The 7th AET Forum Successfully Held in Glasgow, UK

The 7th AET Forum on Future Manufacturing Technologies and Systems was successfully held at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, UK, from 20 to 22 August 2026. Organised by the International Academy of Engineering and Technology (AET), the Forum featured six keynote speeches, six invited talks and six oral presentations, and brought together more than 50 academics and industrial representatives from around the world. The programme addressed recent advances and emerging trends across the three paradigms of manufacturing advancement, atomic and close-to-atomic scale manufacturing (ACSM), quantum technologies, artificial intelligence and digital technologies. Discussion throughout was notably open: early-career researchers were able to put questions directly to the speakers in panel discussion and to take the floor alongside senior colleagues during the roundtable session. This exchange between fresh thinking and insightful experience gave the Forum its distinctive character.

Six internationally renowned scholars delivered keynote speeches covering the frontiers and emerging trends of advanced manufacturing technologies and systems. Prof. Kornel Ehmann of Northwestern University, speaking on "Quo Vadis, Manufacturing?", traced the historical development of manufacturing, examined the limitations that current scientific understanding and available technologies still face in accuracy, productivity and process control, and looked ahead to the transformations required by Manufacturing Paradigm III. Prof. Fengzhou Fang of University College Dublin presented the theoretical framework of the "three paradigms of manufacturing advancement" and explained why the emergence of atomic and close-to-atomic scale manufacturing is an inevitable outcome of the inherent law governing manufacturing development. Prof. Michael Strain of the University of Strathclyde focused on heterogeneous integration and transfer printing, discussing their role in overcoming the limitations of single-material platforms to enable the deterministic integration of devices at the nanometre and ultimately the atomic scale. Prof. Lihui Wang of KTH Royal Institute of Technology drew on smart manufacturing practice to analyse the convergence of artificial intelligence, cyber-physical systems and digital twins, and explained why the timely acquisition and utilisation of information across product lifecycles is fundamental to smart manufacturing. Prof. Paul Shore of Loxham Precision reviewed the precision engineering has played in shaping modern industry and, in the context of the new manufacturing paradigm, discussed the role and prospects of ultra-precision technologies in enabling the manufacture of quantum devices. Prof. Robert Gao of Case Western Reserve University presented research on integrating model-based and data-driven methods for smart manufacturing, illustrated by applications in non-contact evaluation of surface quality and in forming process control, and considered how AI methods might be extended to manufacturing processes at ever smaller scales.

Alongside the keynotes, the invited talks and oral presentations addressed specific frontier areas, offering in-depth accounts of individual advanced manufacturing technologies and systems. They examined ACSM through the enabling technologies associated with Manufacturing Paradigm III.

The presentations were rich in content and forward-looking in outlook, prompting lively discussion and in-depth exchange among the participants. A roundtable discussion followed, in which delegates exchanged views on the future direction of manufacturing technologies and systems, giving particular attention to the opportunities and challenges facing ACSM and other frontier technologies. The exchange of ideas across disciplines and research directions deepened participants' understanding of where manufacturing is heading and created favourable conditions for interdisciplinary collaboration and joint innovation.

At the closing ceremony, Prof. Lihui Wang, President of AET, commended the success of the Forum and identified ACSM as an important direction for the future development of manufacturing. On behalf of the AET Council, he acknowledged the long-standing contributions of Prof. Fengzhou Fang and Prof. Kornel Ehmann to advancing the three paradigms of manufacturing advancement and to the development of AET, and conferred on them the title of AET Honorary Fellow. He also presented AET Fellow certificates to Prof. Thomas Arnold, Prof. Fred Roozeboom, Prof. Robert Gao and Prof. Yingguang Li.

The successful staging of this Forum further consolidated the consensus of the international academic and industrial communities on ACSM and the future development of manufacturing technology, promoted exchange and cooperation across disciplines, and gave fresh momentum to the development of Manufacturing Paradigm III. The next AET summit will be hosted by Osaka University, Japan, in September 2027. The Organising Committee warmly invites scholars worldwide to continue taking an active part in the AET conference series, and to explore together the prospects of atomic-scale manufacturing, digital manufacturing, and future manufacturing technologies and systems.

AET (https://www.aet-ac.org) is a leading international academic institution in the field of engineering and technology, dedicated to guiding the future development of engineering and technology and to promoting international collaboration between academia and industry. AET organises the AET Forum in even-numbered years and the AET Summit in odd-numbered years, providing scientists, engineers, academics and industry professionals with a high-level international platform for sharing the latest research results and development trends in engineering and technology.