advanced Ceramics Sector. Developed collaboratively across industry and academia, these outputs are available now—giving ceramics businesses faster, lower risk routes from innovation to production, supported by skills, training and a connected Midlands ecosystem.

Discussion Points:
• Demonstrate that Industry 4.0 for ceramics is real, practical, and available now
• Showcase what has been delivered for industry
• Enable industry engagement and action

This opening panel will explore The AMRICC Centre as a leading example of how public private partnerships can successfully drive industrialisation, scale up and commercial impact in advanced materials. Panellists will discuss how collaborative models can bridge the gap between research, innovation, and manufacturing, enabling faster translation of advanced ceramics and materials technologies into industrial reality. The session will highlight lessons learned from building and operating AMRICC, including aligning public investment with industry need, de risking innovation, and creating sustainable routes to market that benefit the wider materials ecosystem.

The way advanced materials are tested is changing. From AI-assisted analysis and digital simulation to next-generation non-destructive testing techniques, new approaches are accelerating qualification timelines, improving accuracy and opening up possibilities that traditional methods simply could not deliver. This panel brings together experts from across the materials testing landscape to examine what is actually working, where the most significant advances are being made, and what the adoption of new testing methods means for manufacturers, researchers and end users alike.

Discussion Points: 

• Which new testing methods and technologies are having the most meaningful impact on how advanced materials are evaluated and qualified?
• How are digital and AI-assisted approaches changing the speed and accuracy of materials testing, and what are the limitations?
• What are the biggest barriers to adopting new testing methods at an industrial scale, and how are organisations overcoming them?
• Looking ahead, which emerging testing technologies are most likely to reshape the field over the next five years?

The development of advanced functional materials – particularly for energy storage, catalysis, and electronic applications – is often hindered by slow, manual, trial-and error experimental workflows. As the demand for rapid innovation in material science grows, there is a critical need for self-driven laboratory (SDL) systems that couple artificial intelligence (AI) with highly automated hardware infrastructure. These systems promise to significantly reduce the discovery time of novel materials by integrating closed-loop feedback, autonomous decision-making, and precision-controlled experimentation. 
 
This work introduces a fully integrated, AI-driven automated experimental platform designed to support self-driven materials research. The platform emphasizes reliable high-throughput synthesis, robust characterization, and adaptive decision-making through automated equipment that ensures precision, repeatability, and scalability.  

Access to finance is a critical enabler for scaling innovative climate‑tech businesses. As companies move from early pilots to commercial deployment, their funding needs evolve, requiring a clearer understanding of how banks assess risk, structure finance, and support long‑term growth.

With specialist sector expertise in climate tech, HSBC will share perspectives on what could be available for innovators scaling up a business. The session will explore the types of funding solutions banks can offer at different stages of growth, alongside the key areas of consideration when providing financing. Attendees will gain practical insight into how to prepare for bank engagement, align growth plans with financing requirements, and approach funding discussions with greater confidence.

• Examples of funding options available from a bank for innovators scaling up a business
• How banking support and financing structures evolve as companies grow
• Key areas of consideration for a bank when providing financing
• How banks assess commercial viability, financial resilience, and execution risk
• What innovators should have in place to engage effectively with banks

This presentation provides an overview of how HTMS IMC can be integrated into multi-material composite layups for use across demanding sectors, including defence, motorsport, automotive, and aerospace. It explains where HTMS IMC material systems sit and how they can be combined with conventional polymer composites to create application-specific solutions.

A key focus is the high-performance thermal resistance these materials can deliver when introduced into components exposed to elevated temperatures and repeated thermal cycling.

In addition, it highlights the potential increase in mechanical performance, such as improved flexural performance compared with a standalone traditional CMC. By comparing baseline properties and in-service behaviours, the presentation highlights the advantages that HTMS IMC multi-material systems can bring.

It often takes years for deep-tech innovations in climate technology to move from the research lab into the real world. Venture capital can help accelerate that journey, but only if a startup meets expectations around growth, scale, and timing. In this talk, I’ll share lessons from my work at Prosemino, where we build high-impact companies in electrochemical energy and materials science from the ground up. Drawing on ventures like Sention Technologies and Redoxion, I’ll explore what it really takes to turn cutting-edge research into a scalable, fundable business.

