The ERA Foundation promotes innovation in electrotechnology to strengthen the economic vitality of the UK.

In support of this mission the ERA Foundation

• Seeks to raise the profile of engineering and productive industry in the UK, including the completion of studies to help inform policy makers, opinion formers, industry, commerce and funders;
• Supports young people at formative stages of their careers - through the support of awards, fellowships and prizes;
• Provides grants to take research outcomes closer to commercialisation;
• Makes early-stage investments in technology companies, usually by joining suitable technology funds.

In pursuit of these goals the ERA Foundation works with prestigious organisations such as the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, the Institute of Engineering and Technology, and the Arkwright and Smallpeice Trusts. 

PwC firms provide industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to enhance value for their clients. More than 161,000 people in 154 countries in firms across the PwC network share their thinking, experience and solutions to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice.

Lombard, part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, is one of the leading providers of business asset finance in the UK, and in 2011 we celebrate 150 years of working with businesses to find the innovative solutions to fund growth and expansion plans.

As a specialist provider of a wide range of flexible funding options, Lombard has won the Business Moneyfacts Best Leasing and Asset Finance Provider Award for three consecutive years in 2009, 2010 and 2011. This achievement reflects not only our commitment to provide the best product to meet the individual needs of each of our customers, but to ensure that they benefit from the highest standard of customer service.

At Lombard we are extremely proud of the breadth of solutions we provide and the diverse range of assets we fund from office equipment to specialist plant machinery. We have extensive experience of working with the manufacturing sector, providing funding for household names as well as many SMEs.

WMG was founded by Professor Lord Bhattacharyya in 1980 in order to reinvigorate UK manufacturing.  Our mission is to improve the competitiveness of companies through the application of value adding innovation, new technologies and skills deployment, bringing academic rigour to industrial and organisational practice.

We are an international group with collaborative centres in the UK, China, India, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore and Thailand.  As an academic department of the University of Warwick we occupy a unique position between academia and industry.  Our success over the past 30 years is the result of cutting edge research and effective knowledge transfer, working with global companies to develop innovative products and processes to real world problems.  The strength of our expertise spans three capability areas: digital technologies; materials and manufacturing plus operations and business management.

We are an international centre for world class management studies, offering unrivalled postgraduate and professional education programmes. Collaborating with over 500 UK companies, we have developed a focused programme based on real world scenarios that enables managers and leaders to succeed in a constantly changing global environment. 

Arup consider the showcasing of skills and innovation seen in UK manufacturing an inherent necessity to encourage the upholding and development of our reputation in the sector. We support the MX programme by sponsoring the Sustainable Manufacturing Award, because we believe in the need for Britain to produce better and more attractive products to sell to the rest of the world. We also believe in the need to reduce our environmental footprint. Any business with the ability to produce first-class products, using sustainable processes, need to be seen as role models. They deserve our admiration and encouragement and for their achievements to be celebrated to the wider industry.