JUNE 2013
This is the third ‘newsletter’ for the Science City Energy Efficiency project. The aim is to share
information about progress and updates on the achievements on the project and the wider Science
City Research Alliance.
Science City Research Alliance Energy Efficiency project
Science City Programme news:
The Science City Research Alliance website is now live – the address is:
www.sciencecityresearchalliance.co.uk The website will cover all 6 Science City
projects across the Universities of Birmingham and Warwick and will give a much
greater external presence for the programme. A key aspect of the website will be
case studies to show how Science City researchers have supported regional
businesses – please contact the project manager if you have any case studies
which can be used: andrew.todd@warwick.ac.uk
Prof Chris McConville
SCRA Director
Energy Efficiency project update:
The Energy Efficiency project has now completed its financial phase and the project budget is
finished. In total, the project received £9.4million equipment funding and £1 million revenue
funding – spending 98.9% of the available budget. The project delivery will continue until March
2018 and both universities are committed to the Science City Research Alliance and building
industrial collaboration around the facilities.
Outputs:
The Energy Efficiency project
continues to deliver the
contracted outputs on target.
The targets for patents and
workshops have now been
achieved and the outputs for
levered funding, presentations
and publications are nearly
complete.
Please let me know if you have
any potential outputs we may be
able to claim. In particular, new
jobs in your research groups,
graduates into West Midland jobs
and interactions with business.
Output
Target to
Dec 2013
Claimed to Final Target
%
date
(by June
Complete
(June 2013)
2015)
31
32
50
Jobs Created – New jobs created
Business Creation – business
0
1
4
created & demonstrating growth
Business Support – business
supported to improve their
32
23
50
performance
Business Support- business
engaged in new collaborations
30
21
50
with the knowledge base
Skills – People assisted to improve
109
210
225
skills
6
8
18
Graduates into private sector
Levered Revenue Funding
£12,413,328 £20,711,726 £20,000,000
New Patents or Licence
_
4
3
Agreements
_
20
20
Workshops
136
193
205
Peer Reviewed Publications
92
102
120
Presentations at Conferences
64%
25%
46%
42%
93%
44%
104%
133%
100%
94%
85%
Please continue to acknowledge the Science City funding in grant applications, papers and by using
the logos on presentations so we can achieve these outputs.
See go.warwick.ac.uk/am2/acknowledgements to download logos and for further information.
Events:
The project has been involved in a number of exhibitions and events in the
last few months. These include:
 Sustainability Live (NEC, 16-18 April) – see right.
 An IET poster evening at Coventry University in March. PhD
Students from both Birmingham and Warwick won prizes.
th
st
 The iPower conference took place at Warwick on 30 November and 1 December
showcasing UK Power Electronics research. It attracted business representatives both as
keynote speakers and as attendees. These include Alstom Grid, Converteam and Emerson.
These events have raised the profile of the Science City project and developed connections with
business.
JUNE 2013
Business Engagement:
The Energy Efficiency project has engaged with a wide range of industry partners:
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 A joint workshop with EMS Powerstar and Greenwatt Technologies on 8 November 2012 which
generated a number of skills outputs for the project.
 The Rail Research team at Birmingham ran a very successful joint workshop with the Rail Alliance
in March 2013. This attracted around 60 industry attendees including 20 West Midlands
companies and included information about engaging with the ESIL facility and rail research at
Birmingham as well as updates on Network Rail’s electrification programme and strategic
developments in capability mapping in the rail sector.
 A business competition was held to identify new collaborations with industry. 4 companies have
begun activities around the Energy Efficiency project and one has been signed off as a business
assist.
 A new collaboration with Western Power is being contracted. The FlexDGrid project has won
funding from Ofgem’s Low Carbon Networks Fund to revolutionise the power network in
Birmingham. Partners include Birmingham City Council and Parsons Brinckerhoff and Cofeley. The
University of Warwick will support the project with research and analysis of the technical options
particularly around advanced fault level management to avoid stress on the grid.
 A major event is being organised for early next year with the Energy Utilities Alliance and Business
Council for Sustainable Development which will generate business assists for the project.
Other project news:
The project has been very successful in winning research grants:
 Prof Bob Critoph has successfully led a major funding application for an Interdisciplinary Centre for
Storage, Transformation and Upgrading of Thermal Energy (i-STUTE). The £5.2m project will work
with academic and industry partners to develop energy efficient low temperature heating and
cooling solutions which are technically excellent, compatible with and appealing to business, endusers, manufacturers and installers.
 Prof Phil Mawby has been awarded a major EPSRC grant in Underpinning Power Electronics. The
funding is £1.9m for research into power electronics devices. Dr Layi Alatise was also part of a
successful bid for the power electronic components theme.
 Prof Xiao-Ping Zhang has been awarded EPSRC funding as part of the Enhanced Renewable
Integration through Flexible Transmission Options (ERIFT). This project looks at the long-distance
connection of renewable energy to population centres in China and the UK.
 Professor Clive Roberts and Professor Hongming Xu gave their Inaugural
Lectures at the University of Birmingham. Prof Roberts presented an
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overview of Rail Research on 8 October 2012. Prof Xu presented on
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current and future research into the internal combustion engine on 19
March 2013.
 Welcome to Dr Oleh Kiselychnyk (right) who has been awarded one of the
Science City Research Alliance Fellowships to work with the Power and
Control research group.
News from other SCRA projects:
 Dr Jackson Kirkman-Brown, Science Lead for the Birmingham Women’s Fertility Centre and Director
of the Centre for Human Reproductive Science at the University of Birmingham, was awarded an MBE
in the Queen’s New Year Honours. Dr Kirkman-Brown is one of the UK’s leading researchers in the
field of reproductive medicine and heads cutting-edge studies into the science behind fertility for the
benefit of couples struggling to conceive. He works on the SCRA Translational Medicine 1 project.
 More than £130 million has now been levered into the Science City Research Alliance. This includes
funding from the Research Councils, Technology Strategy Board, European Commission and charities.
The programme has worked with nearly 200 businesses and created more than 300 jobs in the West
Midlands.
If you have any feedback or news you would like to share, please contact Andrew Todd, Energy Efficiency
Project Manager at andrew.todd@warwick.ac.uk