Our strategy
Our vision, mission and strategic priorities as a world-leading UK research and development facility.
Richard Oldfield, CEO
"We are industry's research and development partner. When companies need to make things lighter, stronger, smarter and more sustainable they come to the NCC. With access to 'beyond' state-of-the-art technology and the best composites engineering capabilities in the world, we help our customers solve the most complex engineering challenges of our time."
Our Story
The National Composites Centre was created as the UK’s Centre of Excellence for Composites Research and Development following the inclusion of this disruptive technology into government industrial strategy. Our task: to be recognised as a world leader in composite technology, accelerating the development and uptake of digital technologies for sustainable composites and growing the market for composites by driving innovation through collaboration and partnerships.
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Governance
Information on our Governance arrangements as a subsidiary of the University of Bristol.
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Meet the team
The NCC leadership team has extensive engineering and commercial experience across industry sectors.
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Membership at the NCC
An NCC membership gives you access to 'beyond' state-of-the-art technology and the best composites engineering capabilities in the world, as well as expert advice from specialist engineers.
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Academic reach
The NCC works proactively with universities across the UK and overseas in a number of ways to pull through fundamental research to industrial applications.
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Cross-Catapult programmes
We work closely with partners across the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and wider UK Catapult Network on collaborative projects.
Why choose composites?
Composites enable our everyday lives – in transport, energy, healthcare, defence, communications and leisure. Lightweight, strong, durable and adaptable, the unique properties of composites help us to design and make better products with less waste that last longer, helping us to address urgent societal challenges of sustainability and net-zero.
Our networks
High Value Manufacturing Catapult
The NCC is proud to be one of seven centres that makes up the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, which is itself one of nine Catapults created as a key tool in Innovate UK’s range of innovation support for businesses. Each Catapult is focused on an area in which the UK has the potential to grow in strategically important global markets.
Composites Leadership Forum
The National Composites Centre is a pivotal member of the UK’s Composite Leadership Forum which works to influence the Government and other bodies to bring together support for composites and ensure growth and industrial success for the UK. It is chaired and led by industry.
Composites UK Trade Association
The NCC also is a board member of Composites UK Trade Association, fully supporting its mission to encourage continuous growth and development of the industry, promoting the best practice use of composites materials. We work closely to bring companies throughout the composites supply chain together, creating a unified voice to drive the industry forward to the benefit all of those involved.
Our Members
Our latest news
News
News
Opinion
News
Case Study
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Space West welcomes OHB Space’s decision to launch UK subsidiary
19 Mar 2025Space West is delighted to welcome OHB Space’s decision to establish a new subsidory in the UK. As one of Europe’s leading space technology groups this expansion is a major boost for the South West and strenghtens the UK’s growing space sector. -
ASCEND consortium successfully complete cross-sector programme, transforming high-rate manufacturing
19 Mar 2025NCC shares the successful completion of the ASCEND programme, positioning the UK industry at the forefront of advanced, sustainable technologies for next-generation aircraft and future mobility solutions. -
A new chapter in decarbonising aerospace
11 Mar 2025By channelling investment into the most promising approaches, the UK can advance an aerospace supply chain that promotes circularity and achieves net zero ambitions. NCC experts Tim Young, Adrian Tayler, and Kyle Pender discuss the opportunity to decarbonise aerospace by design and circular value chain. -
New sustainability paper: Future strategies for decarbonisation of carbon fibre products
05 Mar 2025A new paper from the NCC sustainability team has been published in the Journal of Cleaner Production. Funded by SusWIND, it interrogates future strategies to identify a clear roadmap for carbon fibre decarbonisation. -
NCC and CEAMS partner to develop innovative new solutions to enable recycled carbon fibre recovery, verification and re-use.
03 Mar 2025The innovations directly address a significant barrier to the adoption of recycled carbon fibre for high value applications.
