Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the potential contribution of graphene to UK GDP by 2020.

At this point in the lifecycle of such an emergent technology, we cannot make reliable estimates of graphene’s near-term contribution to UK GDP. There is a long lead-in time for new materials to be embedded in technologies, and the case of graphene is no exception. Graphene is increasingly gaining traction across the world. One report has estimated that the global graphene-based products market will grow to $2.1 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 46.3%.[1] Over 140 companies in the UK have been active in graphene in the UK. The Government is playing an active role to support the development and exploitation of graphene – including through the projects funded by Innovate UK and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), with universities, and suppliers and end users of graphene, and the foundation of the National Graphene Institute (NGI) and the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC).

[1] Graphene: Technologies, Applications and Markets, BCC Research, 2016