Summary of the impact

A €470 million earth observation mission (BIOMASS) based on research carried out in the University of Sheffield's Centre for Terrestrial Carbon Dynamics was approved by the European Space Agency Programme Board on 7 May 2013, for launch in 2020, to measure the biomass and height of the Earth's forests, globally, at a scale of ~200 m. The twenty European member states have committed contributions to fund the mission, representing a significant reallocation of public budgets. The mission was selected as the most scientifically convincing of the six initially shortlisted in 2005 (further down-selected to three in 2009), and is the only one that will be funded. The project has already led to two European industrial consortia receiving some €5.6 million for studies to demonstrate feasibility. A further €277 million of the €470 million approved funding has been specifically earmarked for industrial spending to prepare for the mission.

Summary of the impact

Visual analytics is a powerful method for understanding large and complex datasets that makes information accessible to non-statistically trained users. The Non-linearity and Complexity Research Group (NCRG) developed several fundamental algorithms and brought them to users by developing interactive software tools (e.g. Netlab pattern analysis toolbox in 2002 (more than 40,000 downloads), Data Visualisation and Modelling System (DVMS) in 2012).

Industrial products. These software tools are used by industrial partners (Pfizer, Dstl) in their business activities. The algorithms have been integrated into a commercial tool (p:IGI) used in geochemical analysis for oil and gas exploration with a 60% share of the worldwide market.

Improving business performance. As an enabling technology, visual analytics has played an important role in the data analysis that has led to the development of new products, such as the Body Volume Index, and the enhancement of existing products (Wheelright: automated vehicle tyre pressure measurement).

Impact on practitioners. The software is used to educate and train skilled people internationally in more than 6 different institutions and is also used by finance professionals.

Summary of the impact

DU researchers have developed new algorithms and statistical models with which to make precise quantitative assessments of forest cover and forest attributes over small or large areas using satellite remote-sensing data, either alone or in combination with airborne or ground-based laser scanning. This research underpins the use of remote sensing as a cost-effective tool for aspects of forest resource management, planning, and policy compliance in many countries. Users include government agencies in the UK, Sweden, New Zealand and Guyana, and international forestry consultancy companies based in Finland with regional branches in New Zealand. DU researchers have also used these methods to help verify the Guyana government's entitlement to $250m under a UN initiative for avoidance of CO₂ emissions.

Summary of the impact

Data generated by sensors on-board satellites orbiting the Earth have become extremely important to businesses and public sector organisations. They are the essential ingredient in satellite-enabled consumer services, from GoogleEarth to disaster management, insurance and agriculture. The Earth Observation Science group at Leicester has played a leading role in the transfer of cutting-edge Earth Observation techniques and know-how to the private and public sectors, enabling more businesses to use the technology for commercial gain. Leicester experience in technology translation led to its invited contribution to the UK space industry-led report to government, an Innovation and Growth Strategy for Space.

Summary of the impact

Yield of valuable biomass fibre components and their utilization in the food industry has been maximised by novel, cost-effective and environment-friendly plant fibre extraction methods developed by BEAA. Specifically, application of these methods enabled patenting and commercialisation of oat fibre extraction by the Swedish company BioVelop, directly resulting in commercial impact through international sales of five nutritional products released since 2010. The most successful of these is produced at a quantity of 180,000 kg, or € 600,000 per year. In May 2013, world-leading food-additive giant Tate & Lyle took over BioVelop, securing the success and lasting commercial impact of the BEAA technology.

Summary of the impact

BEAA research has impacted positively on commerce in brewing and biotechnology companies worldwide through continuous collaboration with Aber Instruments, an AU spin-out company formed to commercialise university research. Aber Instruments has supplied over 1000 fermentation monitoring systems world-wide for the on-line measurement of viable biomass concentration, providing improvements in speed and accuracy over previous off-line, culture or stain-based procedures. On-line, real-time monitoring of viability during fermentation reduces costs and improves product quality, leading to practitioners in large breweries including Anheuser Busch, SABMiller, Inbev, Coors, Diageo, Heineken, Suntory and San Miguel adopting the Yeast Monitor as part of their standard operating procedures. The new Futura instrument, which utilises the same technology developed from BEAA research, was launched in 2009 and is now used by major biotechnology companies including Genetech, Novo, Biogen Idec, GlaxoSmithKline, Centocor, Sandoz, Eli Lilly and Genzyme to monitor biomass in a much wider range of fermentations.

Summary of the impact

The security of data in printing and network environments is an area of increasing concern to individuals, businesses, government organisations and security agencies throughout the world. Mathematical algorithms developed at the School of Mathematics at Cardiff University represent a significant step-change in existing data security techniques. The algorithms enable greater security in automatic document classification and summarisation, information retrieval and image understanding. Hewlett-Packard (HP), the world's leading PC vendor, funded the research underpinning this development and patented the resulting software, with the aim of strengthening its position as the market leader in this sector of the global information technology industry. Hewlett Packard has incorporated the algorithms in a schedule of upgrades to improve the key security features in over ten million of their electronic devices. Accordingly, the impact claimed is mitigating data security risks for HP users and clients and substantial economic gain for the company.

Summary of the impact

The research improves digital data archives by embedding computation into the storage controllers that maintain the integrity of the data within the archive. This opens up a number of possibilities:

• Data analysis can be automated and incorporated into the archiving process;
• The approach improves the archiving of all types of digital objects, from television broadcasts to genomes;
• The approach can be applied to distributed data and to datasets that are too big for traditional approaches.

This has impact on three different classes of beneficiary:

• Providers of national data infrastructure in the UK and US, who are incorporating Cheshire 3 into national data repositories;
• Data Users, such as Astra Zeneca, RAI, Sanger Institute, who are using Cheshire 3 to extract valuable information from their data;
• Equipment vendors, such as NetApp, Xerox and Bellerophon Mobile, who are developing commercial systems that will use Cheshire 3.

Summary of the impact

The research in this case study has pioneered knowledge management technology. It has had major impact on drug discovery and translational medicine and is widely adopted in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. The impacts are:

1. The formation of InforSense to commercialise the technology. The company had 150 employees in June 2009 when it merged with IDBS Ltd to create the world's second largest life science informatics company.
2. The results from knowledge management technology and associated software platform have enabled the integration of molecular, imaging, clinical data and analytics, to identify biomarkers for disease identification, treatment selection and side effect prediction.
3. Since 2002 the technology has been deployed by major pharmaceutical companies (including GSK, AZ, Roche, Pfizer, Bayer and Boehringer Ingelheim) and leading healthcare institutions e.g. Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical School and King's Health Partners, generating significant social, health and economic impact.

Summary of the impact

Onchocerciasis (river blindness) is a debilitating disease of major public health importance in the wet tropics. The African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) seeks to control or eliminate the disease in 19 countries. Accurate mapping of Loiasis (eye-worm) was a requirement for implementation of APOC's mass-treatment prophylactic medication programme in order to mitigate against serious adverse reactions to the Onchocerciasis medication in areas also highly endemic for Loiasis. Model-based geostatistical methods developed at Lancaster were used to obtain the required maps and contributed to a change in practice of APOC in a major health programme in Africa. Our maps are used to plan the delivery of the mass-treatment programme to rural communities throughout the APOC countries, an estimated total population of 115 million.