DECEMBER 2013
This is the fourth ‘newsletter’ for the Science City Advanced Materials 2 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 Advanced Materials 2 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
Advanced Materials 2 project update:
The project will continue until March 2018 and both universities are committed to the Science City
Research Alliance and building industrial collaboration.
Outputs:
Most of the outputs have now been achieved. The Senior Executive Group for the Science City
programme (senior management at the two universities) is keen that the project continues to
record this information and over achieve.
Significant progress has been made on the business outputs and there is a healthy pipeline but the
project is not yet back on track. There has also been progress towards identifying viable business
ideas that will lead to the business created outputs.
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 regional
businesses.
Output
Jobs Created – New jobs created
Business Creation – business created &
demonstrating growth
Business Support – business supported to
improve their performance
Business Support- business engaged in new
collaborations with the knowledge base
Skills – People assisted to improve skills
Graduates into employment
Levered Revenue Funding
Creation of Demonstrator Projects
New Patents or Licence Agreements
Workshops
Peer Reviewed Publications
Presentations at Conferences
Claimed to Total Output % Complete
Target
date
(June
2015)
(Dec 2013)
53
53
100%
1
5
20%
38
79
48%
42
79
53%
182
132
29
29
£20,475,864 £20,000,000
3
3
5
3
23
22
262
205
216
205
138%
100%
102%
100%
167%
105%
128%
105%
Please continue to acknowledge the Science City and ERDF funding in grant applications, papers
and presentations so we can continue to achieve these outputs. Please contact the Project
Manager if you have any questions about this.
DECEMBER 2013
Business Engagement:
The Advanced Materials 2 project is engaging with a number of businesses both through Phil Smith as
Business Lead and through individual academics.
Recent business engagement activities include:
 The launch of a Polymer Club at the University of Warwick. 60
businesses have already expressed an interest in networking and
developing connections with polymer scientists.
 Completion of the ‘Big Idea’ business competition activities which led
to 8 business assists.
 The project has also been involved in a number of recent events
including the Non-Destructive Testing conference in Telford and
Phil Smith
Mediplas 2013 (medical plastics) at the NEC.
Business Lead
Through these activities, 14 new business assists (and 19 collaborations) have been developed in the last
6 months there is now a strong pipeline of future business outputs for the AM2 project.
If you would like further information on business engagement activities or would like support in meeting
regional companies, please contact Phil Smith p.n.smith@warwick.ac.uk
News from other SCRA projects:
 Three of the new Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) which were awarded recently are closely
aligned with Science City Research Alliance activities and themes:
o Fuel Cells and their fuels: the new centre will continue the existing collaboration between
the Universities of Birmingham, Loughborough and Nottingham under the Midlands Energy
Consortium. The CDT will be led by Prof Robert Steinberger-Wilckens in the School of
Chemical Engineering but will also include Chemistry, Physics and Metalllurgy and Materials
at Birmingham. The CDT also includes significant industrial engagement including Intelligent
Energy, Teer Coatings, Air Products and Cenex.
o Diamond Science and Technology: this CDT is led by Prof Mark Newton of the Diamond
group at the University of Warwick and includes the Warwick Electrochemistry and
Interfaces group and other University partners. The CDT will explore and develop the multifunctional properties of diamond (thermal, mechanical, electrical, optical etc) and the
opportunities for innovative technologies based on diamond which have the potential to
lead to major advances in basic science and end-application performance.
o Physical Sciences for Health (Sci-Phy-4-Health): led by Prof Mike Hannon in the School of
Chemistry at Birmingham, the CDT will combine the physical sciences, computer sciences
and biomedicine in an inter-disciplinary programme to address three of the key UK health
challenges - trauma, heart disease and ageing.
 Engineering students working under Dr Stuart Hillmansen at the University of Birmingham have
designed and built the first hydrogen powered railway locomotive to operate in the UK. This may
provide an alternative to diesel on non-electrified lines. The loco uses solid state metal hydride tank
at relatively low pressure similar to the hydrogen barge at Birmingham but also features regenerative
braking to capture, store and re-use braking energy.
 More than £135 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 more than 200 businesses in the West Midlands alone (and many
more nationally and internationally) 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 (AM2 Project
Manager) at andrew.todd@warwick.ac.uk