The Henry Royce Institute has launched a Materials Map showing that the UK materials sector contributes £49bn in annual GVA and supports more than 635,000 jobs nationwide.
The analysis identifies materials activity across every UK constituency and sets out regional clusters by business count, employment, GVA, and sector specialism. Royce said the sector represents 2% of the UK’s total GVA and underpins major parts of the manufacturing economy, including clean energy, defence, nuclear, life sciences, aerospace, and advanced engineering.
Rather than presenting advanced materials as a narrow research base concentrated in a small number of locations, the map shows a distributed industrial sector with strong regional capability. The South East generates the highest regional GVA at £8.7bn, driven by strengths in aerospace, defence, and engineering, while the North West leads the UK for the number of advanced materials innovation businesses.
Royce said 85% of productive capability and 70% of businesses are located outside London and the South East. The North West is home to 951 materials innovation businesses employing 74,500 people and contributing an estimated £7.2bn in GVA annually. Yorkshire and The Humber supports 806 materials innovation businesses, more than 49,000 jobs, and £4.3bn in annual GVA, with Sheffield and Leeds both identified as major centres of activity.
Scotland is also highlighted as a significant materials region, with 478 innovation businesses, 49,400 jobs, and an estimated £4bn in GVA. Its cluster spans engineering and construction, aerospace and defence, and life sciences and medical technology.
“Materials innovation is not a supporting capability, it is foundational to the UK’s industrial future,” said David Knowles, CEO of the Henry Royce Institute. “From clean energy and defence to healthcare and infrastructure, new and improved materials are the underpinning solution to the most pressing challenges we face.”
The Materials Map builds on the National Materials Innovation Strategy and the Materials Innovation Leadership Group, both of which feed into the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s National Materials Innovation Programme. That programme is investing £80m to accelerate commercialisation, strengthen supply chains, and grow UK industrial capability through materials innovation.
By mapping where research infrastructure, industrial capability, and supply chain capacity already overlap, Royce is giving government, industry, and researchers a clearer evidence base for investment decisions. The data also reinforces how closely materials innovation is tied to broader UK manufacturing resilience, from energy systems and medical technologies to aerospace structures and defence supply chains.
Further details and the full tool are available through the Henry Royce Institute Materials Map announcement.
