The Virtual Engineering Centre (VEC) catalyses virtual engineering activities and joint research programmes across the sector and between industry and academia. Virtual Engineering (VE) involves integrated product/process modeling and the creation of virtual prototypes. Major aerospace companies are committed to VE because it provides a cost effective method of presenting future options to the customer and capturing their requirements. However, integrated VE tools and techniques have not been successfully implemented across the whole lifecycle and throughout the supply chain, presenting a major barrier to organisations adopting the technology. The Virtual Engineering Centre aims to address this and will explore solutions to many important engineering issues.