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Dear Members

I hope you enjoyed a relaxing summer. We have seen a significant change in pace in recent weeks as we return to some element of normality following the pandemic. None more so than with the return of face-to-face meetings and networking events.

As I put pen to paper, we are a day away from the relaunch of NEPIC’s annual Meet the Members Conference and Exhibition that will return to Wynyard Hall’s Grand Marquee this coming Wednesday, 20 October. The appetite for this event has been staggering and we mark our return to face-to-face networking by welcoming 550 guests and more than 90 exhibitors – along with a fantastic line up of speakers and many pre-arranged 1-2-1 mentoring appointments.

Acutely aware of the risks still presented by the pandemic, and the safe delivery of events, NEPIC have partnered with occupation health specialists, Recovery4Life, who are supporting our Covid Policy and the requirement for negative lateral flow tests to be presented prior to entry.

Over recent months we have highlighted the investment updates that are set to shape the future of industry in the North East – and we are delighted to welcome many of these companies to Wynyard Hall to share with you in person the opportunities these present. Guests will hear from the East Coast Cluster, Stork, Sembcorp Energy UK, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, bp, Quotient Sciences, Johnson Matthey and TVCA.

Whilst such fantastic investment news sparks much positivity for a bright future, we as a sector are also facing many challenges. The impact of Brexit is still playing out and none more so than in relation to UK Reach. As an industry we are working to support the development of a pragmatic solution to deliver a more proportionate UK than currently being proposed by DEFRA – however, the challenges are grand and the impact to UK industry estimated at £1billion.

Furthermore, the heavily publicised, critical issue for energy-intensive industries hit by high gas prices must be solved quickly and we are working to seek urgent Government support. The focus of Government to date has been in relation to provide immediate solutions to CO2 shortages and the related impacts – along with additional supply chain implications.

As the industry of industries, we remain steadfast in our messaging to Government that we must protect the foundation blocks of UK manufacturing or risk losing many downstream industries that depend upon them. Furthermore, if the UK is to realise its Clean Growth potential – in relation to hydrogen, carbon capture usage and storage, and plastics recycling – core industries must be protected and remain. Without them a circular economy is unachievable.

On behalf of the NEPIC team, may I take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support of the Cluster and ongoing engagement in our activities. I hope to have the opportunity to meet with you at our annual conference tomorrow.

With best wishes

Philip Aldridge
Chief Executive Officer, NEPIC

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Quarter Three Highlights

External Engagement & Influencing

To achieve our vision of a thriving sector in this region, it is vital that government and policymakers understand its importance and act. During the first quarter of 2021, the NEPIC team have played a key role in highlighting the impacts of major regulatory and policy amendments affecting the region and sector.

Covid & Key Worker Status

During the summer, NEPIC responded to concerns raised by members in relation to Key Worker Status following the effects of the ‘pingdemic’. Working with Local Government Bodies, Industry Bodies, Public Health Departments, Local Authorities, and all Local MP’s and Government departments we sought clarification on those sectors exempt from track and trace – and how they could work with the changes commencing mid-August and mitigate the challenges of track and trace and NHS contacting, allowing individuals with a negative test to return to work and minimise business disruption. Whilst awaiting further government announcements, we continue to work with members companies to seek further clarity for extending the reach of ‘Critical Chemicals’ and planning for a potentially challenging winter.

Levelling Up

During September, NEPIC supported a visit to Teesside by the Governments’ Levelling Up Unit. This unit is a cross departmental group looking at the required policy levers that Government can use to ‘level up’ the North of England. Government officials visited Tees Works, Wilton International, the Wilton Centre, Middlesbrough Town Centre, Teesside University, and the National Horizons Centre. During a positive visit, NEPIC emphasised help needed to access deployable innovation.

UK Reach

Initially a direct copy of its EU counterpart, the practicalities, and consequences of implementing UK Reach are playing out. As an industry we are working to support the development of a pragmatic solution to deliver a more proportionate UK regime in line with UK Reach principles. Concerns include overburdened resources and costs to UK industry with no perceived benefit; compliance costs that outweigh market opportunities (leading to a reduction in range of chemicals, erosion of UK manufacturing competitiveness and knock-on reduction in investment IN R&D, innovation skills and productivity) and that registration and evaluation obligations drive repetition of animal studies. The estimated cost to UK industry is £1billion – covering data acquisition, registration fees and administration. NEPIC continues to work closely with the Chemical Industries Association in relation to the proposed UK regulations that are expected to come into force by DEFRA.

East Coast Cluster

On Monday 20 September, NEPIC joined industry representatives at House of Commons to showcase the environmental and economical benefits of the East Coast Cluster. The East Coast Cluster is the new name for the collective Net Zero Teesside, Zero Carbon Humber, and Northern Endurance Partnership bid. The event, hosted by Redcar Constituency MP, Jacob Young, took place a month ahead of the CCUS Cluster Sequencing phase 1 announcement expected from 25 October.