Rather than focusing on a single breakthrough, I’ll discuss the patterns we’ve seen in building multiple ventures: how we form teams, develop first products, access labs, and find early traction. I’ll also share the tools, mindsets, and support structures that can help more researchers make the leap into entrepreneurship.

Soluboard® is an advanced PCB laminate developed to reduce the environmental impact of electronics manufacturing. Designed as a competitively priced alternative to conventional glass-fibre materials, it remains compatible with existing PCB fabrication processes and workflows.

Our mission is to support the transition to lower-carbon, glass-free electronics for consumer products and other applications. Traditional PCB laminates rely on woven glass fibre and epoxy resin systems that have changed little in decades. These materials typically require energy-intensive manufacturing, including high-temperature curing and multiple wet processing stages.

Soluboard® replaces conventional glass-fibre reinforcement with lyocell, a naturally derived fibre, combined with Solvanta™, a proprietary biodegradable thermoplastic polymer system. It is manufactured using a dry, continuous lamination process without high-temperature curing, helping to reduce energy consumption while supporting scalable production.

Compared with FR-4, Soluboard® delivers a 68% lower carbon footprint and is 37% lighter in weight. It also contains a non-brominated, phosphorus-based flame retardant, and its raw materials have been certified as non-hazardous at end of life. Soluboard® has achieved UL94 V-0 certification, providing fire safety performance equivalent to FR-4 while offering a more sustainable route for electronics manufacturing.

Noise is one of the most overlooked environmental challenges of modern society. From cities and transport systems to homes, workplaces, and industrial environments, harmful low-frequency noise increasingly impacts health, wellbeing, efficiency, and quality of life.

Yet despite this growing challenge, the acoustic materials used across modern industry have changed little in decades, relying on bulky, petrochemical-based solutions that conflict directly with today’s sustainability and performance goals.

SoundBounce is our breakthrough advanced acoustic material designed to meet this challenge. Delivering more performance material than traditional solutions – using technology never before seen in the acoustics and vibration field.

SoundBounce offers a thin, lightweight, and high-performance alternative that excels at low frequencies. Designed for a circular economy, SoundBounce is non-toxic and supports companies in meeting regulations while offering a fully recyclable, end-of-life solution.

SoundBounce is a composite material, an advanced material core is contained within an adaptable housing. This novel approach outperforms existing acoustic technology while being 40% lighter, 4x thinner, and 4x more effective. For sectors where space, weight, and emissions are critical such as construction, aerospace, automotive, marine, and home appliances, this is a material that delivers superior performance.

Wearable and implantable medical devices are advancing at an extraordinary pace, unlocking new possibilities in modern healthcare, but their batteries are falling significantly behind this innovation. Relying on traditional architectures that have been in use for the last 30+ years, current storage solutions remain highly rigid, bulky, and often have underlying safety concerns due to the chemistry that has been utilised. Which, in turn, is limiting further advancements of next-generation healthcare technologies.

To address these limitations, this session will explore the rapidly emerging field of biocompatible and biodegradable batteries and how innovative materials such as hydrogels and polyhydroxyalkanoates, together with alternative designs such as thin-film technology and safer chemistries, could redefine how energy is stored within the human body.

Drawing on current research, the talk will demonstrate how these approaches can deliver flexible, safer, and more biocompatible power solutions without compromising performance. The talk will also examine the key challenges that remain to be addressed in this field, including material stability, durability, and long-term reliability.

The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC), the country’s national battery manufacturing development facility, plays a key role in accelerating the development and commercialisation of battery technologies in the UK.

Positioned between early-stage research and full-scale manufacturing, UKBICprovide the bridge that enables innovators to move from laboratory breakthroughs through to the development of viable cells in small steps.

Many promising battery technologies fail to reach market not because of poor science, but due to the challenges associated with manufacturing at scale. We address this challenge by offering open-access, industrial-scale up facilities where companies can develop, test and refine their manufacturing processes before committing to significant capital investment. This capability allows organisations to validate performance, optimise production techniques, and identify potential issues early, significantly reducing time, cost and risk.

Building a high-performing team is one of the most critical challenges for startups in manufacturing and beyond. This session explores how founders can make smarter hiring decisions as they scale – aligning talent with business milestones, identifying candidates who can thrive in fast-paced environments, and avoiding common hiring missteps. From choosing between specialists and versatile generalists to creating a compelling employer story, the discussion offers practical frameworks and real-world insights. Attendees will gain the tools needed to build resilient, agile teams capable of driving growth, navigating complexity, and sustaining long-term success in competitive, rapidly evolving industries.

