Micro-nanotechnology partnership to boost UK innovation

(Nanowerk News) UK leaders in micro and nano-technology will provide businesses with unrivalled access to expertise and facilities through a new business alliance announced last week (Thursday 24 January). This new partnership will support innovation across a wide variety of industrial sectors that impact on our lives from medical diagnostics to defence and security, and from space exploration, to consumer electronics.
The University of Glasgow, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and Kelvin Nanotechnology Ltd (KNT) have formed Kelvin-Rutherford, a new venture combining their extensive resources to provide a complete nanotechnology service; delivering seamless support from device design through computer simulations to fabrication and evaluation in preparation for mass-production.
Kelvin-Rutherford, based at STFC’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, will provide businesses with a single point of contact to easily access the partners’ vast research and development expertise and world-leading design, simulation and fabrication facilities.
Professor John Womersley, Chief Executive at STFC, said: “Nanotechnology underpins many areas of science and innovation, and the new Kelvin-Rutherford partnership has the breadth and depth to significantly advance the development of exciting and innovative technologies in this area. Through this partnership, STFC aims to offer many more businesses the opportunities to benefit from breakthroughs in nanotechnology."
Professor Steve Beaumont, Vice-Principal for Research and Enterprise at the University of Glasgow, said: “I am delighted that Glasgow will be widening access for UK industry to its unrivalled nanofabrication expertise and facilities through the Kelvin-Rutherford partnership. We are convinced that Kelvin-Rutherford will increase the economic impact made by a branch of science and technology for which the UK has a world-leading reputation.”
Kelvin Nanotechnology Ltd provides nanofabrication solutions to a global blue chip customer base and delivers these solutions through the University of Glasgow’s James Watt Nanofabrication Centre, which fabricates some of the world’s most advanced nanoscale systems.
Speaking about the alliance, Dr Brendan Casey, CEO of Kelvin Nanotechnology Ltd, said: “We are delighted to announce the formation of this new enterprise that combines the capabilities of the three partners to provide an unparalleled nanotechnology offering to UK businesses. The benefits gained through our collective technologies, expertise and business networks will provide a route for UK companies to rapidly enhance their products and services while building higher value IP.”
Source: University of Glasgow