Yesterday was the first Annual General Meeting for Materials UK. To hold an AGM is a legal requirement of being a company. It is more about dealing with the basics of a company – are you legal, do you have money to continue, who are the directors and so on. What was remarkable was that – as always when the senior people associated with Materials UK get together – the enthusiasm to understand and act on the challenges for our industry kept breaking through. As I have commented before, the vast majority of Materials UK manpower is voluntary and that includes the directors. They are all senior people from our shareholders and they gave up an afternoon (or sometimes more if you count the travel) to ensure that Materials UK is kept on track. So they voted on our accounts, and discussed the re-appointment of auditors and did all the things necessary to comply with the law. They also managed to hold a spirited debate on continuous professional development and came up with some really neat ideas for new activities. Then, with the formal meeting over, most of them were there an hour later still discussing the work programmes. The developments in Assets Connect, where the EPSRC have launched their Materials Research Equipment Database, and the continuing discussion of how best to tackle the ideas behind the Property Validation Centre. The most excitement was about the upcoming launch of the Energy Materials Strategic Research Agenda and what to do next. Derek Allen, who has led the Energy Materials Working Group since last Spring, and his team are working out how to get the Agenda enacted by the various groups associated with this area. The launch event has great support and we are hoping for an announcement about his discussions with the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) at Innovate 07 next week. Exciting time...

David