The forgotten Welsh manufacturing programme that generated £541m of economic impact

Tegid Roberts

For over a decade, a family of European-funded programmes known as ASTUTE quietly reshaped the relationship between Welsh universities and Welsh manufacturers.

Running from 2010 to 2022 under three successive guises – ASTUTE, ASTUTE 2020 (later ASTUTE 2020+), and ASTUTE EAST – the operation channelled academic expertise directly into the production lines, R&D departments and innovation strategies of hundreds of companies, from small family firms to suppliers serving Airbus, Ford and Nissan.

Together, the three phases drew on £53.6 million of public investment and are credited with generating an estimated £541 million of economic impact for Wales.

Perhaps quietly was the problem because the programmes did not receive the attention of the Welsh Government at the time, and it is high time the new government in Wales took notice.

Origins: ASTUTE, 2010–2015

ASTUTE – Advanced Sustainable Manufacturing Technologies – began in 2010 as a five-year, roughly £27 million project part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Led by Swansea University, it brought together all eight Welsh universities at various points, including Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff, Cardiff Metropolitan, Glyndŵr, the University of South Wales (then the University of Wales, Newport) and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

The project’s brief was to help the aerospace, automotive and high-technology manufacturing sectors in West Wales and the Valleys grow by adopting more advanced technologies while simultaneously reducing their environmental footprint.

In practice, this meant pairing companies with academic specialists for collaborative research and development work, ranging from short enterprise assistance interventions to substantial multi-year projects.

By its conclusion, ASTUTE had worked with more than 250 enterprises. An independent evaluation found the programme had supported total follow-on funding applications worth almost £50 million and projected a wider economic contribution to Wales running into the hundreds of millions of pounds.

The final evaluation report also noted that ASTUTE’s reach had so far been confined to West Wales and the Valleys and flagged an opportunity – later acted upon – to extend support into East Wales.

ASTUTE 2020: 2015–2022

A second, seven-year phase began in July 2015 under the name ASTUTE 2020.

This phase was led by Swansea University in partnership with Cardiff University, Aberystwyth University and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, with the University of South Wales also contributing. Aberystwyth withdrew from the partnership in 2020, with Swansea absorbing its areas of expertise.

The operation was worth £14.7 million in this configuration, with Cardiff University’s own contribution valued separately at £10.7 million.

What was immediately evident was that the reduced funding meant ASTUTE could do less, but still managed to deliver strong results over the seven-year period.

ASTUTE 2020 organised its support around three specialist themes:

• Advanced Materials Technology
• Computational Engineering Modelling
• Manufacturing Systems Engineering

Companies seeking support had to bring a genuine research challenge, work collaboratively with university partners in sharing inputs, outputs and risk, and demonstrate economic benefit to West Wales and the Valleys.

The case studies from this period illustrate the range of problems tackled: helping office furniture manufacturers optimise structural chair design, supporting a pharmaceutical firm developing a prototype point-of-care cancer test, working with Brother Industries in Wrexham to produce toner cartridges from recycled materials, and partnering with Sandvik Osprey to reduce micro-cracking in additively manufactured nickel superalloy parts.

Structural reinforcement specialist Cintec International used the support to register a new patent and create a job, while medical waste container maker Vernacare worked with ASTUTE and WRAP Cymru to incorporate recycled content into sharps bins.

By the time ERDF funding ended on 31 December 2022, ASTUTE 2020+ had supported more than 540 Welsh enterprises and created or safeguarded more than 1,020 jobs.

Companies reported more than £28 million in follow-on internal R&D investment and a further £18 million in external funding secured as a direct result of their collaboration.

What is evident is that relatively low levels of funding were able to create high-value outcomes, with researchers working for ASTUTE often moving into the companies they had supported, bringing a higher level of R&D capability into Welsh industry.

ASTUTE EAST, 2018–2022

Where the original ASTUTE and ASTUTE 2020 focused on West Wales and the Valleys, ASTUTE EAST was launched in 2018 with additional funding specifically to extend the model into East Wales, addressing the gap identified in the 2015 evaluation.

It built on the same three technology themes as ASTUTE 2020, but with a narrower academic partnership: Swansea and Cardiff Universities as the two core partners, with the University of South Wales contributing specialist expertise.

ASTUTE EAST’s case studies show the programme operating in the same demand-led, collaborative style as its sister operations.

One example involved Ultrawave, a Welsh manufacturer of ultrasonic cleaning equipment used by clients including Nissan, which worked with the team to improve how temperature sensors were attached to stainless steel components.

The collaboration used 3D laser vibrometry to better understand the stresses involved, helped Ultrawave reduce warranty returns, and was credited with safeguarding jobs and creating two new positions.

A Shared Legacy

ASTUTE, ASTUTE 2020 and ASTUTE EAST are best understood as three chapters of the same continuous story rather than entirely separate initiatives.

All three were part-funded by the ERDF through the Welsh Government and participating universities, and all pursued the same underlying aim of de-risking the adoption of advanced manufacturing technology by Welsh businesses through structured access to academic expertise.

Although ASTUTE has continued as a centre of excellence in Wales, what is evident is that the original depth and breadth of activity brought expertise from the university sector into companies across the country.

The Welsh Government should again consider funding ASTUTE in Wales along the lines of the original conception, with enhanced marketing support, and commit to a permanent programme that will support Welsh businesses over the long term.

Increasing R&D spending in companies and acting as a pump-prime for innovation would deliver benefits far beyond the initial investment.