Composites UK will bring together businesses from across the UK composites supply chain at Advanced Engineering 2026, taking place at the NEC Birmingham on 4–5 November. As headline industry partner, the Association will showcase member expertise, facilitate discussions on the future of composites manufacturing and provide opportunities for industry professionals to connect and celebrate achievement.
The programme will span the Composites UK Pavilion, a two-day Composites Engineering Forum, an Early Careers Group (ECG) networking event and the annual Composites UK Industry Awards Dinner, held at the neighbouring National Motorcycle Museum on the evening of 4 November.
Composites UK Pavilion showcases 13 companies
Located at Stand W170 in the Composites Engineering Zone, the Composites UK Pavilion will bring together 13 exhibiting companies, providing a collective platform for businesses to showcase their products, technologies and expertise to visitors from across the engineering and manufacturing sectors.
The pavilion offers companies a cost-effective way to exhibit at one of the UK’s key advanced manufacturing events, helping them raise their profile, develop connections and demonstrate the breadth of capability across the composites supply chain.
The exhibiting companies are:
Base Materials; Becker UK Ltd; CCP Gransden; Composite Braiding; Cygnet Texkimp; Dolphitech; E&R Group; Electroimpact; Expo-Net; Hive; iSpecc/Plataine; Sigmatex; and SIMCAS.
Together, they represent a range of capabilities across materials, composite manufacturing, processing, inspection and digital technologies.
Composites Engineering Forum explores the future of the industry
Composites UK has curated the two-day Composites Engineering Forum programme, bringing together perspectives from major end users, manufacturers, materials suppliers, researchers and technology developers.
The programme is designed to address the opportunities and challenges facing the sector, from understanding future market requirements and developing new materials to scaling up production, improving manufacturing efficiency and advancing sustainability.
Sessions will explore what customers need from composites, how the UK can capture future manufacturing opportunities, the role of digitalisation in improving productivity, and how recycling and circularity can become viable at an industrial scale.
By combining technical insight with wider industry discussion, the forum will encourage visitors to consider how the UK composites sector can translate its technical capabilities into future growth and manufacturing opportunities.
The Composites Engineering Forum is sponsored by PRF Composite Materials. View the programme, here.
Early Careers Group brings the next generation together
On Thursday 5 November at 1.30pm, Composites UK’s Early Careers Group (ECG) will provide an opportunity for early-career professionals to connect with peers, exchange experiences and build relationships across the composites industry.
The networking session will support the Group’s wider aim of helping early-career professionals develop their networks, share knowledge and engage with opportunities across the sector. Anyone can attend.
By bringing together people at the earlier stages of their careers, the ECG helps foster a more connected industry and supports the development of the talent needed for the future of UK composites.
Industry Awards Dinner celebrates excellence and innovation
The programme continues into the evening of Wednesday 4 November with the Composites UK Industry Awards Dinner at the National Motorcycle Museum, adjacent to the NEC.
The annual dinner recognises the achievements of companies and individuals across the UK composites sector, celebrating innovation, engineering excellence, sustainability, skills development and contributions to the wider industry.
The 2026 awards will recognise achievements across categories including Innovations of the Year, Sustainability, Social Impact, Employer of the Year and the Prof. Alan Banks Young Engineer of the Year, alongside awards celebrating apprentices and outstanding contributions to the industry.
Zünd UK and Everywhen support the event as headline award sponsors alongside NCC and Syensqo sponsoring awards. The dinner provides an opportunity for the industry to come together, recognise outstanding work and celebrate the people and organisations helping to advance UK composites. Athena Blue Innovation, with additional materials provided by PRF Composite Materials and Base Materials, are manufacturing the awards presented on the night from multiple different composites.
Bookings are still open for the dinner, here.
Connecting the industry and supporting future growth
Composites UK’s presence at Advanced Engineering reflects its ongoing work to support businesses across the composites supply chain, encourage collaboration and raise awareness of the industry’s capabilities.
With opportunities to exhibit, access technical insight, develop professional networks and celebrate achievement, the Association’s activities will bring together different parts of the industry around a shared ambition: supporting the growth of the UK composites sector.
Visitors can find Composites UK at Stand W170 in the Composites Engineering Zone throughout Advanced Engineering 2026, on 4–5 November at the NEC Birmingham.