At the Metalworking Production (MWP) Awards ceremony held during the MACH 2006 exhibition in Birmingham, UK, Renishaw sponsored the new category of 'Best research and development project'. The winner of this inaugural award, judged by a panel of metalworking industry experts drawn from the worlds of academia, industry and journalism, was Agie Charmilles for its Agietron Nano development project, which led to the development of a spark erosion machine for use in micro-machining applications. At the awards ceremony held at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel on Tuesday 16th May, Sir David McMurtry, Chairman and Chief Executive of Renishaw, presented the award to Dr Hans Peter Gruber, Agie Charmilles' Competence Centre Applications Manager.

Also commended in this award category was Sandvik Coromant for its titanium surface integrity project, from a shortlist that also included Hirschmann Engineering UK, Electrox, the University of Birmingham and Hydra Clarkson Tools/Sheffield Hallam University.

Speaking about his company's sponsorship of the Research and Development category, Sir David said: 'The key to Renishaw's commercial success has been a sustained investment in research and product development, which has provided a stream of innovations'.

'Each successful product provides a flow of margins that fund the development of future products and processes'.

He continued: 'We are therefore delighted to be able to support an award that recognises the spirit of innovation within the metalworking industry, and congratulate Agie Charmilles on their success with the Agietron Nano project'.

Organised by Metalworking Production, one of the UK's leading publications for the engineering sector, the biennial MWP Awards feature a total of 18 different award categories recognising the best new developments in products and processes, excellence in subcontracting and toolmaking, and best environmental practice.