An event at the House of Commons marked a successful two years for KCMC, highlighting its expansion UK-wide


KCMC celebrated its second successful year with a major networking event at the Houses of Parliament on 4 May. Over 40 companies critically interested in materials chemistry innovation were represented among the 100+ delegates at the event, hosted by Science and Technology Select Committee Chair Andrew Miller MP. The Westminster event also marked the formal extension of KCMC, nationwide, with the launch of KCMC’s R&D Incentive Scheme 1st May.

In welcoming an audience that included research partners, project scientists, industry groups and public sector stakeholders, Andrew Miller underlined the importance of materials chemistry innovation to commercialise advanced products - and KCMC’s role in the wider process of creating both R&D and high-value manufacturing employment.

In its first two years, KCMC has supported 107 company projects, with a total industry programme value exceeding Ł6.5m. – significantly ahead of forecast. Projects delivered or started in the year to end-March were 50% ahead of the 2009-2010 figure.

Centre Director Dr. John Conti-Ramsden stressed the flexibility and commitment of the institution partners in the often complex process of driving science forward into commercial application. He commented:

“KCMC’s ultimate mission is to ‘hard wire’ connections where materials chemistry can make a crucial difference towards a commercial or societal endeavour…. whether in a complex, multi-disciplinary project, or in unlocking a component chemistry step, that can have a major technical and commercial impact on the host project. …Our goal is to act as a catalyst, where top academic experts and industry innovators work together, applying multi-disciplinary materials chemistry skills to design, bringing to market better products and processes”.

TSB Technology Head Will Barton set KCMC in the contexts of the wider innovation landscape and the sector-specific value against key societal and sustainability challenges.

KCMC’s contribution to industry – including access to state of the art technology, the grants landscape and the interaction and collaboration experience for young scientists – were illustrated in presentations by Unilever’s Structured Materials Director Glyn Roberts and ACAL Energy’s Bob Longman.

Over a dozen Case Studies displayed the key role of materials chemistry innovation in the development and commercialization of a wide spectrum of advanced products and services. Examples of leading edge materials chemistry included thin film and surface chemistry; nanostructured materials; printed electronics;
smart/multifunction materials and modelling and simulation. You can download the case study booklet here.

KCMC’s R&D Incentive Scheme was also highlighted during the event, the equivalent of up to Ł10k it takes the form of reduction in the overall cost to a company of executing a collaborative R&D project with one of the four KCMC partner institutions.

The Scheme will notably benefit innovators looking to develop and commercialise products for applications in energy, health and personal care, biomedical and sustainable product design.