Hire in line with business stage and growth priorities

Balance deep expertise with adaptability

Focus on mindset and cultural contribution, not just experience

Craft a strong narrative to attract and retain talent

Avoid over-hiring and ensure roles evolve with the business

This session will explore how Innovate UK and the wider UK government are supporting battery startups to move from early-stage innovation through to commercial scale-up. With a focus on bridging the gap between research and industrial deployment, the talk will highlight funding programmes, collaborative initiatives, and infrastructure designed to accelerate growth across the battery ecosystem.

Attendees will gain insight into the practical support available to startups, including access to capital, facilities, partnerships, and technical expertise. The session will also outline how founders can best engage with these programmes to unlock opportunities and successfully scale within the UK’s rapidly evolving battery landscape.

Moving beyond theory and buzzwords, this panel focuses on the practical, real world value of data science and computational techniques in advanced materials development and manufacturing.

Through industrial case studies and expert insight, the discussion will examine how approaches such as computational modelling, data driven optimisation, and AI enabled materials discovery can reduce material waste, accelerate R&D, optimise formulations, and improve performance. The panel will span applications from traditional ceramics manufacturing to advanced aerospace materials, highlighting how digital tools are already delivering measurable benefits across the materials lifecycle — from research and scale up to system integration.

Discussion Points:

• How are modern characterisation techniques helping industries move from post-mortem analysis to understanding materials as they behave in the real world?
• What stands in the way of turning complex characterisation data into clear, actionable business decisions?
• How should industries like energy, chemicals and emissions be using advanced characterisation differently to improve performance and reduce risk?

This talk explores how state-of-the-art characterisation is bridging the “Interpretation Gap” between raw data and actionable business intelligence. We move beyond static, “post-mortem” snapshots to reveal the “real” internal structure of intact objects and commercial devices—exactly as they function in the real world. Industrial exemplar studies will be presented including applications across energy, chemical and emission sectors.

Discussion Points:

Beyond the Lab Bench: Why standard laboratory tools often fail to capture the dynamic phase transitions and structural evolutions critical to performance.

Operando Insights: How high-energy beams penetrate solid steel reaction vessels and battery casings to map chemical changes in real-time (in situ and operando).
Solving the “Data Deluge”:

Utilizing innovative algorithms and Machine Learning to translate terabytes of raw facility measurements into clear engineering solutions.

Quantifying the Invisible: Identifying the fundamental mechanisms behind degradation, aging, and manufacturing defects.

The £80m National Materials Innovation Programme (NMIP) is creating a nationally coordinated approach to accelerate the translation and adoption of advanced materials across the UK economy. Part of the UK government’s Industrial Strategy and the Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan, NMIP targets multiple sectors and builds on the National Materials Innovation Strategy. This keynote will outline the programme’s origins and highlight key opportunities for industry and research.

A holistic framework that integrates in-situ multidimensional imaging with advanced 3D characterisation and image-based modelling is rapidly transforming evidence-driven materials development for next-generation energy technologies. In this talk, I will show how the multiscale design and manufacturing of advanced materials—using lithium-ion batteries as a representative example—can be significantly accelerated through this approach. Real-time, operando optical and X-ray CT imaging allow direct quantification of key performance-defining metrics such as particle distribution, orientation, porosity, tortuosity, crack initiation and propagation, and their evolution during realistic operating conditions. These insights reveal structure–property–performance relationships that conventional characterisation cannot capture. By converting these rich datasets into image-derived digital twins, we can perform predictive modelling to guide formulation optimisation, microstructural architecture, and manufacturing parameters. Together, these capabilities provide a rigorous evidence-driven foundation for designing materials and components with higher performance, reliability, and manufacturability—ultimately shortening industrial R&D cycles and reducing costly trial-and-error in product development  

The business case for ceramic additive manufacturing is becoming harder to ignore, but for many organisations the path from interest to investment remains unclear. This panel brings together perspectives from across industry to examine what a realistic investment journey looks like, from initial assessment and timeline planning through to deployment and return. Panellists will weigh the tangible benefits of ceramic AM adoption, explore the barriers that give organisations pause, and discuss practical strategies for reducing risk and building confidence.

