Foresight - ceramics
The following is a list of Foresight Drivers from the Ceramics Sector.
| Business drivers | Issues | Technology & Innovation need |
| Education & Training | Recruitment and Retention of people in Industry | *Career development, continuous training, competitive remuneration, |
| Lack of UK students studying materials and ceramic disciplines courses | Collaboration between Industry and local Education establishments | |
| Age profile of Industry "top heavy" not enough younger graduates coming into industry | ||
| Image of Manufacturing Industry | Improved image of the industry | |
| Science & Technology | New and Emerging Sectors | Nanotechnology Life Sciences including bio-ceramics |
| Product design | Time from conception to market Materials Development | |
| Process design and Development | Flexibility and small production runs Automation, sensors, process control | |
| Diversification | New sources of energy | |
| Funding of Research & Development | EPSRC | Basic Science Focus Programmes |
| DTI | Focussed programmes | |
| Industry sector research budgets diminishing | ||
| Collaboration & Communication | Links between Industry & Academia | Faraday Partnerships EPSRC Led Networks |
| "Laboratories without walls" | Collaboration without preconceived ideas | |
| Intellectual Property / Secrecy Agreements with individual companies funding research | Information exchange | |
| Product Development | Industry backing for product development and marketing | |
| Environmental | *Reduction of process emissions | *Sensors and modelling *Improved abatement techniques |
| *Design for use, reuse,dismantling and recycling | Waste recycling technologies / routes eg plaster moulds (Whitewares) Building Materials, design & Construction | |
| Waste Immobilisation/ encapsulation | Waste recycling technologies | |
| *Energy Efficiency | ||
| *Climate Change | ||
| Lifecycle Analysis | ||
| Globalisation | Global Market Size & Growth | How to manage "decline" |
| Global Competitiveness | ||
| Supply chain logistics | ||
| Foreign Ownership of UK Companies | ||
| UK Companies with R&D Facilities Overseas | Recruitment and training of UK Material Scientists with foreign language skills so they can work overseas |