Freeports

Following the announcement in March 2021 of Teesside’s Freeport bid success, and further to Government Freeport Taskforce representatives visiting the region in July, an additional meeting with NEPIC members was held over the summer. The meeting, that welcomed TVCA Freeport Director Nolan Gray, was specifically for members of the Wilton Centre – an area that is likely to be within one of the Teesside Freeport tax zones offering potential financial advantages for investment.

Local Government

We remain in regular contact with the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA), and the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (NE-LEP), with the aim of influencing policy decisions and helping deliver economic plans that support the growth of the sector.

National Influence

On a national level, we continue to meet regularly with our UK process cluster colleagues, together with the Chemical Industries Association (CIA), BEIS and DIT.

A growing membership

• NEPIC represents the largest single cluster of process, chemicals and energy companies anywhere in the UK, and the second largest in the whole of Europe. We manufacture 50 per cent of UK foundation chemicals and a third of UK pharmaceuticals – bringing more than £2.1 billion of value to the region each year.
• Since the start of the year, we have welcomed 40 new members to the network who provide a broad and diverse array of product and service offerings to the network. Online Directory>>
• September 2021 saw NEPIC’s return to external face-to-face events. We were proud to support CHEMUK as a headline partner, keynote speaker and exhibitor at the 2-day event held at Birmingham’s NEC. The event offered the opportunity to showcase the very best of the region’s chemical, pharmaceutical and process cluster, along with supporting our efforts to raise awareness of our work and attract new companies to the network. Read more>>
• We’re delighted to announce that NEPIC’s prestigious Annual Awards and Dinner will return to Hardwick Hall in Sedgefield on Friday 21 January 2022 and we welcome member companies and guests to join us for a glittering evening of celebrations and networking. Award are now open for entries and full category details are available online. For further information about this event, please contact Lynne Aungiers.

Events & Engagement

Facilitating interactions and enabling connections is at the heart of our work. We create unique insightful and inspirational meetings, workshops and events that promote learning, enable networking and stimulate business growth.

•  Since January we have continued with a virtual event programme across a variety of subject matters supporting critical learning, best practice sharing, sector opportunities, and networking and introductions.
• Wednesday 20 October 2021 will see NEPIC face-to-face events resume starting with our flagship annual conference and exhibition, Meet the Members, at Wynyard Hall’s Grand Marquee. Support for this event has been overwhelming with the booths and sponsorship opportunities selling out in record time. This, coupled with an impressive speaker line up and excellent array of mentors, is sure to mark the long-awaited return to in-person networking and knowledge sharing as day to remember. For more information and tickets, click here>>
•  Acutely aware of the risks still presented by the pandemic, we have partnered with member company, Recovery4Life, to support the safe delivery of this event. To view our Event Covid Policy, click here>>
• Cluster Connect, held monthly, continues to be popular across the membership attracting more than 50 members per event. This free to attend event brings members together in a relaxed setting and provides a fantastic opportunity for companies to make introductions and share business information. Speaker opportunities are also available to book via Liz Rooney. The next event will take place on Thursday 18 November. To secure your place, click here>>
• The Teesside Integrated Group, chaired by NEPIC CEO Philip Aldridge, continues to meet quarterly to discuss key issues facing manufacturers.
• Regular meetings continue to be held with pharmaceutical members across the region to discuss challenges, support, growth and share best practice.
• Mentoring support remains through ongoing Engineering Connect meetings.

Communications

Through our work we promote your business, products and services to NEPIC’s extensive network, whilst championing this sector and region as a great place to do business and supporting local initiatives. 

• More than 300-member news stories have been published over the course the quarter via the Members’ Hub platform. In turn this information has been disseminated to our extensive network via the weekly e-news bulletin and social media platforms. View all news>>
   
• The NEPIC Directory 2021 will launch in hardcopy on Wednesday 20th October at NEPIC annual Meet the Members Conference. This publication allows us to showcase the world-leading chemical, pharmaceutical and process businesses located in the North East of England, along with the extensive supply chain that underpins the sector.    

Subsector News & Projects

In 2020, we reported a significant growth in the NEPIC team to enable work across key development areas that supports the long-term success of the sector in the North East and brings additional value to members. 

Made Smarter Adoption North East 

Made Smarter Adoption North East is a new, fully funded business support programme specially designed for manufacturing SMEs in the North East region covering both the North East LEP and Tees Valley Combined Authority areas. This project has been designed to help businesses go to market faster, cut costs and reduce downtime, by investing in digital tools, innovations, and skills. NEPIC is a delivery partner for this programme. Contact Ryan Siddall, Innovation Manager and Made Smarter project lead for NEPIC, about how you can tap into world-renowned businesses and the UK government and connect your organisation with digital tools that can transform the way you work. 

