RECENTLY-LISTED Western Australian tech firm Quickstep Holdings Ltd has signed a key partnership agreement with the University of Manchester in the UK to showcase the company’s technology to European customers. Quickstep managing director Nick Noble said the agreement offered the company access to some of the world’s biggest aero and auto manufacturing companies. “In the past two years, both Boeing and Airbus have announced new aircraft with significantly higher carbon fibre content,” Mr Noble said. “This creates a sizeable opportunity for the introduction of a low cost, low investment process for manufacturing composite components. The capability the centre brings is critical to large manufacturers, particularly in the aerospace industry, as it breaks down the significant barriers to the lengthy trialling evaluations necessary to obtain full manufacturing approval.” The agreement allows for the creation of the first of several planned strategic international ‘open sites’ to demonstrate Quickstep’s technology.