Established in 2004, the Centre for SMART has become globally recognised for its innovative research. The scope of activities has grown rapidly with the Centre currently involved in a number of national and international initiatives. The SMART research team works to develop new strategies, tools, and technologies that encourage sustainable growth in the manufacturing industry by enabling companies to meet legislative, environmental and ethical standards whilst safeguarding their future prosperity.

While the initial projects carried out at SMART identified areas for optimisation and improvement, current and future activities are focused on enabling radical changes to products, production methods, business models and consumption patterns that are needed to meet the pressing global challenges facing the manufacturing industry. The team has core expertise and knowledge in life cycle analysis, sustainable design, resource and energy efficient manufacturing, end of life processing of products, and sustainable consumption and business models that are key enablers for achieving transformational change.