Rolls Royce CTO Paul Stein will present the keynote at Subcon 2018, one of many highlights of this year’s programme that also features sessions on digitalisation, robotics, prosthetics, motorsport, Blockchain, smart materials and technology transfer delivered by some of the UK’s leading engineers and its most innovative disruptors.

This year’s conference is a three-day, two-theatre, six-stream, 36-session programme showcasing cutting edge innovation and best practice from the worlds of engineering, manufacturing and supply chain management. It is free to attend for all Subcon visitors and can be viewed online at http://www.subconshow.co.uk/conference/2018-programme.

A key theme of this year’s conference is cross-sector collaboration and technology transfer with Dr Caroline Hargrove, CTO of McLaren Applied Technologies, talking about how technological expertise in motorsport can be spun out into other sectors and BAE Systems’ Dr Henry White teaching delegates how technology from the defence sector can be applied to the world of sport.

Other programme highlights include cybernetics specialist Nadine Stech who helped to design Linx, the world’s most intelligent prosthetic limb, and the CTO of Fujitsu UK who will treat visitors to an explanation of Blockchain and how it can be applied to the engineering supply chain. Visitors will also be able to hear about the latest developments in driverless cars from Jaguar Land Rover’s head of autonomous projects Mark Cund.

On the manufacturing side, the conference programme will cover everything from the practicalities of implementing Industry 4.0 technology to the latest developments in 3D printing, composite materials, and advanced metrology technologies. Highlights here include Xaar’s Professor Neil Hopkinson, one of the pioneers of 3D printing in the UK.

“Delegates at my session will learn to appreciate the immediacy of the opportunity of 3D printing for part production – it’s a field that is moving quickly – and understand where the technology does and does not make sense,” Hopkinson explained. “They should also draw inspiration on where and how they can best add value to their organisations through 3D printing.”

Other key speakers include The AMRC’s head of digital Professor Rab Scott and Professor Dame Jane Jiang – who heads up the EPSRC’s Future Metrology hub at the University of Huddersfield.

Conference director Jon Excell said: “We’re really excited about the programme for this year’s conference – we’ve got a great mix of engineering leaders at the forefront of technological change and top academics who are plugging their research into real world, mainstream applications. Over the three days visitors will be able to gain expert insight into some of the big trends that are shaping engineering and manufacturing as well as being able to marvel at some of the UK’s most inspiring and innovative engineering projects. We’re really looking forward to it.”

“What’s more – we have Paul Stein headlining. Paul is one of the most eminent engineers in the country and he will be talking about how emerging technology will impact the future of aerospace, including the development of more efficient aircraft and electronic planes. We’re very lucky to have him speaking.”

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