Innovate or Industrialise: Has the West Focused Too Much on R&D and Not Enough on Production?

Thursday, 18 June 2026

This session brings together the strategic and operational challenges of building a globally competitive battery manufacturing ecosystem in the UK and Europe. While significant investment has been made in R&D and innovation, the real test lies in translating that progress into large-scale, reliable industrial production.

We explore whether the balance between innovation and manufacturing is right — and what it takes to move from pilot projects to full-scale gigafactory delivery at speed. Drawing on policy perspectives and real-world industrial experience, the discussion will examine how to build manufacturing capability that not only supports innovation, but enables it to scale and compete globally.

Key themes include the role of policy and investment in shaping industrial capability, the practical realities of designing operations for scale, and the lessons Europe can learn from established high-volume manufacturing regions.

Whether the UK needs to rebalance its focus towards manufacturing scale and delivery

How to industrialise battery technologies quickly, reliably, and at volume

Critical decisions in designing gigafactories and scalable manufacturing operations

The relationship between strong manufacturing capability and sustained innovation

What Europe can learn from, collaborate on, or do differently to compete globally