Future transport and engineering technologies to be showcased in the region in coming months
With the return of in person events, it’s been a busy few weeks for the events industry, with more trade shows and conferences to come. As COP26 approaches, many of these events provide opportunities to promote zero carbon green future mobility. We take a look at what is coming up.
With its central location, the West Midlands has long been a centre of events and trade shows. Locally there is the National Agricultural Exhibition Centre (NAEC) at Stoneleigh Park and the Warwickshire Exhibition Centre for exhibitions, and conference venues include the British Motor Museum at Gaydon and Coombe Abbey in Rugby Borough.
Down the road in Coventry there is Warwick Conferences at the University of Warwick main campus, the Coventry Building Society Arena (formerly Ricoh Arena) and The National Motorcycle Museum and of course the NEC, the largest in the UK.
Put together with the cluster of automotive and transport technology R&D and manufacturing sites here, this is a great place to host conferences and trade shows for the auto, aero, rail and related industry. With the development of UK ‘gigafactories’, including plans for one at Coventry Airport, and the establishment here of the national UK Battery Industrialisation Centre at Baginton, near Coventry, the number of transport technology related events locally has been growing.
With COP26 coming up in November, the newly rebranded Coventry Building Society Arena (formerly ‘the Ricoh’) next month looks ahead to future green engineering and transport technologies. The Engineering Design Show returns on October 19th and 20th and is the UK's only event entirely dedicated to engineering, electronics and embedded design. The following week, the The Battery Technology Show on October 26th and 27th brings delegates to see and hear about the latest developments in battery technology.
Invest in Coventry & Warwickshire, with CWLEP, Coventry City Council and Warwickshire County Council is hosting a Vehicle Electrification Skills Panel at the Engineering Design Show on October 19th. The panel session will discuss the challenge and opportunities presented as the vehicle industry moves towards zero carbon, and what we need to do to make sure the region has the right skills going forward. Feedback and ideas from delegates at the show will be welcomed. Panelists will include Marion Plant OBE, CEO of North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College, and CWLEP Board member for skills, Prof Carl Perrin Director of the Institute for Clean Growth and Future Mobility and Steve Doyle CEO of EV company Evera. The panel is a forerunner to a larger electrification skills summit taking place in November at MIRA MTI.
Invest in Coventry & Warwickshire will also be exhibiting at the show, so come and see us at stand F5.
Looking further ahead, here is a list of planned events in the area with some focus on transport technologies over the coming months:
Our Future Moves, Coventry Transport Museum, to October 31
Engineering Design Show, CBS Arena, 19-20 October
SMMT Meet the Buyer Event, CBS Arena, 19-20 October
Battery Technology Show, CBS Arena, 26-27 October
Advanced Engineering Show, NEC, 3-4 November
Motorcycle Live, NEC, 4-12 December
Autosport International 2022, NEC, 13-17 January 2022
FPC 2022 - Future Powertrains Conference, National Motorcycle Museum, 2-3 March 2022
Rail Live, Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre, 22-23 June 2022
Vehicle Electrification Expo 2022, NEC, 29-30 June 2022
AESIN Conference, National Motorcycle Museum, September 2022 tbc