OTHER ELECTRONICS & NANOTECHNOLOGY
INDUSTRY UPDATE
December 2015
McIlvaine Company
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
University of Bristol Opens State-of-the-Art University Cleanroom
EPSRC to
Invest in Future Manufacturing
The Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Hugh Brady, has
officially opened the new University of Bristol cleanroom. This multimillion
pound facility is said to be the jewel in the crown for research groups at
Bristol who specialize in micro- and nano-fabrication. In the highly controlled
environment within the cleanroom, the air is continuously filtered and full
gowning procedures are in place to prevent contamination. These extremes of
cleanliness are absolutely necessary, given that a single mote of dust could
spell disaster for a device whose scale is less than a thousandth of a
millimeter. For such small devices, any speck of dust, grit or fluff would be
akin to dropping a wrecking ball on your home.
The cleanroom houses specialist research tools that will be
used by groups from the Faculties of Science and Engineering. Staff from
departments as diverse as electronic engineering and plant life sciences spoke
at the event to highlight the role the new facility will have in their research.
At the opening, Professor Claire Grierson of BrisSynBio
described how the microfluidic devices that are unique to her group are used to
sort and control individual cells, which can only be made in the cleanroom, and
how this is empowering her international collaborations. Professor Mark Thompson
of the Centre for Quantum Photonics highlighted the benefits to his cutting-edge
research in quantum technologies and the importance of being able to rapidly
prototype new designs and ideas in photonics.
Guest external speaker, Dr Ian Sturland of BAE Systems,
emphasized the applications of cleanroom technologies in modern industry. He
noted that this facility will help to foster productive collaborations with
industrial partners, as well as ensuring that Bristol’s postgraduate students
are trained in the state-of-the-art tools used commercially.
Professor Brady was delighted to hear of the work going on in
the cleanroom and, in particular, the depth and scope of the research; he
commented that the cross-faculty nature of this research environment is key to
strengthening the research output of the university, a factor that is
particularly important ahead of the forthcoming government reviews in science
and research funding.
A research hub focusing on Future High Value Photonics Manufacturing has been
announced by UK Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson.
Based at the University of Southampton, the photonics centre is one of two
manufacturing research hubs funded for the next seven years by the Engineering
and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) with £20 million investment. The
second hub is for Future Liquid Metal Engineering at Brunel University.
The funding will be enhanced by £14 million from the universities and a further
£58 million from industry.
The aim is to address major, long-term challenges facing the UK's manufacturing
industries, and capture opportunities from emerging research. The hubs will
feature high quality, multidisciplinary research, which has strong engagement
with manufacturing industries.
Universities and Science Minister, Jo Johnson said: "From cars to smartphones
our world-leading research drives innovation and growth in the UK's
manufacturing industries. With this £92 million investment, these new
manufacturing hubs will develop the next generation of high tech products in
communications and healthcare, as well as tackle industry challenges such as
rising materials costs."
Philip Nelson, EPSRC's chief executive, said: "These two new manufacturing Hubs
will help manufacturing industries respond to the opportunities and drivers in
the sector. They also build upon EPSRC's previous investment successes of
Innovative Manufacturing Research Centers and EPSRC Centers for Innovative
Manufacturing, and we have recently announced a call for proposals for further
Hubs. We are confident universities and industry collaborators will embrace this
new opportunity to invest in the future of UK manufacturing through research."
The EPSRC National Hub in High Value Photonic Manufacturing will be led by Sir
David Payne at the University of Southampton. The aim is for it to underpin
growth of the UK's £10 billion photonics industry and support the £600 billion
of UK manufacturing output that depends on photonics. It will do this by being
the go-to place for the UK photonics industry who are interested in: improving
existing manufacturing processes for production of photonics components; the
supply of prototype components and sub-systems to their designs; a one-stop-shop
for trialling user ideas and developing new manufacturing processes
In addition to this user pull, the hub will push out new processes that enable
hitherto difficult or expensive device/component ideas resulting from EPSRC
investments in advanced photonics research.
The hope is that this will lead to creation of manufacturing processes that will
enable rapid commercialization of emerging photonics technologies, resulting in
new products and services and new UK manufacturing jobs, directly in the
photonics industry and beyond. 37 companies have so far promised a total of
£12.5 million support across the UK, including many SMEs, throughout the value
chain in markets that include security, communications, space, semiconductor
manufacturing and healthcare.
The hub will also have a critical role in defense and security where sovereign
capability in photonics manufacturing is of vital importance to the nation.
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