Why the NEC?

The pivotal Advanced Materials Show  and co-located The Advanced Ceramics Show returns on the 9th – 10th July 2025. Taking place at the UK’s number one venue, the NEC Birmingham, UK. This unique, free-to-attend exhibition and conference is dedicated to the innovation, design and use of high-performance materials technology and is hosted in partnership with leaders from across the advanced materials and ceramics industries.

Based in one of the largest cities in the UK, the NEC Birmingham is positioned minutes away from major R&D and manufacturing centres for some of the country’s leading manufacturing groups including Jaguar Land Rover, London, Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC), Aston Martin, Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) and the brand new Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC).

1. Located close to Coventry and Warwickshire which are major centres of R&D, test and development and manufacturing within the UK
2. NEC is located a five-minute walk away from Birmingham International Railway Station. Located bang in the middle of the UK’s motorway network and over 120 National Express and Megabus coach services run daily.
3. Thanks to their central location and unrivalled connectivity by road, rail and air, visitors can travel to them and back all in the same day – from almost anywhere in the UK – or stay in one of over 2,195 hotel rooms on-site.
4. The venue offers huge benefits to both exhibitors and visitors: 16,500 parking spaces onsite, easy access no matter how you are travelling, cash points, toilets to lost property and disabled services, the NEC have you covered.
5. It’s just 10 minutes by train into Birmingham, a city buzzing with life and fun, a fantastic blend of places to eat and drink and more Michelin starred restaurants than any other English city outside London. Fabulous theatres, galleries, museums, music, nightclubs and bars – and over 1,000 shops in the city centre alone! Warwick, with its wonderful castle, arts centre and charming town centre is within a 25 minute journey by car. Just beyond lies world famous Stratford-upon-Avon, with the RSC theatres and Shakespeare heritage sites.

A world-class exhibition centre, onsite parking and easily accessible, the NEC is set in the very heart of UK manufacturing and R&D.