A Metamaterials-Enabled Future: New National Roadmap

The UK is a global leader in metamaterials research, underpinned by a uniquely collaborative and interdisciplinary community. A new national roadmap identifies the priority areas for action to enable the UK to capitalise on this remarkable research community to become a world-leading hub for metamaterials innovation and development. The roadmap has been developed by the Metamaterials Strategy Action Group^†, convened by the UK Government, in partnership with stakeholders across industry, academia, research and technology organisations (RTOs), and policy.

‘Metamaterials represent a significant opportunity to strengthen the UK’s technology and industrial base, supporting economic growth, and solving societal challenges. Realising this opportunity will depend on our ability to translate cutting-edge research into commercially viable products and new industrial solutions. I welcome the publication of the Metamaterials Commercialisation Roadmap and its vision for accelerating innovation, attracting investment and building the partnerships needed to position the UK at the forefront of the transformative potential of metamaterials.’

Chris McDonald MP, Minister for Science, Innovation and Investment

‘Building on the UK’s world-leading academic excellence, research, training, and metamaterials community the launch of the UK Metamaterials Commercialisation Roadmap represents a defining moment, positioning the UK at the forefront of an enabling and transformative technology.

‘We see the Roadmap charting a course towards the UK becoming a global leader in commercialising metamaterials research and innovation, contributing to our nation’s security and prosperity.

‘Realising this ambition depends on coordinated community action, driven by the community activities of the UK Metamaterials Network’s c.1300 academic, industry, and government members, to fully harness the UK’s competitive advantage in metamaterials.’

Professor Alastair Hibbins, University of Exeter, and Dr Claire Dancer, University of Birmingham, co-leads of the UK Metamaterials Network (EPSRC funded)

Professor David Knowles, CEO of the Henry Royce Institute, said that:

‘The UK has an exceptional research base in metamaterial systems and this new Roadmap from the Metamaterials Strategy Action Group provides an important opportunity to translate that strength into both commercial and economic impact.

‘At Royce we’ve been helping to bridge the gap between research and application through our Metamaterials Industrial Collaboration Programme, supporting a range of fast pace collaborative sprint projects that bring universities, RTOs and industry together to accelerate technology development and scale-up.

‘The Roadmap now gives us the shared direction needed to build on this kind of momentum. By connecting research excellence with industrial need, manufacturing capability and investment we can help turn the UK’s leadership in metamaterials science into technologies that deliver real benefit for the economy and society.’

Facilitated by the Institute of Physics, the roadmap reflects extensive engagement with the UK metamaterials community through workshops, consultations, and expert input. It distils this collective effort into five thematic priorities: ecosystem, innovation, manufacturing, assurance, and skills; highlighting both the opportunities and the critical challenges facing the sector.

 ‘The UK has the outstanding research foundations, underpinned by physics, to be a world leader in metamaterials. What we need now is the ambition and coordination to turn that unique advantage into innovations that deliver the UK’s strategic priorities and economic growth, beginning with a properly developed funding plan from research to commercialisation.

“If we get this right, uniting public and private sectors behind long-term priorities to unlock the scale of investment needed, the UK can lead the way for the next global technology revolution through metamaterials. If we don’t, we risk the UK falling behind and becoming just one part in the pipeline of an extraordinary future.’

Tom Grinyer, Chief Executive Officer at the Institute of Physics

This landmark roadmap represents a significant step forward in aligning the UK’s research excellence with industrial ambition, enabling the transition from discovery to real-world impact. The need to accelerate manufacturing of metamaterials is clear as both a significant opportunity and as a bottleneck to commercialisation, and the roadmap describes key targets along the path towards a strong UK industrial base in metamaterials manufacturing.

Metamaterials technologies are poised to transform multiple sectors. Potential applications span managing extreme temperatures and heat recovery; next generation augmented reality optics; advanced biosensing; more efficient solar energy; and wireless power transfer. These innovations will drive growth across industries including energy, sustainability, ICT, defence and security, aerospace, and healthcare.

The UK Metamaterials Network’s community agreed definition is that:

• a metamaterial is a 3D structure with a response or function due to the collective effect of meta-atom elements that is not possible to achieve conventionally with any individual constituent material.
• a metasurface is a 2D version of a metamaterial where the structural elements are confined to a 2D plane.

