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Based on innovative technology invented and developed through research at the University of Southampton, sustainable pest control products by spinout company Exosect are being employed around the world to preserve the global food supply. Since 2008 its bio-control products have been newly adopted in diverse situations: by Sainsbury's in response to consumer pressure to reduce chemicals in food; by Bayer CropScience, who bought rights, in a multimillion pound deal, to a product for the protection of bee populations; by English Heritage to preserve the UK's cultural heritage. The technology has inspired a US$1m Gates Foundation grant for poverty reduction efforts in sub-Saharan Africa and raised awareness among conventional pesticide manufacturers of the environmental and economic benefits of bio-control solutions.
Weak acids (e.g. sorbic acid) are used by food manufacturers to prevent fungal contamination of food and beverages. Professor Archer in the Molecular Microbiology group determined the fungal species that cause such contamination, and identified fungal genes and enzymes that confer resistance to sorbic acid during initial outgrowth of fungal spores. They characterised the biochemistry of the resistance mechanism, enabling design of improved mould inhibitors. These inhibitors, used at the correct time, have improved manufacturing processes to prevent mould contamination and product wastage. Knowledge of mould genetics has also been applied to other industries to improve food additive and biofuel manufacturing processes.
Cardiff University, through developing and patenting a commercially viable synthetic route to a catalyst, has enabled the application of a new process, the Alpha Process, for the production of methyl methacrylate (MMA), a key commodity precursor to Perspex. The Alpha Process has had economic and environmental impacts.
Lucite International, the world's leading MMA producer, has invested in major Alpha Process production facilities in Singapore and Saudi Arabia, benefitting from a production route which is more efficient, more reliable and cheaper than conventional routes.
The Alpha Process also brings environmental benefits, as it does not rely on the use of corrosive and toxic feedstocks, such as hydrogen cyanide, which are associated with conventional MMA processes.
Different aspects of Professor Paul Watson's research on artificial insemination and semen preservation techniques, have delivered impact in agricultural, human healthcare and ecological spheres. They have contributed to commercial breeding practices, particularly in pigs, providing substantially improved efficiencies and reliability. Research on reducing transmission of infectious agents by semen during storage in liquid nitrogen has been applied to human AI, informing and driving changes in practice to protect against contamination leading to infection. In the field of conservation, the RVC's research has made a significant contribution to international efforts directed at the survival of highly endangered species, supporting preservation of biodiversity.
The impact presented in this case study is the commercialisation of 15 products with perfume microcapsules by Procter and Gamble (P&G), made possible using capsule mechanical strength data provided by Prof Zhibing Zhang's research group at Birmingham. Use of microcapsules gives improved freshness performance, and thus commercial advantage, compared with traditional formulations; they have been incorporated in P&G's four major billion-dollar brands — Downy, Febreze, Lenor and Tide. This has significantly improved their competitiveness enabling P&G to retain their leading position in the USA and Western Europe. A novel micromanipulation technique developed at the University of Birmingham has been used extensively to obtain mechanical properties data for the micro-particles, including microcapsules prepared in Birmingham and provided by companies, which is related to their formulation and processing conditions and end- use performance. In addition, the knowledge generated has helped 15 other companies to commercialise new functional products containing micro-particles.
The Advanced Concrete and Masonry Centre (ACMC) at UWS was among the pioneers in development of practical self-compacting concrete (SCC) in Europe. As a lead partner, the group contributed to two large EU projects on SCC, which underpinned the European standards on SCC test methods.
The group's research has contributed to the steadily increasing use of SCC in general construction, which has brought many benefits, such as enhanced durability, improved productivity, reduced overall cost, improved working environment and sustainability. Given the massive quantities of concrete being used (>14 billion tonnes/year globally), the increased use of SCC has had important economic, societal and environmental impacts.
Plant resistance provides sustainable control of the $125bn annual world crop losses to nematodes to replace environmentally hazardous pesticides. Urwin and Atkinson have developed three biosafe resistance technologies that 1) suppress feeding success, 2) reduce root invasion and 3) suppress nematode development by RNA interference. We have developed GM agriculture with leading industry (Sinochem, Monsanto) and in emerging economies through free access to technology, capacity building initiatives, review of collaborative R&D plans (India) and regulatory approval of field trials (Uganda). The work has also influenced policy-makers in the UK and in Switzerland, leading to new security measures for GM field trials in these countries..
In 2012, it is estimated the $145bn was invested in solar photovoltaic technology. Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSC) are expected to play an increasing role in renewable energy generation over the next decade and beyond, but several practical issues need to be overcome to facilitate large-scale economic production. Fundamental research at Bangor has laid the ground for collaborative work with industry which has overcome several of the key production constraints in their manufacture, increasing production speed and efficiency and substantially reducing costs. As a result, we have developed a Technology Roadmap with a major multinational partner (TATA) which has led to significant investment in plant and to the production of pilot products in the form of photovoltaic roofs, currently undergoing outdoor testing.
University of Huddersfield research in physical organic chemistry has delivered economic, industrial and societal benefits. It has led to process improvements in chemical manufacturing, most notably in the optimisation of the synthesis of antisense oligonucleotides and in the use of liquid ammonia as a solvent. It has also led to the development of new inhibitors of bacterial β-lactamases for use as antibacterials. The research team's expertise has been reflected in the success of IPOS (Innovative Physical Organic Solutions), a unit established in 2006 to carry out research in process and other areas of chemistry for the chemical industry. IPOS expanded significantly from 2009 to 2013 and has now collaborated with more than 150 companies, many of them based in Yorkshire/Humberside where regeneration is critically dependent on the success of new, non-traditional, high-technology firms and industries. Through these collaborative projects, IPOS has contributed to the growth and prosperity of both regional and national industry.
Bio Nano Consulting (http://www.bio-nano-consulting.com) was established as an operating business in 2007 through a joint venture between Imperial College London and UCL, whose formation was underpinned by research produced by Professor Tony Cass's group at Imperial. The company is the first consultancy in Europe to focus on the increasingly important intersection between bio- and nanotechnology, and it facilitates the development and commercialisation of new biomedical and nanotechnology-based techniques. Since its start-up, the company has attracted numerous clients across the aerospace and diagnostics sectors, including Lockheed-Martin and [text removed for publication]. The company's activities have generated £6M worth of revenue and it has a growing portfolio. The company, which is based in London, currently has 8 full time employees.