Business secretary Vince Cable wants to see a commitment to knowledge and technology driven manufacturing come “back to the hilt”, he told the Farnborough Air Show today.
“We are committed to making sure that the research base, and the skilled people that the industry needs to compete are in place,” he said, adding that his department would keep backing graduate and apprentice programmes at employers like Rolls Royce, “even through a time of budget constraint”.
As the industry uses technology to cater for increasing numbers of passengers while bringing down air travel’s environmental impact, Cable said he also expected to see it produce a “new generation of British engineers and aviation experts with the skills and vision to drive it”.
At the event, Cable also announced he would chair regular meetings with aerospace business leaders to focus on “major strategic issues” facing the industry. This would set the direction for a wider business-government collaboration group, to include the Aerospace, Defence Security trade group and representatives across the UK aerospace supply chain, he added.
Speech in pdf format available here.