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Analytical methods and nanotechnology developed and patented since 1994 by the University of Sunderland, for healthcare, forensic and environmental monitoring applications have been exploited for their commercial and healthcare benefits. The patents were out-licensed to a University spin-out company for the production of a `sniffer' device to detect raw material air contamination in a manufacturing environment. The proof of concept project resulted in significant commercial benefits, such as inward investment, new industry, specialist training, and >20 new jobs for a range of skilled workers, both in the UK and overseas, development of health and welfare protection, exploitation of technology to meet new industry regulations, and improved efficiency in the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients and products for household goods.
The development of microelectronic sensor arrays for biological applications, pioneered at the University of Glasgow, is central to a unique gene sequencing system developed by Ion Torrent. The Ion Torrent personal genome machine is a bench-top system that, compared to optically mediated technologies, is cheaper and easier to use. Ion Torrent was founded in 2007 and bought by Life Technologies in 2010 for $725M; they, in turn, were bought by Thermo Fisher for $13Bn, citing Ion Torrent as a motivation. Ion Torrent now has 62% of the bench-top sequencing market, estimated to be worth $1.3Bn in 2012.
The development of unique computer simulation tools has profoundly influenced the design and manufacture of silicon chips fuelling the $300 billion per year semiconductor industry. A pioneer of statistical variability research, Professor Asen Asenov developed understanding and awareness of statistical variability in the nanoscale transistors which make up all silicon chips. Gold Standard Simulations (GSS) was created in 2010 and by 2012-13 had grown revenue from services and licensing to $1million. GSS tools are currently used in foundries providing 75% of all semiconductor production for fabless design companies globally. For example, working with GSS and their simulation tools has reduced the development time for IBM's next generation of CMOS technology by 1 year, representing significant savings in the 3-5 year technology development cycle.
The commercialisation of Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCL) and the associated novel fabrication processes developed at the University of Glasgow has provided Compound Semiconductor Technologies Global Ltd (CSTG) with a new foundry product supplying quantum cascade lasers for gas sensing, safety and security, and military applications. This resulted in 40% turnover growth from 2010-2012 and the company is now recognised as a global leader in QCLs and their fabrication. Based on University of Glasgow research, the company has created a manufacturing toolbox for the production of a wide variety of QCL chip designs. CSTG has also achieved a world first, manufacturing QCLs for systems that detect explosives at a safe distance and can counter heat-seeking missile attacks on aircraft.
Economic impact is claimed through the growth of the biopharmaceutical spin-out company Q Chip Ltd. During the REF period, this has created 19 new jobs, £7.5M investment, a new Dutch subsidiary (Q Chip BV), and staged-payment, six figure contract sales to four major international pharmaceutical companies.
Q Chip has generated over £928K in contract sales from the pharmaceutical industry from 2008-2012, with further sales of over £1M projected in 2013-14.
Originally established by Professor David Barrow in 2003 from his micro technology research, Q Chip has developed new processes and miniaturised equipment to encapsulate materials, including drugs, within uniform polymeric microspheres as injectable therapeutics.
Impact: Economic and societal The Millimetre Wave and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) group has developed internation-ally award-winning instrumentation, and associated components that have been produced commercially by Thomas Keating Ltd. They have also led a pio-neering public understanding programme (PUP).
Significance: Thomas Keating have developed a range of new product lines serving > 20 international customers including [text removed for publication] of recent orders. The PUP has reached ~82 000 at-tendees.
Reach: Systems have been sold internationally and PUP has developed into specific exhibitions at a range of science centres.
Attribution: The work has been led by PHYESTA Researcher Dr Graham Smith
Today's global telecom systems are powered by technology developed at the University of Glasgow. This technology has been utilised, endorsed and developed by a series of internationally successful companies, facilitating multimillion pound investment from across Europe and the USA for the companies.
Gemfire Europe acquired the University of Glasgow IP and technology and between 2008 and 2012 launched a range of `green' products with reduced power consumption. The company's revenues reached $12m annually and in 2013, Gemfire was one of the world's top five planar lightwave circuit companies. Gemfire was bought by Kaiam, one of the world's market-leading optical networking companies in April 2013, stimulating further innovation and investment in the production of high-speed components for the global data networking market.
A team at the University of Sunderland has undertaken research into equipment maintenance for over 20 years. This has been undertaken within a series of funded UK and EU projects. The work of the team has resulted in a new model for maintenance strategy, and the development of novel artificial intelligence algorithms to monitor the condition of key factory assets. A series of software tools have been developed in collaboration with industrial partners. These tools and the strategic model have been tested in industrial settings and have had impact in the UK, across the EU, and internationally.
Research at the Interface Analysis Centre (IAC) has made innovative analysis products available in a wide range of industries and research fields.
For stroke patients and any patient undergoing surgery the time period from diagnosis to treatment is a major factor in clinical outcomes. Research carried out at the University of Warwick has led to the development of sensors that can be used to measure, in whole unprocessed blood, diagnostically useful analytes that can be used to select the best therapeutic treatments. Point-of- care diagnosis and prompt referral to an appropriate care pathway, facilitated by the use of biosensors, will result in efficiency savings for healthcare professionals and the NHS in the long- term, and will also improve patient outcomes. To commercialize these biosensors, Sarissa Biomedical Ltd was founded in 2002, as a UK-based spinout from the University of Warwick. Sarissa sells, around the world, microelectrode biosensors fabricated by a unique enzyme deposition technology protected by patents filed in 2004 and 2008 by the University of Warwick. The diagnostic sensors are based on technology that incorporates Ruthenium Purple and use a sol-gel coating to entrap enzymes on a microelectrode. Sarissa is pursuing human trials of its biosensors as diagnostic tools in two main areas: stroke, and trauma with associated sepsis.