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The UK infant formula market increased in value from 2005-2013 by 65% to £463m. The Unit's research, funded by the Food Standards Agency and the Department of Health, addressed the concerns of policy makers and breast feeding lobby groups that baby food manufacturers might be circumventing recently introduced restrictions on advertising infant formula (breast milk substitute) products in such a way as to undermine support for, and uptake of, breastfeeding. The research findings underpinned the recommendations on regulatory change made to government by an independent review panel established by the Minister of State for Public Health. Since the panel reported, manufacturers have addressed the issue by removing publicly accessible links to infant formula product information.
The key impact is to have improved the economic performance of both multinational companies and SMEs through the introduction and performance enhancement of new electronic products.
Lancaster's research on reliability modelling technologies for use in the characterisation and optimisation of the reliability of MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) products such as accelerometers and gyroscopes has been used by ST Microelectronics to achieve mass market penetration of its MEMS. Specifically, the market share of ST (a French-Italian multinational electronics and semiconductor manufacturer) has doubled to $900M since 2008, with its MEMS accelerometers and gyroscopes now being found in, inter alia, Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod.
Lancaster's test engineering research has also delivered a novel self-test technology that can be activated during normal operation of a MEMS based system. This capability has been integrated into an inertial device commercialised by QinetiQ for classified applications. Additionally, through assisting BCF-Designs (a UK SME specialising in electronic test systems for the military and civil aerospace sectors) in the development of its R&D portfolio and associated intellectual property in the area of on-line (in situ) testing, research conducted at Lancaster directly supported the tripling of BCF's turnover to £9M and more than doubling of its sale value to £12.5M (to ULTRA Electronics, 2008).