WMG is the University of Warwick's academic department for manufacturing and engineering research, teaching and industry partnership, based in Coventry.
WMG, which started life as Warwick Manufacturing Group, is an academic department of the University of Warwick that combines research with industry and education in applied science, technology and engineering. Its research groups look at design, materials, manufacturing, systems and business, with particular focus on low-carbon mobility, business innovation and healthcare. It is also a centre of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, which it helped launch in 2011.
WMG was founded in 1980 by Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya and Lord Jack Butterworth. Its own description of its aim is to revive UK manufacturing through research and knowledge transfer between industry and academia. Its first venture was a modular master's degree for people already working in industry, launched in 1981. Margaret Thatcher opened its Advanced Technology Centre in 1990, and in 1992 it pioneered the Engineering Doctorate (EngD), where researchers work with a company. It won the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2009.
WMG is based on the University of Warwick campus in Coventry, where its sites include the International Manufacturing Centre (its headquarters), the Energy Innovation Centre, the Advanced Materials Manufacturing Centre, the Degree Apprenticeship Centre and the Professor Lord Bhattacharyya Building. The National Automotive Innovation Centre opened in 2020. WMG Academies for Young Engineers opened in Coventry in 2014 and Solihull in 2016. In 2025 it opened a Catapult site at Baglan in Wales with AMRC Cymru.
WMG describes an ethos of doing things differently and a diverse, global workforce, and says it wants to build an institution that outlasts its founder. It works with companies on projects such as the TE-1 electric motorcycle with Triumph, and in 2024 it founded PAVE UK, an initiative to build public trust in self-driving technology. Gordon Brown once said WMG's work is based on very strong collaboration with industry. These are the organisation's and others' descriptions rather than something we have tested.
Because WMG is both a university department and an industry partner, it employs researchers, lecturers, engineers and technicians, as well as teams in apprenticeships, business support and administration. It also teaches: it runs degree apprenticeships, an Applied Engineering Programme, and since 2023 has hosted T Level industry placements. Students interested in engineering, cars, batteries or manufacturing technology will find a lot to explore here, whether they join as a student, an apprentice or later as a member of staff.
Website: warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg
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