A roadmap for metamaterials
The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade has published a roadmap for the commercialisation of metamaterials, created in partnership with the Institute of Physics, the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing, and the cross-sector metamaterials strategy action group.
Metamaterials are engineered materials with special properties arising from their internal structure, rather than chemical composition. Possible applications are suggested in a wide range of areas: earthquake shielding, instant wireless charging, targeted ultrasound in medical practice, and even “invisibility cloaks”. The Institute of Physics has released a series of explainer videos.
The UK can become a “global superpower” in metamaterial technologies, according to the institute, given its already world-leading research capabilities – the challenge is commercialisation. The roadmap sets out a path forward both for scaling up business demand and improving the coherence of what is described as currently being a fragmented ecosystem.
While research capability is distributed across the UK – with a growing number of spinouts – the roadmap makes the case that regional clusters will be fundamental to an ecosystem which is able to commercialise at scale.
Current “episodic” funding arrangements are also said to be limiting industrial confidence. The two major investments to date have been the EPSRC “Metahub” which launched in 2025, and the University of Exeter’s metamaterial-focused doctoral training centre. The UK metamaterials network has also been funded through EPSRC since 2021. September’s National Materials Innovation Programme will see another £80m available for research in advanced materials (£12.8m in network and partnership funding has already been announced).
The roadmap focuses its attention on the early work needed to establish a developed metamaterials community by 2030, raise market awareness, and produce the first examples of UK-manufactured products produced at volume. Targets beyond 2030 are more ambitious: building a “critical mass” of metamaterials excellence, making use of government-backed funding streams such as Innovate UK and the British Business Bank, and eventually establishing the UK as a global leader in the commercialisation of metamaterials in selected domains.