This month marks the start of a new partnership between the Northern Automotive Alliance (NAA) and Business Lancashire, which aims to bring a new level of automotive expertise to our readers. The NAA is a strong believer in partnership and collaborative working with both industry and public sector, also working closely with organisations such as BEIS, DIT, universities, local councils and LEPs.
The NAA is an independent, not-for-profit company which provides a membership service combined with a project management delivery function to the automotive community. The NAA supports micro-companies through to the local global vehicle manufacturers, such as Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley, Vauxhall and Leyland Trucks, offering a diverse service using its established networks. This includes the provision of training, events (one per month), funding applications and strategic, business and technical advice.
The majority of the NAA membership group is Lancashire based, creating extremely close links with Lancashire County Council and its Business Growth Hub, Boost. The NAA do cover a much larger region, however, with members across the North West, Yorkshire and Humber, communicating with over 2000 automotive companies across the North of England on a regular basis.
The NAA exist to support the UK automotive sector, but also work with many organisations and companies across numerous different sectors such as aerospace, marine, chemical and software (to name but a few). The automotive sector has changed more in recent years than ever before, and this trend is set to continue with the introduction of AFV (alternative fuelled vehicles) and CAV (connected autonomous vehicles). NAA’s Chief Executive, Rowan Egan, said: “these vast changes in our sector brings new opportunities for companies who have not traditionally been in the automotive supply chain”.
The push for electrification in particular, brings significant opportunities for companies who have expertise in power electronics, electric motors and battery technology, but also for any company who can make contributions towards ‘light-weighting’, thereby making a car more efficient. Often these contributions are made through unique designs and creative use of materials or composites – a particular strength of the North West which goes back to its history of working with textiles and lightweight metals. Similarly, for CAV, it is believed that technology and software companies working in sectors such as Gaming, will be critical in the development of autonomous vehicles and a whole new CAV supply chain.
The UK government has recognised these significant changes in technology, and the need to support the automotive sector in the UK, by offering a range of grant funding and support to UK companies who wish take on these new opportunities, such as APC (Advanced Propulsion Centre), Meridian (for CAV research) and the Faraday Challenge (Battery research) to name a few. The NAA can help a company identify these grant funding opportunities and support an application process.
The NAA would like to speak to any companies currently operating in, or with aspirations to work in the automotive sector. Membership ranges from £360-£2,050, depending on the size of your company. The NAA is also happy to offer any company interested in membership a complimentary ticket to one of our monthly networking events.
The NAA is extremely proud of its reputation as the best automotive networking platform in the North. Sally Hepton, Director of Government Relations and Corporate Social Responsibility at Bentley Motors said: “promoting the North West and the wider North as a great place to invest is vitally important to the automotive sector. The NAA plays a fantastic role flying the flag for Northern automotive and supporting small, medium and large companies to prosper.”
For more information about the NAA and how to join please contact [email protected] or visit the NAA website
