The University Sector is Converging on Manufacturing in UK

Abstract

Many UK inhabitants now adopt careers working in both university and manufacturing sectors. In a typical engineering career, a young student may now start at university, spend time in factories, often in research and development, and then return to university in later life to teach evolving innovation principles of industry. It is clear to such people that universities are expanding rapidly whereas manufacturing has declined and reached an equilibrium of output but with lower job numbers due to robotics. Manufacturing in 2022 was approximately 8% of British GDP whereas the university sector was only about 2%. This paper analyses the growing connections and co-locations with numerous universities/manufacturing companies, predicting that convergence in both jobs and GDP contribution will occur around 2050.