The UK can lead the metamaterials revolution, but science alone won’t get us there

Anne Crean at the Institute of Physics says the UK can lead the metamaterials revolution; however, achieving this goal requires more than scientific advances

Imagine wireless charging built into furniture, ultra-thin lenses replacing bulky optics, new ways to control sound and heat, or medically targeting parts of the body with extraordinary precision.

These may be part of a thrilling future promised by metamaterials: engineered structures that manipulate waves, fields and other physical responses in ways conventional materials cannot.

Like AI and quantum technologies, they may sound futuristic, but the science is already here. It could transform industries critical to the UK’s prosperity and security, from defence and telecommunications to healthcare, energy and advanced manufacturing.

The UK has world-leading research expertise in the field, but can we turn that advantage into companies, manufacturing capability and growth here before others?

The UK helped establish the field. Institute of Physics Honorary Fellow Sir John Pendry’s pioneering work grew from curiosity-driven physics, conceptualising metamaterials as a new paradigm, sparking worldwide interest.

Like AI and quantum technologies, it demonstrates how research without an immediate commercial application can ultimately create new industries. The UK’s opportunity today rests on decades of investment in fundamental science and the researchers behind it.

Institute of Physics’ research found the UK ranked third globally for metamaterials academic papers, behind only China and the United States. But for patents, a key measure of commercialisation, the UK ranked 14th.

UK researchers are at the forefront, but it is less certain that the industries emerging from their discoveries will be built here.

UK businesses have demonstrated the possibilities. Metasonixx, a spin-out from the universities of Sussex and Bristol, applies acoustic metamaterials to noise and ventilation, including lightweight sound-blocking panels that allow air to pass through. Its manufacturing and first sales began in 2023.

But individual successes need an ecosystem around them.

The new Metamaterials Commercialisation Roadmap

That is the challenge the new Metamaterials Commercialisation Roadmap addresses, published by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, in partnership with the Institute of Physics and the Metamaterials Strategy Action Group partners.

The UK does not need to create its metamaterials capability from scratch. We need to turn the exceptional science expertise we already have into industrial success.

There is no time for complacency. International competitors are investing strategically towards commercialisation. The United States combines formidable research capability with established metamaterials companies and specialist investors, including MetaVC Partners, which invests in advanced-materials businesses across imaging, sensing, energy, communications and computing.

The danger is not that the UK falls behind scientifically. It is that we continue to produce discoveries, intellectual property and skilled people, only to watch the businesses and manufacturing capability built around them scale elsewhere.

Scientific brilliance alone does not guarantee economic value. But neither can commercial success be sustained without investment in the fundamental research from which new technologies emerge.

The UK needs both: a strong science base generating tomorrow’s opportunities and a commercial system capable of capturing their value.

The pathway from discovery to deployment remains fragmented, with gaps in coordination, infrastructure and investment. The roadmap identifies five areas requiring action: the commercial ecosystem, innovation, manufacturing and scale-up, assurance and standards, and skills.

What is the government’s task?

The government’s task is twofold: protect the breakthrough-producing research base and create a sustained commercial funding pathway that carries technologies from discovery through to business scale-up.

Government has recognised the opportunity. Metamaterials feature within the UK’s industrial ambitions for advanced materials, while £50 million has been committed to the National Materials Innovation Programme.

This is a strong statement, but interventions must form a coherent journey rather than a series of funding opportunities through which promising technologies slip.

We need demonstrators and prototypes that show manufacturers, investors and customers what metamaterials can achieve, reducing risk and creating demand.

The crucial industrial question is whether the UK can make them at scale.

That means understanding existing fabrication capability, filling gaps, developing pilot lines and ensuring promising technologies do not have to leave the UK to industrialise.

Businesses and investors also need confidence that metamaterial-enabled products are reliable and perform as expected, requiring progress on testing, measurement and standards.

And we will need more than researchers. Entrepreneurs, technicians, engineers and manufacturing specialists are essential.

What should this look like by 2030?

By 2030, the UK should have clear priorities, coordinated funding, demonstrators and mapped manufacturing and skills capability, progressing by 2035 to pilot lines, centres of excellence, stronger private investment and established training routes.

The prize is bigger than a successful metamaterials sector. This enabling technology can strengthen industries central to the UK’s economic future and strategic resilience.

The UK helped pioneer this science and has invested in the talent behind it. We cannot allow that economic return to be captured elsewhere.

With sustained investment in both fundamental science and commercialisation, alongside coordination between government and industry, the UK can turn its research advantage into businesses, jobs and industrial capability.

The choice is whether the UK leads the metamaterials revolution, or helps invent it for somebody else.