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Richard Compton's group at the University of Oxford has developed the world's first calibration-free pH meter, representing the first major advance in pH measurement for 80 years. In 2008, the technology was licensed to Senova Systems Inc, who subsequently produced a prototype hand- held calibration-free pH meter. In September 2012 the device won the Frost & Sullivan 2012 North American New Product Innovation Award, and in March 2013 it won Best New Product award at Pittcon 2013, the world's largest annual conference and expo for laboratory science. Following successful field trials with end-users in diverse sectors, Senova is now developing a commercial product. Senova has already secured $ 9.7M to commercialise the technology, with additional ongoing venture capital investments. [text removed for publication].
This research has culminated in a unique risk-based collaborative system enabling industry to prevent supply chain contamination. Elliott's team leads international work developing and implementing innovative methods to detect multiple chemical contaminants in food and feed, one of the greatest challenges facing industry and regulators worldwide due to global supply chains. Elliott's research resulted in the worldwide implementation of multiple ISO accredited procedures; detection systems based on this research are sold in >50 countries. The outcomes include enhanced protection of consumer health, greater business income and improved reputations of industry and regulators globally. Licensing/royalties streams support translational research in the Institute (~£200,000).
The cost of goods is an especially important issue in developing commercially available agrochemicals, which must be manufactured on a large scale. Richard Compton's research at the University of Oxford has led to a step change in the understanding of heterogeneous reaction mechanisms for liquid — organic solid or liquid — inorganic solid processes involved in large-scale manufacturing processes. Compton's work has had particular impact on optimising the processes used by Syngenta AG in its manufacturing of agrochemicals. Since 2008 the insights gained on inorganic-base dissolution have been of great benefit to Syngenta in its development of scalable robust manufacturing processes, particularly in relation to production of its fungicide Amistar and insecticide Actara, which are two of the world's largest selling products of this type. In 2012 Syngenta achieved total sales of over $ 14 billion, $ 4.8 billion of this from fungicide and insecticide revenues.
This case study outlines the impact in generating investment in a spin-out SME and in developing a technology for clinical diagnosis based on chemistry research carried out in Bath. The research led to a spin-out company, Atlas Genetics, which has raised over £18M funding in the REF period specifically to develop the Atlas io™ platform, novel technology for rapid (<30 minute) and robust detection of infectious diseases suitable for point-of-care. The investment has created new jobs for highly skilled workers at the cutting-edge of medical diagnostics, with Atlas currently employing 36 staff. The io™ platform has been fully developed and has undergone successful clinical tests on multiple infections (based on bespoke Chemistry developed at Bath) prior to clinical trialling and rollout in Europe and the United States.
Carbon dioxide sequestration is the process by which pressured CO2 is injected into a storage space within the Earth rather than released into the atmosphere. It is one of the major ways that carbon dioxide emissions can be controlled.
Research since 2004 by applied mathematicians at the University of Cambridge into the many different effects that might be encountered during this process has had considerable impact on government and industry groups in determining how the field is viewed and how it should and might be industrially developed. The work played a major role in the CO2CRC conferences and was subsequently reported to the Australian Government by the CO2CRC chair and organisers.