§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many new products and processes have been brought to the market place as a result of each of the Faraday partnerships in each year since 2000. [152039]
§ Ms HewittThe network of 24 Faraday Partnerships were selected for DTI support between 1999 and 2002. The Partnerships are currently engaged in research that will produce the new products and processes of the future. Nonetheless, there is an emerging roster of products and processes already beginning to reach the market.
The products and processes brought to market by each Faraday in 2003 are as shown below. It can take longer in some sectors to advance from concept and research to product or process than in others and those Faradays which have been in operation for longer have generally brought to market more new products and processes than those who have only recently begun work.
Partnerships selected in 1999 (had been receiving EPSRC support since 1997)
Imaging [storage, retrieval, interpretation and secure management of images]
Five products (two from new spin-out companies), including imaging systems to assist doctors in monitoring how babies with reconstructive surgery 1617W (e.g. cleft palate repairs) grow and develop, and services in the creative media (film etc.) industries in generating fully-realistic 3D human images.
INTErSECT [intelligent sensors for control technologies]
Seven products and two services (consulting services) established as a direct result of Intersect support and activities, (of these two are new spin-out company related). These include emissions monitoring devices for motor vehicles, and fibre-optic systems for pressure sensing in the oil industry.
Faraday Packaging Partnership [advanced packaging]
Two entirely new products: most activities involve working with companies and academia to improve existing products rather than the development of completely new ones. The Partnership is moving into the area of Affective Design, linking psychology and design with engineering.
PRIME [products comprising interdependent mechanical and electronic components]
Seven products and four process innovations brought to market in 2003. These have included a miniature thruster for applications in underwater remotely operated vehicles, new process capability for large area flexible circuits in the automotive sector, and an intelligent machine-vision directed laser materials production system for textile machinery.
Partnerships selected in 2000
Advance [advanced materials for the automotive and aerospace sectors]
No specific new products or processes as yet.
Food Processing Faraday
Six working engineering prototypes of improved universally applicable machinery for unit processes in food manufacturing; two of these are now being scaled up with equipment suppliers and food manufacturers.
Impact [applications of colloid technology]
Five new products (smart wound dressing substrate, conducting plastic films, novel lasers, combined AFM/ analysis techniques, novel catalysts for fuel cells) and four new processes (screen printing, tablet production, and two novel routes to nanoparticle production).
One of the new products has resulted in the development of a smart material for use in wound dressings.
The Faraday Partnership for Industrial Mathematics
Three products, including a novel multi-phase milk-flow meter; a new product incorporating a capability to determine absolute position in a plane from local observation and an algorithm to resolve a problem of approximately 10 years standing concerning the solution of polynomial equations.
Faraday Plastics
Seven processes and three products, including the production of fire-resistant polyurethane foam using nano-clay fillers; improved flow in polymer processing using CO2 in an environmentally friendly manner and a new process for producing specialised oilfield components in advanced engineering polymers.
Technitex [technical textiles]
Eleven new products or processes involving textiles for engineering and medical use.
1618WPartnerships selected in 2001
COMIT [communications and mobile information technology]
Three products using materials invented and tested by the Partnership. four further devices are being tested and sampled.
Crystal [green technology for the chemical and allied industries]
No new products or processes but three near-to-market technologies are in the innovation pipeline as a result of Crystal activity: a demonstrator project for VOC recovery, a new manufacturing process for an inorganic compound and novel catalysts for selective oxidation processes.
EPPIC [electronics and photonics packaging interconnect]
Seven processes (including training in new electronic assembly techniques, advanced soldering, transfer to Pb-free materials).
Five pre-production products including a medical device, a novel electronic device, a novel safety lighting system and a metal nanocrystal coating process.
FIRST [remediation of the polluted environment]
An enhanced on-site soil testing system has been launched enabling rapid risk assessment of contaminated sites.
A range of courses have been implemented to meet the training needs of the environmental consultancy market where raising standards and developing best practice is crucial to contaminated land management.
High-Power Radio Frequency Engineering
Three projects in support of the low carbon economy in minerals extraction, manufacture of transport components and automated bakery equipment and one in the area of recycling to reclaim the wood fibres from waste MDF.
INREB [integration of new and renewable energy in buildings]
INREB currently has 13 products and processes under development. None has yet reached the market, however.
Pro-Bio [biocatalytic manufacturing processes]
No products released to market but several in development including a catalysis web site, an enzyme screening kit and an ionic liquid screening kit.
Smart Optics [optical systems that dynamically adjust]
No products released to market, but 25 projects in hand.
Partnerships selected in 2002
These Partnerships are still in the very early stages of their development:
Genesis [farm animal genomics and genetics]
No products of processes yet: but the Partnership has been instrumental in facilitating UK participation in the international programme to sequence and annotate the bovine genome.
Insight [high through-put technologies]
No products or processes yet but there are several projects in hand (e.g. devices for high through-put corrosion testing) which are expected to reach the market by 2005.
1619WMedical Devices
No products or processes yet, but the Partnership has been instrumental in speeding up the overall process for existing commercialisation plans. Examples include a new device to measure central venous pressure to assist surgeons in critical heart and trauma surgery which is now about six months from market.
Mini-Waste [novel technologies for the minimisation of industrial waste]
No products or processes yet
Pinpoint [global navigation satellite system applications]
No products or processes yet.
PowderMatrix [powder-based manufacturing]
No products or processes yet.