 

Currently the UK is first in the world for metamaterials research impact (GO-Science RTA: Metamaterials). However, the roadmap makes clear that without a coordinated national approach, particularly in scale-up, manufacturing capability, and market translation, the UK risks losing its competitive advantage internationally. The development of the UK’s metamaterials strengths depends on the incredible metamaterials ecosystem, and the strength of the community, to realise the UK’s advantages it is essential that the fundamental science and the unique skills of metamaterials researchers in the UK should be prioritised to ensure a firm foundation for the future.

To address this, the roadmap establishes a shared national mission: to accelerate the commercialisation and industrial adoption of metamaterials over the next decade, whilst maintaining world leading excellence in the research pipeline that supports it. With the strategic framework now established by the roadmap, the UK Metamaterials Network will support the whole metamaterials ecosystem in translating the UK’s world-class research base into scalable manufacturing, resilient supply chains, and high-value economic impact.

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Leading figures at the UK Metamaterials Network’s Executive Board’s home institutions welcomed the release of the UK Metamaterials Commercialisation Roadmap and its significance for metamaterials in the UK.

Professor Lisa Roberts, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Exeter said:

‘At the University of Exeter, we are proud to be at the forefront of pioneering research in metamaterials, an area with immense transformative potential across multiple sectors, from healthcare to sustainability and beyond.

‘As the UK advances its national metamaterials roadmap, Exeter’s long-term strength in metamaterials,  together with our strengths in interdisciplinary science and innovation, positions us to play a leading role.

‘By bringing together world-class expertise and working closely with partners across academia, industry and government, we are helping to translate discovery science into solutions that address some of the most pressing challenges facing society today.’

Professor Rachel O’Reilly MBE, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Birmingham said:

‘The publication of this roadmap marks an important milestone for the UK’s metamaterials community. While the UK already leads the world in research impact, realising the full benefits of metamaterials will require coordinated investment in skills, manufacturing and commercialisation.

‘The University of Birmingham is delighted to have played a leading role in shaping this vision through our co-leadership of the UK Metamaterials Network. Our academics and industrial partners are ready meet the challenge of shaping manufacturing processes to forge a path forward for the UK.

‘By connecting the University of Birmingham’s scientific excellence with industrial ambition, the roadmap provides a pathway to create new technologies, strengthen national capability and unlock economic opportunities across a wide range of sectors. It positions the UK to remain at the forefront of a transformative field that will help address some of the most significant challenges facing society and industry in the decades ahead.’

Dr Tom Allen, Health Challenge Lead for the UK Metamaterials Network, based at the Manchester Metropolitan University, said:

‘Metamaterials have vast potential to bring improvements to many sectors, including health. They offer exciting possibilities to improve quality of life and address some of society’s most pressing challenges.

‘The UK is already recognised as a global leader in metamaterials research. A coordinated national effort is needed to realise their full potential and this roadmap sets out the actions needed to build on that strength.’

Dr Simon Pope, Space and Aviation Challenge Lead for the UK Metamaterials Network, based at the University of Sheffield School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering said:

‘Metamaterials have extraordinary properties that could bring huge advances in technologies for a wide range of industries, such as communications, aerospace and healthcare. In the UK, we are at the forefront of this exciting field and now this roadmap gives us a plan for how we bring universities and industry together to continue both the fundamental research, commercialise the new advances and establish a strong manufacturing base.’

Professor Andrea Di Falco from the University of St Andrews, co-leading the fundamental sciences activities of the UK Metamaterials Network said:

‘The UK has an exceptional track record in metamaterials research. The next challenge is to strengthen the pathways that turn scientific breakthroughs into products, companies, and economic impact. This roadmap sets out a strong national strategy to accelerate the commercialisation of metamaterials, recognising that success will depend on effective connections between researchers, manufacturers, investors, end users and policymakers, including through place-based innovation ecosystems aligned with national priorities. By strengthening these connections, we can accelerate the adoption of metamaterials technologies and ensure that the UK captures the full economic and societal value of its world-leading research.’

 

† The Metamaterials Strategy Action Group is a government-led consortium convened to provide strategic leadership and coordination across the emerging metamaterials innovation ecosystem. It is co-sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade and the Ministry of Defence.

 

Members below were selected to reflect the breadth of the UK metamaterials ecosystem.

• UK Metamaterials Network (UKMMN)

• Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST)

• Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl)

• Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

• High Value Manufacturing Catapult (HVMC)

• Innovate UK (IUK)

• Innovate UK Business Connect (IUKBC)

• Institute of Physics (IOP)

• National Physical Laboratory (NPL)