Significant boost to instrumentation research and development sector
Three Research Councils and UKAEA have today joined with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to become major sponsors and partners of the Sensors Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN). The move recognises and cements the strategic importance of instrumentation to research facilities and the UK economy.
More resources will now be available for the development and use of advanced instrumentation, an integral part of the sensors supply chain. Researchers and industry will gain unprecedented access to innovative instrumentation technologies and world leading scientific research facilities.
The partnership gives a key role in the KTN, the UK's largest sensors network, to the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC), the Particle Physics & Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).
The Sensors KTN is managed on behalf of DTI by Sira and the National Physical Laboratory. The new partnership, brokered by the Sensors KTN and technology commercialisation specialists Qi3, has the support of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, Institute of Physics, Gambica and UK Trade & Investment.
One of its first activities will be the creation of a single database of advanced instrumentation suppliers to research facilities. Special interest groups will be encouraged to focus on the future needs of instrumentation users, and experience at the top end of the instrumentation market will filter down to sensor developers.
Enhancing a high value sector
The UK instrumentation sector is worth £9 billion in annual sales and underpins £50 billion of activity in other sectors, including defence and healthcare.
Advanced instrumentation is required by large European and international research facilities like the UK’s new synchrotron (Diamond Light Source), CERN and ITER.
Dr Peter Fletcher, head of PPARC's Education and Innovation Division and speaking on behalf of Research Councils UK, the strategic partnership of the Research Councils, said: "There is strong evidence of the past benefits to the instrumentation industry of technologies developed for research, but this has never been addressed in a structured way."
"We are delighted to be working with the DTI to bring together a consortium of research and facility funders to ensure that industry gets exposure to the whole range of instrumentation and facilities under development to ensure maximum future benefit in manufacturing research equipment and wider markets."
"Sectors such as drug discovery and medical imaging depend on innovation in measurement, and rely on physicists and engineers to develop new instrumentation," notes Dr Simon Aliwell, director of the Sensors KTN. "Our relationship with the research councils and UKAEA will help to connect academic research and the commercialisation of advanced instruments."
UKAEA Fusion Programme Manager Martin O'Brien said: "A wide range of advanced instruments with exacting requirements are essential for fusion research facilities such as JET and MAST in the UK and the new international facility ITER to be built in France. This new network will help to ensure a joined-up approach across science to increasing UK industrial involvement in big research facilities in instrumentation and other high-tech fields."
Qi3 MD Nathan Hill said: "We will now demonstrate that the major UK and European facilities, in which hundreds of millions of pounds are invested annually, are a major instrumentation market and a source of new knowledge for industry."
"In a traditionally fragmented market, we have taken a giant leap that will provide new instrumentation for researchers and industry."
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Contact
Sensors KTN
Jonathon Rees
Tel: 020 7101 9132
Mob: 07989 975 077
Research Councils UK
Matt Goode, RCUK Media Officer
Research Councils UK
Tel: 01793 413299
UKAEA
Martin O'Brien
Tel: 01235 466595
Qi3
Nathan Hill
Notes for editors
About the Sensors Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN)
The Sensors KTN unites the talent and expertise of multiple UK sensing interests and organisations, including companies, universities and government departments. It embraces all sensing activity, from fundamental measurement principles to instrumentation, data processing, devices and innovative applications.
About Knowledge Transfer Networks
Knowledge Transfer Networks (KTNs) are national forums designed to stimulate innovation in the UK’s key technology sectors by promoting collaboration, best practice and knowledge sharing between industry and academia. By encouraging partnerships and teamwork, KTNs aim to position the UK as the innovation engine for Europe. KTNs are a DTI Business Support Solution delivered through the Technology Programme.
About BBSRC
The Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is the UK funding agency for research in the life sciences. Sponsored by Government, BBSRC annually invests around £336 million in a wide range of research that makes a significant contribution to the quality of life for UK citizens and supports a number of important industrial stakeholders including the agriculture, food, chemical, healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors.
About CCLRC
The Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC) owns and operates the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, the Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire and the Chilbolton Observatory in Hampshire. These world-class institutions support the research community by providing access to advanced facilities and an extensive scientific and technical expertise.
About PPARC
The Particle Physics & Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) is the UK’s strategic science investment agency. It funds research, education and public understanding in four broad areas of science - particle physics, astronomy, cosmology and space science. PPARC is government funded and provides research grants and studentships to scientists in British universities, gives researchers access to world-class facilities, and funds the UK membership of international bodies such as the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, CERN, the European Space Agency and the European Southern Observatory. It also contributes money for the UK telescopes overseas on La Palma, Hawaii, Australia and in Chile, the UK Astronomy Technology Centre at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh and the MERLIN/VLBI National Facility.
About UKAEA
UKAEA's Culham Division in Oxfordshire is the national centre for fusion research, hosting the European flagship experiment JET on behalf of partners across Europe and with its own research programme jointly funded by the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and EURATOM. The search for commercial fusion power at Culham is part of a global drive to produce electrical power from the process that powers the sun.
About Qi3
Qi3 is a specialist service provider that enables high-tech start-ups, technology corporations, universities and government to unite technology and the marketplace. Its key expertise is in technology commercialisation, business development and knowledge transfer. Principal activities for the public sector include the delivery of knowledge transfer brokering support; training and mentoring in technology commercialisation and support for the establishment of technology seed funds. Qi3 also provides technology market evaluation for corporate venturing organisations and technology companies and hands-on business development support.