High Value Manufacturing Catapult appoints new chairman

Published by

Peter Davison

HVM Catapult chair Steve Bagshaw with chief executive Katherine Bennett

The High Value Manufacturing Catapult – whose centres include the Manufacturing Technology Centre near Coventry, the National Composites Centre at Bristol and Bath Science Park, and WMG at the University of Warwick – has appointed Steve Bagshaw CBE as its new chairman.

Steve is an expert in biotechnology and chemical manufacturing with more than 35 years in industry. Most recently, Steve was a director at CPI, one of seven HVM Catapult industrial innovation centres catalysing the adoption of advanced technologies and manufacturing solutions.

An industry advisor to the UK Government’s Vaccine Task Force during the COVID-19 pandemic, Steve was awarded a CBE for services to the manufacturing and biotechnology sector in 2020. He is a member of UKRI’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, and he chairs the BioYorkshire Industrial Advisory Group.

Steve is a Bradford City season ticket holder, a lay minister, and a hillwalker.

The appointment coincides with HVM Catapult starting a new five-year funding cycle after signing the Grant Funding Agreement with Innovate UK. The five-year agreement is effective from 1 October 2023.

“As I see it, one of the key jobs of the HVM Catapult is making sure innovative manufacturing businesses get the help they need to succeed. Not just on the technical side, but also with supply chain, funding guidance, and policy expertise – everything that a Catapult can offer," said Steve.

“From my time at CPI, one of the seven HVM Catapult centres across the country, I know that SMEs are absolutely crucial to the UK economy. Supporting SMEs is essential, particularly when they are taking an idea and developing it at speed.

“Helping SME manufacturers to become more productive and efficient – environmentally and economically – must be a focus for the industry. For example, if we can help SMEs reduce their energy usage with innovative manufacturing solutions without sacrificing productivity, they can cut their energy costs and environmental impact at the same time.

“I look forward to working with chief executive Katherine Bennett and all our colleagues across the HVM Catapult network to champion innovation in UK manufacturing.”

Katherine Bennett CBE, chief executive of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, said: “I am very pleased to welcome Steve to his new role as chair of HVM Catapult, succeeding Allan Cook who has done a tremendous job for the past five years. Steve is a true pioneer in UK biotechnology, and his contributions – including as a director at CPI - have been invaluable.

“I know he will continue to make his mark on manufacturing innovation and inspire the next generation of industrialists across all regions of the UK.”

Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country. An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts. Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.