World leadership within reach
Nigel Perry explains why the North East, with so many firms from the processing sector in the Top 250, is ideally placed to be a national leader in innovation.
THROUGH its history, industrial heritage and geographical location, North East England has become an attractive location for the process industries.
Partly due to its relatively small geographical size, and the nearness of urban, academic and industry centres to one another, as well as its uniquely collaborative business climate, the region is pioneering partnership work like no other in the UK.
Huge opportunities have emerged in process industries due to the levels of investment in our region’s businesses and infrastructure. The chemicals industry in the North East employs around 12,000 people.
The petrochemical cluster at Wilton, Billingham and Seal Sands, for example, is the largest integrated chemicals complex in the UK in terms of manufacturing capacity. The North East is home also to some 500 pharmaceutical, biotechnology, speciality, polymer and rubber, petrochemical and commodity chemical companies.
There is at least an equal number of companies in the supply chain of these industries based locally, making this a major economic cluster which generates more than £10bn of sales and is a staggering 30% of the region’s industrial base. The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), a lead driver of innovation in the UK’s processing sector (aiming to become a national centre of international importance) helps to foster this cluster by supporting innovation and investment.
As a lead driver in the field, CPI has played a central role in growth in Tees Valley and the North East, stimulating a more innovative, sustainable and competitive sector by reducing risks associated with innovation and allowing businesses to take advantage of growing international demand.
Focusing on the commercialisation of new products and making new technologies ready for the marketplace, CPI champions four key technology areas.
These offer the most sustainable growth and commercial potential for the UK, and are: advanced processes, low-carbon energy, functional materials and printable electronics. With a range of physical assets, a high calibre of scientists and an array of skilled expertise, CPI is forging ahead with a new model of market led innovation – identifying industry requirements through collaborative rather than competitive partnerships with research and industry.
CPI’s role is to make innovation happen, to turn a bright idea into a real product, to recognise a gap in a process and direct research towards finding meaningful ways to fill that gap.
The centre manages a number of national facilities to enable firms to scale up new processes, drastically reducing the risk associated with innovation and enabling them to assess the associated large-scale manufacturing costs.
These key assets include the following:
The National Industrial Biotechnology Facility (NIBF), a £12m open-access facility enabling customers to develop proof of concepts in the emerging field of industrial biotechnology.
Petec, the UK’s national centre for the development and commercialisation of printed electronics. This offers expertise and equipment to deliver design, development and prototyping services in printable electronics.
The region’s unique combination of research and process skills, assets, logistics and business infrastructure – all set up to support the traditional chemical industry in the region – means opportunity exists for the North East to develop world-leading capabilities in producing chemicals, fuels and chemical building blocks.
CPI is strongly placed to continue driving the region’s process and manufacturing industry to innovate and evolve, ultimately becoming internationally renowned.
Only by being ambitious, through projects like Petec and NIBF, can investors be convinced that the North East is the place for investment when it comes to technology innovation.
Nigel Perry is chief executive for the Wilton-based Centre for Process Innovation.
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