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This case study describes the impact of the EnCore microprocessor, and the associated ArcSim simulation software, created in 2009 by the Processor Automated Synthesis by iTerative Analysis (PASTA) research group under Professor Nigel Topham at the University of Edinburgh. Licensing to Synopsys Inc. in 2012 brought the EnCore and ArcSim technologies to the market. Synopsys Inc. is a world-leading Silicon Valley company. It is the largest Electronic Design Automation (EDA) company in the world, and the second largest supplier of semiconductor IP. EnCore is achieving a global impact through this worldwide channel. The commercial derivatives of the EnCore technology provide manufacturers of consumer electronics devices with an innovative low-power, high-performance microprocessor that they can customize to their specific application requirements, enabling the next generation of electronic devices.
This case study concerns economic impact accruing in the aerospace engineering industry in Europe from software developed to perform stress analysis. Durham research has led to a spinout company, Concept Analyst, Ltd., and the software resulting from the research (Concept Analyst) is currently licensed by the following companies: BAE Systems (Brough, Samlesbury, Warton, Prestwick sites), Agusta Westland, Assystem, Jesmond Engineering, Spirit Aerospace. Trials are currently in place at Airbus UK and Bombardier, Canada. An agreement has been signed with the fatigue consultancy Jesmond Engineering, Ltd. to market the software within the aerospace sector. Economic impact arises from time savings for designers using Concept Analyst as compared to conventional commercial tools.
BRITEST is a global leader in the development of innovative process solutions for the chemical processing sector with > £500m of value being realized since 2008. Research in Manchester (1997-2000) generated a set of novel tools and methodologies which analyse chemical processes to identify where and how process improvements could be made. BRITEST was established in 2001 as a not-for-profit company to manage the technology transfer and effective deployment of these tools and methodologies into industry. Manchester holds the IP arising from the underpinning research and has granted an exclusive license to BRITEST for use and exploitation of the toolkit.
The need to manage, analyse and interpret the volumes of data and literature generated by modern high-throughput biology has become a major barrier to progress. Research at the University of Manchester on interoperability and advanced interfaces has resulted in innovative software (Utopia Documents) that links biomedical data with scientific literature. The software has been adopted by international publishing houses (Portland Press, Elsevier, Springer, etc.), allowing them to explore new business models, and by pharmaceutical companies (e.g. AstraZeneca, Roche), providing new opportunities to explore more efficient, cost-effective methods for exploiting and sharing in-house data and knowledge. The research also led to a spin-out company, Lost Island Labs, in 2012, which expects a profit [text removed for publication] in its first year.
Research (1993-2008) on novel silicon architectures and design methodologies for digital signal and video processing led to the creation of world leading semiconductor IP cores (chip designs) for implementing the main video and image compression standards including H.264, MPEG4, MPEG2, and JPEG2000. These have been licensed to semiconductor manufacturers worldwide including Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba and Sharp. Since 2008, such encoders/decoders have been incorporated into all DTV/HDTV SoCs produced by Conexant, NXP, Trident Microsystems and Entropic. They have also been used as the hardware acceleration engines in Intel's C2110 Media Processor. At least 150 million chips worldwide having been manufactured incorporating this technology.
Novel statistical methods were developed in order to address the needs of Federal-Mogul Corporation (FM), an innovative and diversified $6.9bn global component supplier to vehicle manufacturers, with a broad range of customers in the industrial sector. During 2012, the research underpinned the production of new disc brake pad products for Audi, BMW, Ford, GM, Mercedes Benz and VW. The research has already resulted in significant benefits for the company by improving the manufacturing process, allowing it to be optimised to a mean specification, and by reducing the production cycle time by 30%.
This University of Manchester research underpins UK industry's global position in millimetre- wave imaging and ultra-high-precision sensing. These are key technologies in a range of industrial, medical and consumer electronics applications. The devices and methods developed by the research team are now used by a range of companies leading to economic impacts for the UK in strong export markets. In this case study we provide examples of impacts that support commercial sales in excess of £300m by UK SME and FTSE-listed companies in three sectors: automotive radar (e2v), terahertz imaging (TeraView), and linear encoders (Renishaw PLC).
Research at Manchester has led to the development of a new class of high performance magnesium alloys based on the addition of rare-earth alloying elements. The new alloys combine low density and the highest strength of any magnesium alloy. Used to substitute for aluminium in aerospace and automotive they produce weight savings of 35% improving performance and reducing fuel consumption. Commercialisation of these alloys by Magnesium Elektron (ME), the international leader in magnesium alloy development, contributes over $20m per annum to company revenue. This includes development of the first commercial product available for bioresorbable magnesium implants, SynermagTM, launched in 2012.
Radiation physicists at the University of Surrey developed a unique X-ray imaging technology for high-speed real-time tomography (RTT) during 1997 to 2005. The originating research developed new X-ray methods for tomographic imaging of multiphase flow in pipes. RTT was then applied to security X-ray imaging, specifically the high-speed screening of aircraft passenger baggage. As a direct result of the research, a spin-out company from the University, CXR Ltd, was formed, and it was later acquired by Rapiscan Systems.
Surrey's imaging technology is now approved for use for automated explosives detection in the European aviation sector. In 2009, a prototype high-speed baggage system was trialled at Manchester Airport, which resulted in certification in 2012. The research has made a significant economic impact by leading to technology that created jobs in a purpose-built factory.
The field of conceptual chemical process design as practiced industrially has been influenced significantly by the outputs from the Centre for Process Integration (CPI) at Manchester. Process Integration Ltd (PIL) was spun-out from Manchester and currently employs over 50 staff globally, who have conducted projects that have resulted in annual cost savings of hundreds of millions of US dollars. The application of CPI technology has led to significant reductions in both energy costs and emissions of greenhouse gases. Since 2008 ca. US$350m of savings have been realized through the exploitation of CPI technology with US$1.4m generated from software sales.