At the 2012 Manufacturing Summit on 23 February, Business Secretary Vince Cable announced that Professor Nicholas Crafts, Professor of Economic History and Director of the ESRC Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy Research Centre, will be a member of the Lead Expert Group of the Foresight Project on the Future of Manufacturing.

The project calls on industry and academic expertise from the UK and abroad to explore how the UK can maximise key opportunities and mitigate risks. In doing so, it will provide a robust evidence base to help ensure that policy decisions taken today are resilient in an uncertain future.

The Lead Expert Group (LEG) of eminent academic and private sector experts from a range of disciplines works alongside the Foresight team. The project’s fresh thinking, innovative evidence base and futures analysis will help inform policy makers.

Nick Crafts has over 40 years’ academic experience. Previously he was Professor of Economic History at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) from 1995 to 2005. His earlier career included faculty positions at UC Berkeley, Stanford and Oxford. He is a Fellow of the British academy. He has been a consultant to many organizations including HM Treasury, EBRD, IMF and the World Bank.

Nick is Director of the ESRC Research Centre on Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE) at Warwick, which has been established to focus research on how markets, institutions and public policies interact to create and sustain successful economic performance and to investigate the circumstances in which economic success is conducive to reductions in deprivation and enhanced well-being.

Nick’s research expertise has focused on the long-run economic performance of the British economy from the Industrial Revolution to the present day in comparative international perspective.

• Professor Craft's profile page, including recent keynote lectures and publications.