Engineering leaders take centre stage at EDS 2021

News

Industry leaders from companies including Airbus, AMRC, IBM, McLaren, Rolls-Royce and many more will share their expert advice about their role in addressing some of society’s most pressing challenges at the Engineering Design Show (Coventry Building Society Arena, Coventry, 19-20 October).

The EDS 2021 conference agenda has been exclusively curated by three market-leading engineering journals: Eureka, New Electronics and – brand new for this year – The Engineer. Each will have its own conference stream at the event.  In addition, the show will see the launch of The Springboard, which aims to encourage engineering start-ups and entrepreneurs.  Supported by British luxury automotive supercar maker McLaren Automotive, The Springboard awards will give early-stage companies a platform to share their innovations with thousands of engineering professionals with the power to influence and guide them to future success and to enter an award to win a free stand at next year’s show, as well as PR and marketing support, together worth £10,000.

As well as the conference, the show will feature a number of workshops from a range of speakers including Wurth Elektronik and Solid State Supplies.

EDS 2021 will deliver a unique and highly relevant conference and exhibition for the UK’s engineering design industry, bringing the best suppliers, the latest innovations and practical advice together to help build new partnerships and optimise business strategies.

Conference

Day one of this fascinating conference will open with a review by Marion Plant OBE, chief executive, Midland Academies Trust of the future of vehicle electrification in the Eureka theatre.  Also in the Eureka stream is a discussion by Dr Patrick Pradel, responsible for product design at Loughborough University on Connecting the UK Design for AM Community. He will cover activities and progress of the UK Design for AM Network that he and Prof Allan Rennie from Lancaster University are currently running.

Other Eureka sessions include:-

  • Advanced automotive technology and how it’s changing how we think about a resilient vehicle

  • Graphene reinforced elastomeric isolators

  • Why it is time to bring intelligence to edge and the benefits

  • Factory +: Building the digital foundations of a modern connected factory

  • Chameleon: Europe’s First 3D printed vehicle

  • ‘Outside looking in’ under design philosophy

  • DC motors on Mars

In The Engineer keynote stream, on day one of the conference, delegates will hear from Rolls-Royce CTO Paul Stein about the engineering challenges of net zero, and Airbus Defence and Space satellite chief Matt Perren about the UK’s fast growing space sector and the ways in which space technology is helping address terrestrial problems. McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt will be announcing the winner of the EDS Show’s Springboard awards, a competition set up to celebrate innovative engineering startups.

Day two will begin by exploring the role that engineers are playing in addressing some of the world’s most urgent healthcare challenges and will feature former ventilator Challenge CEO Dick Elsy who will tell the story behind UK industry’s remarkable effort to scale up production of life-saving COVID-19 ventilators and the Director of the UCL Institute for Healthcare Engineering, Professor Rebecca Shipley.  Away from the medical sector, Prof Rab Scott – Head of DIgital at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Sheffield – will talk to delegates about some of the technologies that will revolutionise the world of manufacturing in the months and years ahead.

The New Electronics stream opens with a talk by Saad Waqar, Business Development Manager - Digitalisation, Siemens Digital Industries on creating a true Digital Twin with closed-loop feedback.

Other New Electronics presentation topics include:-

  • FPGAs put AI at the core of design

  • Cyber security of electric vehicle chargers and platforms

  • Try new MCUs without cost or a learning curve

  • Debug forensics: using the CSI approach to troubleshooting your product design

  • Dealing with colour in your workflow

  • Modular solutions for rapid roll-out of EV charging infrastructure and its renewal energy production

Engineering Design Show event director Gordon Kirk said:  “We have a stellar line-up of speakers and exhibitors for EDS 2021.  We are particularly excited to hear in our new Springboard event how startups and early-stage businesses will help forge the future of the industry.  Over the course of two very interesting and information-packed days, speakers from across the industry will explore some of the key design engineering trends, technologies and projects that are transforming the wider world. We’re certain they will provide some inspiring examples of how engineers are driving the development of cleaner forms of energy generation, sustainable mobility solutions, innovative manufacturing systems and medical technologies that can help address the challenges posed by an ageing population.”

Commenting on this year’s line-up, Editor of The Engineer Jon Excell said, “Engineers are at the forefront of solving many of the biggest challenges we face, and The Engineer Keynote Conference  along with those from Eureka and New Electronics will celebrate that. We’re really looking forward to hearing how some of the UK’s biggest engineering firms and most prestigious institutions are helping to drive the development of the technologies that will hopefully help shape a greener, healthier and safer world.”

Workshops

A number of workshops from companies including Wurth Electronik and Solid State Supplies will provide delegates with insight into a variety of topical issues.  They include sessions from James Twomey, Principal Embedded Solutions Engineer, Microchip/Solid State Supplies on whether a magician can fool a machine learning system.  It will look at machine learning through the lens of magic, including moves and combination of moves used for almost 100 years. Considering ML algorithms and creation methodologies, this presentation will look at those technologies used in recent years in hundreds of applications.  Other workshops cover, among other topics :-

  • Thermal management of electronic devices

  • IoT device security and certification with the Arm Platform Security Architecture

  • How energy battery storage can accelerate EV Charging infrastructure rollout

  • Active motorised implants in the body

Exhibition

In addition to the conference and workshops,  delegates will have the opportunity to discover new suppliers and solutions at the exhibition where around 150 organisations will showcase their cutting edge engineering innovations and best practice.  These include Lascar Electronics, Easby Electronics, Xi Engineering, F2 Chemicals, NANUK, Powell Electronics, Phoenix Mecano, Maxon Motor, Simms International and Arrow Devices.

The show is being held at Coventry Building Society Arena, Coventry on 19 - 20 October and EDS headline sponsors are Wurth Elektronik and Solid State Supplies.  Delegates can register, free of charge, here