Agata Suwała

My career has been built around one core idea: turning promising research into automation and robotics solutions that manufacturers can actually put to work. At the Manufacturing Technology Centre, I've led technical projects and programmes across the full delivery lifecycle — from requirements capture and design specification through to manufacturing, integration, testing and validation.I develop novel solutions to automation challenges, combining custom-built and off-the-shelf equipment, software and hardware, to design systems based on real process data, CAD models and customer requirements. My focus has always been on increasing efficiency, quality and safety on the factory floor, while working within the practical bounds of technology readiness levels and each customer's own processes.Beyond individual projects, I shape longer-term product and technology strategy — identifying where automation and robotics can address future manufacturing challenges, and building the partnerships with industry and academia needed to get there. Whether leading engineering teams or working directly with customers, my work is about closing the gap between innovation and industrial reality.

• AURA

I lead AURA, a programme helping ambitious UK automation and robotics start-ups validate, develop and accelerate their route to commercialisation. Through it, I give participants access to over £700,000 in support and more than 3,000 hours of expert guidance — alongside MTC's world-class facilities, technical expertise and industry network.My support spans the full journey from early-stage technology to market: product development to refine the core technology, industrialisation to bridge the gap to manufacturing, scale-up to prepare for high-volume growth, and commercialisation to get products to market faster.Our inaugural cohort — Innvotek, Carapace Slate and E-Nano Ltd — showed what's possible with the right engineering support behind a good idea. Given the strength and volume of applications we received, I'm already exploring a second cohort.For me, AURA is about de-risking the hardest part of the journey for UK robotics start-ups: moving from a working prototype to a deployable, commercially viable product.

Automation in Food & Drink Manufacturing‍‍

• Panel event: Automation unleashed, from ambition to impact in food and drink manufacturing, Coventry

I co-hosted Automation Unleashed: Powering the Next Era of Food and Drink Manufacturing with Argon & Co at MTC's facility in Coventry, bringing together senior leaders from across the food and drink sector — including PepsiCo, the Food and Drink Federation and Argon & Co — for a day combining keynote presentations, panel discussion and guided tours of our automation and robotics labs.The industry is under real pressure: sustained cost inflation, labour shortages, volatile markets and falling business confidence. What became clear through the discussion is that automation is no longer just an efficiency lever — it's a question of resilience and long-term competitiveness. The technology is ready and the case is clear. The harder question is why so few manufacturers turn that ambition into impact.My conclusion from the day: the UK food and drink industry doesn't have a technology problem, and it doesn't have a strategy problem. What it has is an execution problem. The manufacturers who get it right aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets — they're the ones who start with the problem rather than the technology, build a business case that captures full commercial value, know where not to automate, and treat organisational alignment and workforce transition as part of the design, not an afterthought.It's exactly the kind of challenge I care about: translating innovation into everyday practice, so businesses move from automation ambition to real operational impact.

I spoke at the Robotics & Automation Conference, held at MTC on 16–17 June, bringing together industry leaders, innovators and practitioners shaping the future of robotics, automation and advanced manufacturing. My session focused on Building a Resilient RAS Ecosystem — exploring how organisations can harness technology to drive efficiency, innovation and growth, and what a strong, future-ready UK robotics sector actually requires.Day one set the vision, opening with a keynote from Richard Parker and a panel discussion on how we can collectively build a more resilient Robotics and Autonomous Systems ecosystem — from skills, standards and testbeds through to the finance, partnerships and infrastructure needed to scale deployment. It was also where our AURA cohort took the stage, pitching their innovations to a live audience and panel of judges.Day two shifted the focus from vision to execution: adopting robotics and automation technologies in practice. That distinction mattered — across both days, the conversation kept returning to the same theme I keep coming back to in my own work: creating a world-class robotics sector takes more than innovative technology. It takes the right ecosystem around it.For me, events like this are where that ecosystem actually gets built — connecting the start-ups developing new technology with the manufacturers ready to adopt it, and the wider community shaping the conditions for both to succeed.

Robotics & Automation Conference 2026

• R&A 2026

European Robotics Forum 2027 – Birmingham

• ERF 2027

I'm serving as Entrepreneurship Chair for the European Robotics Forum 2027, taking place in Birmingham from 2–4 March. ERF is the largest gathering of the European robotics community — bringing together academia, industry, policy makers and investors from across the continent, with sessions spanning everything from foundational tooling to cutting-edge AI and humanoids, across sectors including manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture, smart cities, nuclear and space.As Entrepreneurship Chair, my focus is on making sure the programme reflects real-world impact — adoption, translation, commercialisation and investment — alongside the technical and research content. It's been encouraging to see nearly half of all workshop submissions coming directly from industry, both end-users and technology developers, making this one of the most commercially grounded editions of the forum yet.I'm particularly looking forward to using ERF 2027 to showcase the strength and diversity of the UK's automation and robotics ecosystem — including companies from our AURA programme — as Europe's robotics community comes to the West Midlands.