Discussion Points:
• What does a realistic investment path into ceramic additive manufacturing look like, and what are the key decision points along the way?
• What are the most compelling benefits driving organisations to commit, and how quickly can a return on investment be realised?
• What are the biggest risks associated with ceramic AM investment, and what practical steps can organisations take to mitigate them?
• For those earlier in their evaluation, what would you do differently with the benefit of hindsight?

This high level fireside discussion brings together senior leaders from industry, academia, and government to explore how advanced ceramics can underpin national resilience, security and competitiveness in an increasingly challenging global environment.

Covering themes such as secure and sovereign materials supply chains, the role of advanced materials in defence and critical infrastructure, and skills and workforce development for the future, the session is designed to be interactive and audience engaging. Drawing on real world insight rather than formal presentations, the discussion will examine how collaboration across sectors can accelerate innovation, strengthen UK capability and ensure long term industrial resilience.

Reliable, high-performance materials are essential to meet the demanding requirements of systems and components in various industries such as space or energy applications, just to name a few. The challenge in these applications is often to find materials that combine very different properties. For example, common design challenges for materials and parts in space-based applications include mass, dimensional and thermal stability, ability to perform at both elevated and cryogenic temperatures, the ability to survive launch loads, and emissivity. Additionally, less common component requirements include high stability against hydrogen embrittlement or special optical properties. The manufacturing processes used to produce the corresponding semi-finished products for these critical applications must yield materials with highly stable properties with consistent quality standards at the lowest possible costs.  
High-performance materials are essential for such requirement profiles. This contribution is intended to provide an up-to-date overview of different high-performance alloys, their specific properties, and areas of industrial application. The following material groups will be discussed in particular:

Beryllium and Beryllium containing metallic alloys and ceramics

Metal matrix composite (“MMC”) materials

Refractory alloys (e.g. Tantalum and Niobium)

New developments in these materials and processes 

The EU has set different climate objectives to reach by 2030 and 2050 in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but these come with the typical challenges associated with renewable energies, and so there are different possible solutions to work on. 
The solution we are looking at today is Hydrogen production by electrolysis. Through a European collaborative program called Hyp3D, connecting partners from Spain, Italy, Denmark, and 3DCeram in France, standards of hydrogen production are being improved with pressurised 3D printed Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell (SOEC) stacks. 
The challenges that come from this technology lie in 3 main domains : production, storage, and supply chain. Here, the program is focusing on improving the clean production of hydrogen. Currently, the electrode supported cells are flat in shape, produced by traditional shaping methods, and the metallic interconnects are voluminous and complex in shape. 3D printing with SLA technology is giving the possibility to print thin corrugated ceramic cells in 8YSZ, increasing the surface area by 60% which in turn enhances the performance of the cells. It’s also enabling the cells to have more functionality, reducing the size of the interconnects and therefore the stack as a whole. 

This is another example of how 3D printing is bringing to life more disruptive designs, helping to enhance system performances, and creating new avenues to explore in research and development. However, the transition from laboratory to industry is critical in achieving the objectives laid out by the EU, and the work put in by the partners is opening up the project to large-scale production, helped with AI and automation. 

The development of high-productivity laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process themes for Ti-6Al-4V offers a promising pathway to strengthen the business case for additive manufacturing (AM) in the aerospace sector. By increasing deposition rates and reducing build times, these process parameters can significantly improve manufacturing throughput and cost competitiveness compared with traditional manufacturing routes.

For all the performance graphene can deliver, one of the persistent barriers to wider industrial adoption has been the practical challenge of handling and dispersing dry graphene powder — particularly for downstream formulators working at production volumes.

Hydrograph is introducing a new product format designed to address that head-on: a graphene paste that combines the company’s high-purity Fractal Graphene with a pre-dispersed, handler-friendly delivery system. The result is a drop-in solution for coatings, composites, elastomers and concrete formulators who want graphene’s performance without the dispersion engineering overhead.

Tom Eldridge introduces the new paste format, the application data behind it, and how Hydrograph sees the product accelerating commercial uptake across multiple industries over the next 12 months.

GMG is a clean-technology focused company which aims to offer energy-saving products and solutions and energy storage products, enabled by Graphene manufactured in-house via a proprietary production process.

GMG has delivered products that include lubricants that extend the life of engines and reduce fuel consumption, novel battery chemistries and coatings that improve the performance of air handling equipment.

