MAY 2012
This is the first ‘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:
Professor Chris McConville (right) has been appointed Director of the Science City
Research Alliance (SCRA), replacing Professor Pam Thomas. Chris is Professor of
Physics at the University of Warwick and has been a theme lead on the Advanced
Materials 1 project from the start. As Director, Chris is very keen to encourage
further interaction between the two universities including developing a SCRA
website.
Energy Efficiency update:
The Energy Efficiency project is now has now completed the capital spend phase and all equipment
and facilities have been purchased. 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.
The project continues to generate press coverage and also to lead the development of research
strategies such as the recent BIS document “Power Electronics: a strategy for success”.
Target to
end 2012
Claimed to
date
Total Output
Target
%
Complete
Output
Jobs Created – New jobs created
11
9
50
18%
Business Creation – business
created & demonstrating growth
0
1
4
25%
18
18
50
36%
15
13
50
26%
57
52
188
28%
4
2
18
11%
£20,000,000
24%
Outputs:
The Energy Efficiency project
continues to deliver the
contracted outputs on target.
The target for patents/licences
has now been achieved (although
the project will continue to
record further patents).
Further new jobs have been
created and research grants have
been awarded – these will be
recorded later in the year.
Please let me know if you have
any potential outputs we may be
able to claim.
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 private sector
Levered Revenue Funding
£6,236,889 £4,736,889
New Patents or Licence
Agreements
Workshops
0
4
3
133%
11
12
20
60%
Peer Reviewed Publications
66
70
205
34%
Presentations at Conferences
48
44
120
37%
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 is involved in a number of exhibitions and events in the next few months. These
include stands at the following events:
Sustainability Live (NEC, 22-24 May – general low carbon technologies including buildings)
The Energy Event (NEC, 11-12 September – energy generation and low carbon
technologies)
Low Carbon Vehicles (Millbrook, 5-6 September – low carbon and electric vehicles)
If anyone would like to attend these events or to find out more about the businesses we will be
meeting, please let me know.
MAY 2012
Business Engagement:
The Energy Efficiency project has engaged with a wide range of industry partners. There are a number of
case studies of where access to research expertise and facilities has led to successful business partnerships:
Collaborative R&D with Cubewano Ltd into the flame stability and
intensity of their rotary engines, enabled the company to optimise
the combustion chamber and fuel injection system and develop a
rotary engine capable of running on kerosene based fuels. The
company Cubewano won the Birmingham Post Business Award for
Manufacturing Science & Technology in September 2010.
A collaborative R&D partnership with Paintbox Ltd (automotive) including the solar simulator
facilities was instrumental in winning a €100 million order from BMW and safeguarding 100 jobs.
A demonstration home was built on the Birmingham campus by Ergohome and monitored using
Science City measurement equipment to monitor the performance of structural insulated panels.
The Energy Efficiency project hosted a table at the Midlands Energy Business Company (MEBC)
Dinner in December 2011. This was an opportunity to invite partner companies such as British
Gas, Wartsila, National Grid and Jaguar Land Rover to meet researchers.
Major businesses are also engaging in research across the project including Jaguar Land Rover,
National Grid, Network Rail, and Alstom Grid
Other project news:
Professor Jihong Wang (right) is the lead investigator on Integrated, Market-fit
and Affordable Grid-scale Energy Storage (IMAGES) - a collaborative research
project which has been awarded £3.7m from EPSRC. The project will research
Energy Storage on the Grid and partners include National Grid, Alstom, eon and
the British Geological Survey.
The Vehicle Energy Facility (VEF) at Warwick has been awarded runner-up in the Engine Test
Facility of the Year at the Automotive Testing Technology International Awards. The winner was
the €60m facility at Renault.
Professor Hongming Xu will be attending the Society of Automotive Engineers congress in Detroit
where his team have had 9 presentations accepted.
The Institute of Diesel and Gas Turbine Engineers visited the Fuels and Engines research facilities at
rd
the University of Birmingham on 23 February. The visit included companies such as Fuchs. Alfa
Laval, Joule Power and Wartsila and the feedback from the IDGTE has been very positive. Profs Xu
and Wyszynski have been invited to the Annual IDGTE luncheon in May.
The Vehicle Energy Facility is now part of the Technology Strategy Board High Value Manufacturing
Catapult. This is the first catapult (previously Technology Innovation Centre) in the UK and is a
collaboration between a number of research and industry partners including WMG and the
Manufacturing Technology Centre.
News from other SCRA projects:
th
The final major SCRA launch took place on 24 April with the opening of the Mechanochemical Cell
Biology Building at the University of Warwick by Sir Paul Nurse.
SCRA funded research facilities in the Life Sciences are being used in a $3.4m programme of research
into targeting antibiotics at ‘superbugs’. This research programme is lead by Professor Chris Dowson,
includes Warwick and Birmingham universities and is funded by the Canada/UK Partnership on
Antibiotic Resistance (a collaboration between the UK’s Medical Research Council and the Canadian
Institutes of Health Research).
th
Hydrail is an international seminar taking place at the University of Birmingham on 3-4 July. The
event will bring together research expertise from the Hydrogen and Energy Efficiency projects.
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