The Division seeks to identify, encourage and support relevant basic and applied research and to help industry benefit through, for example, problem solving, cost reduction or new product development. The Division liaises with EPSRC in order to further promote interaction between academia and industry.

A major plank of this strategy is the organisation of conferences and workshops balanced between generic and material or industry specific topics. These aim to facilitate the exchange of ideas and information both within and between the academic and industrial communities. To this end the committees attempt to maintain a balanced representation from academia, research organisations and industry.

The Division also aims to identify new areas of technology where the Institute should be taking initiatives and has historically been a seed-corn from which new Divisions have emerged.