Encirc joins TransFIRe consortium

Encirc is delighted to be a member of the TransFIRe consortium led by Cranfield University, which will examine how companies like Encirc can grow and develop while helping achieve the net zero 2050 environmental targets.

TransFIRe (Transforming Foundation Industries Research and Innovation hub) was developed in response to the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) call to transform the foundation industries, namely: chemicals, cement, ceramics, glass, metals and paper. These industries produce 75 percent of all materials in the UK economy and are vital for the UK’s manufacturing and construction industries.

Together, foundation industries are worth 52 billion GBP to the UK economy and produce 28 million tonnes of materials per year, accounting for about 10 percent of the UK total CO2 emissions.

The UK Government wants to make these industries more internationally competitive, to secure jobs in these industries and help them grow. UKRI through the ISCF has allocated 4.7 million GBP for three years to work with universities, research organisations and industry, led by Cranfield University, to assist with technology development and transfer, new business developments and new opportunities in materials and technologies to help to achieve the net zero 2050 target.

TransFIRe is a consortium of 20 researchers from 12 institutions, 49 companies and 14 non-governmental organisations related to the sectors, with expertise across the foundation industries as well as energy mapping, life cycle and sustainability, industrial symbiosis, computer science, AI and digital manufacturing, management and business, social sciences and technology transfer.

The consortium is led by Professor Mark Jolly, Director of Manufacturing at Cranfield University and includes investigators from Bangor, Cambridge, Cardiff, Durham, Edinburgh, Exeter, Leeds, Northumbria, Sheffield Hallam and York universities and the British Geological Survey.

This programme will develop a self-sustaining hub of expertise to support the foundation industries’ transformation into non-polluting, resource-efficient, modern, competitive businesses, working in harmony with the communities in which they are situated, providing attractive places to be employed with unparalleled equality, diversity and inclusion performance.