Two major investments in research partnerships that will strengthen the links between the UK’s research base, industry and business partners were announced last week by Jo Johnson, Minister for Universities and Science.
Both investments show the pivotal importance of engineering and the physical sciences to the country’s continued development as a global research and innovation leader.
The first investment is a new initiative, a set of Prosperity Partnerships, which will receive £31 million of government funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). This will be matched by a further £36 million from partner organisations in cash or in-kind contributions, and £11 million from universities’ funds, resulting in a £78 million investment.
Ten universities will lead on 11 projects that range from the future networks for digital infrastructure to offshore wind and they will partner with businesses operating in key areas of the innovation landscape. These include household names such as Siemens, BP and Unilever and also firms like M Squared Lasers that are leading in areas such as advanced photonics.
Jo Johnson, Minister for Universities and Science said: “A central part of our Industrial Strategy is boosting the economic impact of our world-class research base by supporting the flow of innovative ideas and techniques from concept to market-place.
“This investment will ensure the work of our universities continues to have positive impact around the world and maintain the UK’s global leadership in science and innovation.”
Professor Nigel Titchener-Hooker, Professor of Biochemical Engineering at UCL, who chaired the panel that approved the Prosperity Partnerships projects, said: “The Partnerships awards are a further demonstration of EPSRC’s vision in creating exciting opportunities for industry and academia to work together on strategically significant problems. The quality of the applications we reviewed was outstanding and demonstrated strength of vision, relevance and a determination to pursue long term collaborative research. The breadth of applications too speaks to the diversity of UK industry and to the alignment between the UK’s very best academic teams and our industrial base.
The grants promise to create a series of exciting avenues of research leading to industrial implementation. It’s a wonderful new example of how, in partnership, we can harness our collective capabilities to strengthen our economy and once again underscores the importance of ongoing investment in the HE research base.”
The second EPSRC investment is £60 million for 33 universities to advance their Impact Acceleration Accounts (IAA). These allow institutions the flexibility to operate tailored schemes that help increase the likelihood of impact from their research. The IAAs speed up the contribution that scientists make towards new innovation, successful businesses and the economic returns that benefit the UK.
Professor Philip Nelson, Chief Executive of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council said: “If innovation is an ecosystem then it is dependent on having a fertile soil of research and the fresh air of ideas to nourish its growth. These new EPSRC Prosperity Partnerships and IAA investments will provide the right conditions in which new technologies and products can be developed more quickly. In turn, this will return social and economic benefits and ensure the UK continues to be one of the best places in the world to research, innovate and grow business.”
The IAAs’ aims are to promote movement between universities, businesses and other organisations; to support the very early stage of turning research outputs into a commercial proposition; improve engagement with businesses, government and third sector to sow the seeds of new collaboration and more strategic engagement, and reach out to researchers who do not normally engage in exploitation activities and driving culture change within the university.
The flexibility within each IAA means that different universities support activities in different ways, in line with their own unique needs and opportunities.
The eleven Prosperity Partnerships projects are:
University of Exeter with QinetiQ
The ‘Tailored Electromagnetic and Acoustic Materials’ Accelerator (Team A)
A collaboration to develop new materials and technologies that can control the propagation of electromagnetic (eg radiated heat, light, radiowaves) and acoustic (sound, vibration, shock) energy in a highly tailored, bespoke fashion, solving real-world problems.
Lancaster University BT with the University of Surrey, University of Cambridge & University of Bristol
Next Generation Converged Digital infrastructure
Developing new data-driven methods and technologies for the resilient, autonomic digital infrastructure of the future.
University of Southampton Rockley Photonics
Rockley Photonics and the Silicon Photonics Group at the University of Southampton
Rockley Photonics and the Silicon Photonics Group at the University of Southampton are developing a new integrated photonics platform for mass markets. Disruptive photonic integration at the chip level will impact networking technology in data centres, enable new consumer devices and provide robust sensing solutions all at dramatically lower cost and power requirements.
University of St Andrews M Squared Lasers
M Squared Lasers – University of St Andrews Biophotonics Nexus
Developing a new suite of ultra-compact super-resolution microscopes for pathology and disease management.
University of Sheffield Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy + DONG Energy with Durham University & University of Hull
A New Partnership in Offshore Wind
Address the challenges of both the current and future generations of wind turbine (WT) technology in such a way that a chain of critical issues regarding availability and reliability of such structures will be explored and solved.
The University of Manchester Unilever + Process Systems Enterprises Ltd & STFC Laboratories
The Centre in Advanced Fluid Engineering for Digital Manufacturing
Developing a new modelling approach to enable a significant reduction in conventional physical experimentation.
University of Bristol Thales
Thales-Bristol Partnership in Hybrid Autonomous Systems Engineering
Designing new processes that guide the engineering of hybrid systems with embedded autonomy.
University of Warwick with Jaguar Land Rover, Brandauer Holdings Limited, Dynex Semiconductor & ST Microelectronics
The science of high performance electrified propulsion.
Addressing emergent challenges in vehicle electrification through a unique collaboration to grow scientific understanding.
University of Nottingham with Rolls-Royce, University of Oxford & Imperial College London
Strategic Partnership in Mechanical Integrity for Advanced Propulsion Systems
Meeting the challenges of high power density mechanical systems under extreme power levels and in safety critical environments.
The University of Manchester with BP Imperial College London, University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh & University of Leeds
Preventing Surface Degradation in Demanding Environments
New insights into the surface degradation of materials under demanding environments by harnessing advances in computer modelling, atomic level experimental techniques, in-operando imaging and characterisation, and by accessing previously untapped in-field data sets.
University of Strathclyde Babcock International with EDF Energy, Kinectrics Inc, Bruce Power, The Weir Group BAM Nuttall Imperial College London, University of Surrey, Cranfield University & The Alan Turing Institute
Delivering Enhanced Through-Life Nuclear Asset Management
Advanced inspection techniques, biotechnology solutions for infrastructure repair and engineering application tuned data science will create new products and processes for through-life management and lifetime extension of critical assets.