THYME Project 

The THYME project has been awarded funding of £1.8M from Research England to continue a highly successful collaboration between the Universities of Teesside, Hull and York. The universities will continue to work together to develop innovation assets and drive increased productivity in the bioeconomy across the Tees Valley, the Humber and Yorkshire. The innovations kick-started by THYME will not only help to boost economic growth but also pave the way to a more sustainable future where industry uses renewable sources of raw materials. For more information, click here>> 

The THYME Project is supporting the recently communicated Bio-EO Project. The aim of the project is to build the business case to re-shore and decarbonise the ethylene oxide supply chain. Ethylene oxide is a crucial platform chemical for the process industry and is used to manufacture a multitude of different sectors including plastics, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and among others. As ethylene oxide is extremely hazardous to transport, most of the downstream industry disappeared in the UK when Dow Chemical ceased production at their Wilton plant in 2010. 

The project will build the business case to re-shore industry, bringing jobs and economic growth to the region. Furthermore, it will assist the UK in meeting its Net Zero targets as the aim is to utilise renewable low-carbon feedstocks, such as bioethanol, rather than traditional petrochemical feedstocks.

Supply Chain North East Programme 

Supply Chain North East works with businesses looking to diversify, broaden their customer base and unlock new market opportunities – and supports companies by developing core competencies, understanding improvement needs and identifying suitable opportunities in new and existing markets. 

A partnership between the North East LEP, RTC North, NEPIC, NEAA and Generator North East, Supply Chain North East will work with over 800 businesses between 2018 and 2021 and is designed to support businesses across Advanced manufacturing; Health and life sciences; Subsea, offshore and energy technologies; and Digital, tech and creative. For more information, and to find out if you can tap into this support, click here or contact NEPIC’s SCNE project manager, Glen Kelly.

CCUS Cluster Sequencing Competition

BEIS have confirmed the eligibility of the East Coast Cluster submission into Cluster Sequencing. The East Coast Cluster is the new name for the collective Net Zero Teesside, Zero Carbon Humber, and Northern Endurance Partnership bid. Individual emitters are now developing capture projects where appropriate for submission into the second stage of this “competition”. NEPIC continue to highlight the importance of CCUS to the region and support the East Coast Cluster submission. Phase 1 clusters are expected to be announced by Government from 25 October 2021.

ISCF Cluster Plan Project 

Innovate UK is running the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge, supporting CCUS deployment schemes, industrial clusters, and an industrial decarbonisation research initiative across the UK. This aims to develop four low-carbon industrial clusters by 2030; and four net zero clusters by 2040. 

In the Tees Valley, a consortium of TVCA, bp and NEPIC are developing the decarbonisation ‘Cluster Plan’ for our industrial cluster. In this we are developing a strategy for decarbonisation using CCUS, hydrogen generation, fuel switching and renewable energy generation as the core technologies. Over 40 CO2 emitters are being contacted for information about their emissions with engineering studies being carried out to develop the data for the decarbonisation strategy and impacts on the region’s jobs and economy. 

An initial meeting of the Industrial Advisory Group for the Cluster Plan project was held in early August with industry representatives and data collection activities have commenced with emitters.

Bioprocessing & Plastics Recycling 

NEPIC’s innovation managers continue to provide vital scoping work across bioprocessing and plastics recycling that has now achieved considerable engagement and support from key stakeholders. As mentioned above, the team have successfully secured funding to enable an initial study into the feasibility of the production of bio-EO in the region – along with the benefits to UK supply chains. Work continues to complete the mapping exercise and identify future opportunities. A workshop will be held in November to share and discuss findings with members.

Transforming Foundation Industries Research and Innovation Hub (TransFIRe) 

The foundation industries are worth approximately £45bn to the UK economy and employ 500,000 people. However, these sectors are the largest polluters generating 10% of all UK CO2 emissions, so what can be done? The chemical sector needs to continually innovate to makes step changes in sustainability whilst increasing productivity, resource, and energy efficiency. It can do that through increasing throughput, reducing energy costs, waste valorisation, moving to alternative feedstock, process optimisation, low grade heat recovery and industrial symbiosis. 

Through TransFIRe and the Chemicals Technical Working Group (TWG), of which NEPIC is a member, the project will bring together researchers with specific materials, energy and processing expertise, industry experts, and representatives from trade associations, policymakers, and non-profits, to identify the hot spots of resource usage within each sector and potential to drive improvements. The Chemicals TWG is one of the six TWGs in TransFIRe, with groups on ceramics, glass, cement, metals, paper, and chemicals. 

Looking Forward

• We will continue to work hard to support your business and ensure the long-term sustainability and growth of the North East’s Process Sector.
• We will continue to support our members during these unprecedented times.
• We will represent your needs and views in relation business landscape challenges
• We will deliver a hybrid events programme that offers networking opportunities, insights and learnings, best practice sharing and mentoring.

Upcoming NEPIC Events & Conferences

• Cluster Connect, 18 November
• Digitalisation Conference & Exhibition, 2 December
• Annual General Meeting 2021, 8 December
• Cluster Connect, 16 December
• Annual Industry Awards & Dinner 2022, 21 January

To find out more about our upcoming events, and secure your places, visit www.nepic.co.uk/events

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