How Dyson is battling to create a new generation of engineers in the face of Labour hostility

Many of Dyson ’s consumer products, from its vacuum cleaners and hair curlers to its new headphones, use batteries.

The company is looking for improvements that give it an edge over competitors.

A key part of that journey is nurturing the people who will do this work.

Students typically spend two days in classrooms, and three in the office.

Dyson founder Sir James famously discarded 5,126 prototypes of his cyclonic vacuum cleaner before arriving on a design that he was happy to take to market.

But there’s a shadow looming over British business, and particularly over privately owned family firms like Dyson .

Dyson expressed his concerns in a letter to this newspaper earlier this month .

The Dyson Institute is filling a gap that has long vexed policymakers we have world-class research universities but don’t have very many.

30pc of the institute’s intake are women, compared to the engineering industry average of 18pc .

A peculiarly British combination of improvisation and persistence can pay dividends in engineering.