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Multinational companies [text removed for publication] have saved more than 20,000 tonnes of plastic and $10M in less than 4 years, using QUB technology to develop their innovative lightweight plastic bottles.
This has created both economic and environmental impact through the savings in material, transport and energy costs and a reduction in CO2 usage. For example the [text removed for publication] showed savings per year of €3M and 1800 tonnes of plastic and a reduction of CO2 of 800 tonnes/year.
A spin-out company, built on this technology, was created in 2012 and is actively selling process instrumentation (THERMOscan) to both USA and EU customers enabling them to make further reductions in material and energy usage. The product won a clean energy award in 2011.
Loughborough University's (LU) research in the application of artificial intelligence techniques to enhance process safety since 1993 has resulted in novel computer tools that generated the following economic impacts through the creation of a University spinout company, Hazid Technologies Ltd, in 2002:
1) Raised over £1.3m shares capital from investors.
2) Developed research prototypes into state-of-the-art commercial tools for improving process plant safety.
3) Signed a global sales agreement with Intergraph Corporation in 2005.
4) Established a portfolio of major companies around the world as clients.
5) Employs two executive directors, three software developers and three chemical engineers.
Loughborough University's (LU) interdisciplinary model based systems engineering (MBSE) research (2001-2010) has directly enabled life-saving operations by i) Developing synthetic vision systems to improve the safety of emergency services helicopter operations involving low level flight during day, night, all weather and conditions of zero visibility, and ii) Saving lives through a reduction in morbidity and mortality of babies born with congenital heart defects.
The impact translates directly into significant cost savings and safety risk reductions in expensive flight trials costing millions of pounds by BAE Systems [5.1], and in supporting clinical practice/surgical interventions by University Hospital of Rennes [5.2] with a reduction in the morbidity and mortality of babies born with congenital heart defects in Brittany, France.
Research by Loughborough University academics has influenced the development of elite footballs used in numerous global tournaments including FIFA World Cups, UEFA European Championships and Olympic Games. Research findings have led to increased design freedoms that have allowed adidas to produce balls with improved commercial appeal resulting in a tenfold increase in sales whilst maintaining product performance in line with the highest certifiable level of FIFA standards.
Since 2003 Loughborough University has worked with industry to create future manufacturing systems to enable large scale production of human stem cells. The research, development and demonstration of consistent, optimised, automated expansion in culture of human stem cells at Loughborough has led to the commercial sale by July 2013 of 47 systems worth £20.1M to companies developing stem cell-based and other therapies. Their use is contributing to the health and quality of life of patients, whilst creating a new industry sector with significant economic and employment benefits. Loughborough leads internationally and nationally in this emerging field with research at significant scale contributing new manufacturing and regulatory science and standards.
Research into new process modelling tools and numerical simulation and optimisation algorithms at Imperial's Centre for Process Systems Engineering (CPSE) has resulted in a powerful new modelling technology. In 1997, a team from (CPSE) established a spin-out company, Process Systems Enterprise Ltd (PSE, www.psenterprise.com), to commercialise this process and energy systems modelling platform — gPROMSTM and to provide associated leading-edge model based services such as the design of new processes and the optimisation of existing processes.
Based on turnover (£400k at launch to £10m today), PSE is now recognised as a leading provider of process modelling technology and modelling platforms, with over 100 employees in high-end jobs. Its customers include most of the world's leading chemical, energy and automotive companies (e.g. Dow Chemical, BASF, BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Toyota, Honda, Ford, Mitsubishi Chemicals) and it has a strong international presence with offices in the UK, US, Germany, Japan and Korea and agencies in China, India, Saudi Arabia and Thailand. The overall benefit to industry over the REF period is estimated to be £400m. The software allows customers to model, understand and optimise their processes in an unprecedented manner, leading to improved designs and more efficient operations. The gPROMSTM software is used in over 200 universities for both teaching and research (primarily the latter), where it enables research into new chemical and energy processes to take place.
The research has enabled industrial simulation users to investigate and develop larger scale systems faster and cheaper and thus to explore a wider variety of cost-saving options with more precision, and industrial simulation providers to offer new high-performance simulation (HPS) products and services. As a direct result of this work: Ford has made £150,000 cost savings in consultancy and significant process improvements to engine manufacture globally; Saker Solutions (UK SME) has created the first ever HPS system for production and logistics; Sellafield PLC has used this system to make significant process improvements and savings in the management of nuclear waste reprocessing of around £200,000 per year; and Whole Systems Partnership (a UK SME) used a spin-off from this research to generate a £200,000 per year revenue stream from interoperable healthcare decision support systems. Globally, several other companies are adopting the standardisation efforts and other outcomes of the research as the foundation for future innovation.
A reduction in planning uncertainties and financial risks of photovoltaics has been achieved by developing internationally accepted standards. Non-standardised characterisation and unreliable energy prediction caused a performance gap between expectations and realistic yields. Loughborough University (Prof. Gottschalg, Dr. Betts) conducted a series of research projects since 1999 which reduced this performance gap. The team consciously transferred developed methods to international standards for energy prediction and device characterisation. Standardisation has, with significant contributions from this team, resulted in the reporting period in a reduction of at least 2% calibration uncertainty, which has a value at today's prices of $1.500,000,000 per year (J. Wohlgemuth [5.1]).
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 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.