The All-Party Parliamentary Manufacturing Group (APMG) are hosting an in -person roundtable on Manufacturing Industrial Symbiosis in collaboration with the UK Manufacturing Symbiosis Network plus (UKMSN+). The event will be held on the 26th April 2022 , 13:00 - 15:00 in the Attlee Suite, Portcullis House, 1 Parliament St, London, SW1A 2JR. 

Industrial symbiosis is an important part of circular economy and as we accelerate our race to net zero, resource efficiency becomes and increasingly mechanism by which the manufacturing sector can reduce its carbon consumption. An industrial Symbiosis approach looks beyond the traditional resource transactions and aims to create cross sectoral linkages, supporting the growth of skills as innovation in addition to the sharing of materials. This roundtable will explore how this is being developed across the UK and internationally.

Speakers Include 

• Luciano Batista, Senior Lecturer in Operations Management at the Operations & Information Management (OIM) Department, UKMSN+ lead 
• Peter Laybourn, Chief Executive International Synergies 
• Amy Peace, Circular Economy Lead, Innovate UK 
• Nicky Cunningham, NICER

About UKMSN+

UKMSN+ aims to actively engage with industry, academia, government and civil representatives. This will be implemented through a series of dissemination and knowledge transfer workshops, as well as through an annual forum where practices, strategies and policies shaping the future of the UK manufacturing symbiosis will be thoroughly discussed and debated.

The manufacturing industry in the UK is facing growing productivity challenges due to supply and price volatility of raw materials. Manufacturing firms are consequently embracing the opportunities of circular economy approaches as a means to save costs, prevent disruptions in materials input and generate additional revenue from waste streams.
The development of circular economy capability and competence requires an industrial symbiosis approach. Industrial symbiosis is a fundamental building block of the circular economy. It provides a means to build industrial competitiveness through the creation of manufacturing ecosystems involving networks of organisations that generate new economic value through the continuous exchange of resources.

The industrial symbiosis capability of the UK manufacturing industry as a whole remains underexploited, with most of the circular economy initiatives being developed in sectoral silos. Such fragmented condition holds the economy back from achieving better sustainability performance overall. To unlock the untapped circular economy potential of the manufacturing industry in the UK, a cross-sectoral industrial symbiosis approach is necessary.