CIIP’s Jennifer Castañeda Navarrete recognised in The Manufacturer’s Top 100 Awards 2025

Jennifer Castañeda Navarrete, Principal Policy Analyst at Cambridge Industrial Innovation Policy (CIIP), has been named among The Manufacturer’s Top 100  for 2025. The prestigious awards were presented on 4 June at Smart Manufacturing Week at the NEC in Birmingham.

The Top 100 Awards honour the most dynamic leaders and innovators in UK manufacturing. Nominated by readers of The Manufacturer and members of the industrial community, the final selection is made by a panel of senior industry figures, academics, and representatives from manufacturing associations.

Jennifer was recognised in the Senior Activist category, which highlights individuals making a significant positive impact on the sector, particularly by promoting collaboration, supporting colleagues, and enabling progress across the industry.

Jennifer’s leadership, expertise, and commitment to inclusive industrial innovation made her a clear choice for this recognition. In her role at CIIP, she focuses on development economics, industrial innovation policy, gender mainstreaming, and the future of work. She is also a core member of the Steering Committee for the Women in Manufacturing UK (WiM UK) initiative, where she contributes a strong evidence base to support policy and practice.

Her efforts to champion gender equality within the digital transformation of manufacturing are particularly notable. Jennifer plays a key role in establishing governance frameworks, maintaining relevance through the WiM UK advisory board, and engaging with both government and industry stakeholders to expand the initiative’s impact.

Jennifer leads the delivery of the WiM UK annual report. The 2024 report: Women in UK Manufacturing 2024: Addressing Labour Shortages and Bridging the Gender Gap’ provides an in-depth overview of the progress and ongoing challenges faced by women in the UK manufacturing sector over the past year. It focuses on two of the industry’s most pressing issues -labour shortages and the gender gap – offering a comprehensive review of gender disparities and participation.

She also recently collaborated with the WiM UK Working Group to deliver a compelling response to the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy Green Paper, demonstrating her commitment to shaping policies that integrate gender perspectives and promote inclusive practices.

Referring to her work, Jennifer has said: “The obstacles women encounter when trying to take part in various aspects of industrial progress are often not given adequate attention, nor is the impact of these obstacles fully considered nor the societal and economic benefits of addressing these. That encouraged me to start working on gender equality in industry and try to understand it in a more systematic way: Why are there fewer women, what are the missed opportunities, and what can be done to change this?“

Her dedication to making manufacturing a more inclusive and appealing career path for women exemplifies the spirit of the Top 100 awards.

We are proud to celebrate this achievement with Jennifer and look forward to her continued contributions to the sector.