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Wednesday 20 October saw the return of the region’s chemical, pharmaceutical and process sector event of the year, welcoming 550 guests to Wynyard Hall’s Grand Marquee on Teesside.

NEPIC’s Meet the Members Conference and Exhibition, now in its 11th year, showcases the investment projects that are set to shape the future of industry in the North East – and highlight the outstanding supply chain companies with innovative product and service solutions who are poised to support.

Andy Lane, Managing Director of Net Zero Teesside and The Northern Endurance Partnership, opened the conference following Tuesday’s announcement naming Teesside as one of the UK’s first carbon capture utilisation and storage developments.

The project that is part of the East Coast Cluster aims to remove nearly 50% of all UK industrial CO2 emissions by 2040. Government support will now unlock a further £220m in development funding from the project’s privately backed consortium, which includes bp and other global players.

Guests also heard from global industry giants including Stork, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, bp, Johnson Matthey, Quotient Sciences and Sembcorp Energy UK – who highlighted the array of investments that will ensure the North East remains at the fore of process sector developments and net zero ambitions.

Headline sponsor Stork shared their ambitions for helping to shape the future of the region ahead of the official launch of their new Teesside office today. Sembcorp Energy UK showcased the next wave of growth at the Wilton International site after a flurry of recent investment announcements, and Billingham-based FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies shared the latest developments within the UK business following the official launch of the Bio Campus in September.

As battery technology goes through a period of transition and we witness a once in a lifetime transformation towards electric vehicle, Johnson Matthey highlighted the battery material and technology solutions that are shaping the future for automotive and beyond – and bp provided an insightful update into its world-scale H2 Teesside hydrogen project that aims to produce 1GW of blue hydrogen by 2027, whilst capturing emissions equivalent to that from the heating of one million UK households.

Drug development and manufacturing accelerator, Quotient Sciences, shared the exciting plans taking place at their Alnwick facility following the £6.3 million-pound investment that is set to significantly boost drug substance manufacturing – and Tees Valley Combined Authority showcased its plans for decarbonising the region’s industrial cluster and Made Smarter highlighted the digitalisation support available through the newly launched Adoption North East programme.

For many this event provided the first opportunity to meet and network face to face in 18 months and celebrate the great things happening in our sector and region. Acutely aware of the risks still presented by the pandemic, and the safe delivery of events, NEPIC partnered with occupation health specialists, Recovery4Life, who supported a covid policy that required for negative lateral flow test and provided an increased level of security for guests.

The conference also welcomed 92 exhibiting companies and provided the opportunity to gain business support from industrial mentors through 1-2-1 mentoring appointments.

NEPIC would like to take this opportunity to thank this year’s speakers, exhibitors, suppliers, mentors, and guests – and pay special recognition to event sponsors – Stork, Recovery4Life, Addison, SPIE, ABB, Axiom Engineering, Frazer Nash, ITS and Lynas Engineers.