Amazing inventiveness in our midst
Amazing inventiveness in our midst
2008-12-04Member News
Innovation Connectors are a concept established by One North East with the aim of linking together technology based businesses with university research and to provide strong economic and physical connections to local communities.
Innovation Connectors are a concept established by One North East with the aim of linking together technology based businesses with university research and to provide strong economic and physical connections to local communities. They also seek to promote community awareness of, and engagement in science, innovation and creativity. As a major partner in the initiative, NETPark is hosting a series of expert panel debates.
The debates are organised by County Durham Development Company, which is driving forward the development of NETPark, on behalf of Durham County Council. NETPark is one of the UK’s fastest growing science parks and home to the prestigious Printable Electronics Technology Centre (PETEC).
PETEC, owned and managed by the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), is the national flagship facility for the development and exploitation of direct write technologies and flexible functional materials. It is one of only four such centres in the world.
Fittingly one of the first NETPark expert panel debates focussed on the printable electronics sector – forecast to be a US$30 billion industry by 2015.
Scientists are excited by the sheer potential of the applications, scalability and disruptive qualities of this technology. Dr Tom Taylor, Director of PETEC, chaired the debate and is convinced that printable electronics will help to revitalise innovative technology in the north east.
He believes that the region’s economy has become far more dynamic over the last 20 years - a sentiment echoed by Professor John Anstee, NETPark Scientific Director and former Senior Pro Vice Chancellor and Sub-Warden at Durham University, who sees PETEC as a “major coup” for the North East.
The panellists point out that printable electronics could affect many day-to-day activities – revolutionising television manufacture and providing high-tech safety solutions to reduce car accidents caused by tiredness. Other applications could include biosensors to monitor health and well-being, and solid state lighting and photovoltaic panels.
Professor Andy Monkman of Durham University, a specialist in research on light-emitting organic materials, added that the technology could transform domestic and commercial lighting.
Its versatility is incredible, and the next step is to turn that potential into commercial reality.
Two of the panellists, Geoff Williams of Thorn Lighting and Dave Wall of DuPont Teijin Films (DTF) are engaged in this next crucial step. Geoff Williams is heading a £3m+ project investigating ways to make solid state lighting a mass-use solution for the future. DTF, whose global R&D facilities are based at Wilton, is developing products for use in the printable electronics supply chain.
As Dr Taylor explains, two companies have already opted to base themselves at PETEC, giving the region a real head start in positioning itself at the forefront of this technology.
Stewart Watkins is Managing Director of County Durham Development Company
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