Member Article

£14 million graphene centre comes to Teesside

A new £14 million centre to speed up the commercialisation of graphene will be located on Teesside, the Government has announced.

The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) will host the Graphene Applications Innovation Centre outlined by the Chancellor in this week’s Budget.

The new centre will build on existing capabilities and help to develop graphene-based products ahead of organisations in the Far East, where there has already been a significant number of patents registered.

George Osborne said in his Budget speech: “Graphene is a great British discovery that we should break the habit of a lifetime with and commercially develop in Britain.”

Two North East firms are already involved in the development of Graphene: Consett-based Thomas Swan and Redcar-based Durham University spin-out, Applied Graphene Materials.

The CPI’s Foumulation and Flexible Manufacturing business director, Keith Robson, told Bdaily the move could lead to significant supply chain growth in the region.

He said: “We’ll be working closely with manufacturers to exploit graphene. In order to do this we’’ll have to increase the regional skills base. The number of jobs will initially be quite small, but the work will create the opportunity to build a cluster of manufacturers in the region, and therefore supply chain investment.”

Nigel Perry, CEO of CPI said: “Graphene is a very interesting material with great promise. The new centre will work alongside academic organisations such as the National Graphene Institute, graphene manufacturers and end users, to develop and prove commercial applications for a range of major industries.

“The new centre will integrate with existing development facilities at CPI’s printable electronics and formulation centres based at Sedgefield, Co. Durham.”

“The UK has a strong position in the fundamental science of graphene and the new centre will increase the focus on exploring potential applications via the scale up of manufacturing processes for both material and products.

“If the UK is to create economic benefit from graphene it will require a concerted effort to become closer to market by proving that processes work at an industrial scale.”

Speaking on the Budget, Iain Gray, chief executive of the Technology Strategy Board, said: “Today’s announcement is a positive endorsement from Government of the rapid progress Catapults are making in helping UK businesses accelerate the commercialisation of new and innovative technologies.”

Graphene, first isolated at the University of Manchester in 2004, is tipped to transform many products. Its electrical and thermal conductivity, optical purity and mechanical strength could be used in high-capacity batteries, flexible screens, ultra-fast transistors and other electronic components, super-bright lasers and materials from sports equipment to aircraft wings.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .