It will provide UK businesses of all sizes, including small start-ups, with affordable access to more than £2million of advanced engineering technology, including advanced 3D printing and rapid prototype assistance.
Professor Susan Smith, head of STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory, said: “The new Campus Technology Hub has one purpose -to provide companies with affordable access to the best skills and facilities in engineering R&D so that they can solve their technology challenges to better compete on a national and international level. We can help entrepreneurs, small and medium companies, and more established businesses turn their brilliant ideas into reality.”
Start-up company Taylor Garfit is one of the first companies to use the centre. It is developing new technology for use in the provision of humanitarian shelters for refugee scenarios and international disasters where rapid deployment is critical.
Richard Taylor, design director at Taylor Garfit, said the assistance available from the STFC centre had been critical to the company’s rapid development of a shelter framing system.
“Durability, weight and cost are all key to the success of our framing technology and, thanks to the CTH, we have been through 16 variants of our prototype in very quick succession,” he said. “We have also developed a rigorous destruction testing rig in conjunction with CTH staff and have achieved a 20% increase in strength at each test stage. Over a six-month period, we have been able to move from concept stage to a position where we are now ready to start field trials, a timescale we certainly could not have achieved without the assistance of CTH”
The CTH was formally opened by Dame Sue Ion, fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and advisor on energy policy.The event was held as part of the Sci-Tech Daresbury Corporate Day which showcased the thriving, evolving innovation community at Daresbury and a mission to create 10,000 jobs over the next 20 years.