Learn how this company has integrated Graphene Production into applications and then further integrated by creating consumer facing products! Lessons for any company trying to bring advanced materials to broader consumer and business markets.

Graphene has long promised transformative performance in paints and coatings, but adoption has been constrained by cost, scalability, and unclear value capture. This talk focuses on how those barriers are now being addressed, using Levidian’s methane-derived G3 graphene as a case study in commercial deployment.

We will present evidence of tangible performance gains in anticorrosion and barrier coatings, including equivalent or improved outcomes versus legacy additives at lower loadings, and up to ~94% reduction in hydrogen permeability in red oxide systems. These improvements translate directly into extended asset life, reduced maintenance cycles, and new application opportunities in areas such as hydrogen infrastructure.

Critically, the session will outline a value-based pricing approach that aligns graphene cost with delivered economic benefit—enabling viable substitution of traditional additives and unlocking scalable adoption. The discussion will focus on where graphene is creating competitive advantage today, and what it will take to move from niche use to mainstream specification.

A market-level scene-setter to open Day 2 on the ACC Stage at The Advanced Materials Show.

Terrance Barkan opens with a snapshot of where the industry stands in 2026 — the materials, the production volumes, the applications gaining commercial traction, and the trends shaping commercialisation across CNTs, graphene, carbon fibre, biochar and the wider advanced carbons family.

Attendees will leave with a clear orientation to the day’s programme and the strategic context behind it.

Carbon nanotube (CNT) quality, morphology, and reproducibility are strongly influenced by catalyst selection. This presentation examines the role of metallocene choice in CNT synthesis, with a focus on ferrocene, which outperforms other metallocenes by delivering better processability and more favourably influences CNT growth, morphology and defect density.

Drawing on over 60 years of experience in ferrocene catalyst manufacturing, Innospec demonstrates the impact of using different commercial ferrocene sources on CNT processing, reproducibility, quality and morphology.

The findings show how the right ferrocene contributes to longer and straighter tubes, reduced defect density, and lower residual iron content.

Extending the operational life of critical assets is one of the most pressing challenges facing industry, and materials science is central to meeting it. From coatings and composites to predictive maintenance and AI-assisted monitoring, the tools available to engineers and operators are advancing rapidly. But the gap between what is technically possible and what is practically deployable remains wide. This panel takes an honest look at where materials science and digital innovation are genuinely delivering longer lasting, lower cost solutions, what is still holding back wider deployment, and what it would take to bring research capability closer to the realities of industrial operation.

Discussion Points:
• What does “lower cost, longer lasting” actually require from materials science right now?
• Where does predictive maintenance and AI genuinely add value, and where is it still overpromised?
• What are the biggest barriers moving solutions from lab to deployment?
• What would it take to close the gap between what researchers can do and what operators need?

The aerospace sector depends on advanced materials that, in many cases, are designed, qualified and manufactured far from UK shores. This panel examines where the gaps in domestic capability are most acute, what it would take to close them, and how UK industry can position itself as a serious competitor in the global advanced materials supply chain. From the challenge of part qualification and digital certification to the role of SMEs in accelerating innovation, panellists will assess the realistic path forward and where the most promising opportunities lie.

Discussion Points:

• Where are the most significant gaps in UK advanced materials capability for aerospace applications, and how did we get here?
• Part qualification remains a major bottleneck, with certification timelines stretching to decades in some cases. What is being done to accelerate this, and how close are we to a solution?
• How can the UK realistically position itself as a competitive domestic supplier of critical aerospace materials currently sourced internationally?
• What role can SMEs play in driving innovation and closing capability gaps, and how should they be supported alongside the tier one and prime players?

Additive manufacturing is evolving fast, but where are the breakthroughs that actually matter? This session brings together leading voices from across the ceramics and advanced materials sectors to assess the current state of AM innovation: from process and materials development to software advances and post-processing. Panellists will examine which application areas are becoming viable for the first time, what is still holding back wider industrial adoption, and where the most meaningful progress is likely to emerge over the next five years. Expect an honest, experience-led conversation that cuts through the noise and focuses on what is genuinely changing.

Discussion points:

• What innovation in additive manufacturing has surprised you most in the last couple of years?
• Where are the most significant advances happening, processes, materials, software, or post-processing?
• Which application areas are opening up that weren’t viable before, and why now?
• What are the remaining blockers to wider industrial adoption?
• Where do you expect the most meaningful progress in the next five years?