Sector News

The UK CCS Research Centre (UKCCSRC) has been awarded £6m by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) to continue its carbon capture and storage (CCS) research projects.

Its core activities are delivered by six of the UK’s leading CCS institutions – British Geological Survey, University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, Imperial College London, University of Nottingham and University of Sheffield.

The 2015-16 HE Business and Community Interaction (HEBCI) data has been released by HESA. For the first time, the data has been published online free of charge to download. The HEBCI data is an important source of evidence for activity and income levels across the wide range of knowledge exchange and commercialisation activities pursued by the UK’s higher education institutions.

Edinburgh University is due to receive funding from the UK government to develop cyber security research. They will specialise in developing the latest cyber security techniques and are the only Scottish university to become a government-approved centre of excellence.

The funding will be used for ground-breaking research to stay ahead of the growing threat of cyber-attacks and to make the UK the safest place in the world to live, work and do business online.

The Higgs Centre for innovation is the new ground-breaking business incubation initiative that is being completed at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh. The centre will support start-up businesses with the intention of creating new marketing opportunities, particularly in big data and space technologies.

The initiative was driven by the Science and Technology Facilities Councils (STFC) UK Astronomy Centre (UK ATC) in Edinburgh and has received £10.7m of funding from the UK Government.

The University Campus Aylesbury Vale (UCAV) has received £1.3m from Buckinghamshire Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership (BTVLEP) to create a Digital Innovation Hub to support business innovation and growth in Bucks.

The aim for creating the Hub is to make UCAV a centre for start-up businesses in the digital sector, with facilities including a cyber-security suite and virtual reality engineering design studio.

The University of Warwick has signed up to an exciting new government partnership which will see its engineering expertise exported to China. The intention is to create a collaboration between Warwick’s School of Engineering and the top nine engineering institutions in China.

The partnership is supported by the British Council and set up with the help of the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial strategy. The partnership hopes to build Anglo-Chinese collaborations around research and education.

The spring budget has announced an initial investment of £270m for the development of disruptive technologies that have the potential to transform the UK economy. The funding will be supported by the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) and welcomed by the UK’s Research and Innovation leaders.

The welsh government handed £432,000 to a Cardiff-headquartered law firm. The grant will aid CJCH Solicitors establish a ‘global anti-piracy HQ’ and create ’71 new high skilled jobs’. The firm already has the UK Intellectual Property Office headquartered in Newport. The grant will enhance Wales’ standing as a leading authority in IP as well as the centre of innovation in the business of law and cybersecurity.

The Translation and Innovation Hub at Imperial White City Campus recently held a Meet the Cleantech Pioneers event. Business leaders and Investors met with PhD student innovators and start-up companies who are developing low-energy and sustainable ‘clean’ technology. They were supported by Climate-KIC Accelerator, which has created 34 new businesses since 2012.

A new innovation centre at the UK’s first ever life science opportunity zone has been envisaged by Charnwood Campus, Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership and the University of Leicester. The Innovation centre would foster collaborations between businesses and academics, and to accelerate business growth for the med-tech and biopharma community.