2018 STFC Regional Centre

As one of Europe's largest multidisciplinary research organisations, STFC has world-class research facilities and capabilities. It is responsible for funding much of the research in UK universities in the fields of astronomy and other space sciences, particle physics, and nuclear physics, and in this context it provides the main UK interface to leading international organisations such as CERN, ESA, ESO, ESS, FAIR, NASA, etc. STFC also operates its own world-class, large-scale research facilities in the UK such as the Central Laser Facility, ISIS pulsed neutron and muon source, Diamond Light Source, the Microelectronics Support Centre, the Hartree Centre for Computational Science and Engineering, and the Boulby underground laboratories.

Through its support of science, STFC has had a significant impact on the UK academic community, which has seeded strong connections to UK business, especially in the areas near Daresbury Laboratory in the Northwest and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the South East. The innovation hubs of Harwell Oxford and Sci-Tech Daresbury are well known to local high-tech business, and the co-location of world-class scientific facilities and business incubator space has resulted in the generation of important links to the community. STFC is in the process of further improving commercial access especially for SMEs via the Bridging for Innovators (B4I) programme, which will provide a single point of access and support from STFC scientists in addressing commercial challenges.

While the capabilities within STFC are well known in academic circles across the UK, there is a significant knowledge gap for businesses outside of the immediate area of STFC's facilities. The Midlands region for example is home to much of the UK's strength in the manufacturing, transport and service sectors, yet the companies in the region have yet to exploit the internationally leading scientific expertise to be found in the areas STFC supports.

The aim of this proposal is to develop a pilot Regional Centre that can bridge the knowledge gap and help local business find solutions to high-tech challenges, innovate manufacturing techniques and find new partnering opportunities and markets to thereby improve productivity, build R&D capacity and accelerate growth in the region. The effort builds on the B4I programme within STFC, which provides the route to access advanced analytical technologies, supporting expertise and capabilities within STFC. The University of Birmingham (UoB) together with the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) are planning to create a hub for communicating and connecting the opportunities of B4I and the capabilities of the STFC science base to Midlands business.

The proposed activity is targeted at maximising the impact of STFC facilities in the Midlands region. As such, all of the project goals are targeted at the impact agenda, and the metrics are designed to document the connections of STFC science to local business and SMEs.

The work of the Centre will be to engage local business and to identify areas where STFC science and facilities can help. The Manufacturing Technology Centre and the University of Birmingham are already engaged in efforts to connect the academic base with local industry, so there is considerable pre-existing institutional experience. As identified by Midlands Engine, improvements targeting productivity will have large impact in the region. Also as noted in the Case for Support, the Midlands strengths include manufacturing, and our engagement along these lines is hugely amplified by the partnership with the MTC. This is one way in which the proposed Centre maximises its impact.