THERE'S often a yawning chasm between having an idea and making it a reality, and that's definitely true of the manufacturing industry.

Whether you’re a university researcher or an international corporation, you often find you need good advice, advanced equipment and – above all – time, to make a vision into a tangible innovation.

While the UK still has a way to go, the people behind the new £12m extension to the National Industrial Biotechnology Facility in Redcar are already talking about providing a more effective “bridge” for those looking to develop breakthroughs.

The expansion of the Wilton Centre facility was officially unveiled on Monday, and increases the resources available to the internationally renowned work of the Centre for Process Innovation.

The CPI expects the centre to be able to accelerate the development of products, whether they’re the brainchild of universities, small companies or large manufacturers, and clients are already taking advantage of the facilities.

“It’s all about being able to speed up the product through the process”, said Graham Hillier, director of strategy and futures for the CPI.

“We help turn a process into something that can be commercialised. We fill that space in sustainable processing, which can include things like industrial biotechnology, smart chemistry, sustainable engineering and anaerobic digestion.”