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How an innovative UK company is leading the way in developing intelligent, low-power sensors for a connected world. Smart infrastructure is big business. All over the world, digital sensing technologies are being deployed on a broad range of structures such as bridges and tunnels, providing engineers with real-time condition monitoring data that helps protect asset integrity. Notably, it is a British company initially spun out from the University of Cambridge that leads the way. UtterBerry produces miniature, artificially intelligent, ultra-lower power wireless sensors used in various major infrastructure projects, including London’s Crossrail and [...]

Puraffinity: the Imperial College start-up which plans to clean-up the world ‘Great oaks from little acorns grow’. That is a proverb that resonates with Henrik Hagemann, chief executive officer at biotech start-up Puraffinity, whose company began life as an idea in an international science competition and is now backed by private capital to the tune of several million pounds. The London-based green technology company, incorporated in 2015, is focussed on designing smart materials for environmental applications such as removing human-made pollutants from water and wastewater using an easily deployed adsorbent media. Puraffinity has proven [...]

Ilika Technologies: Standing on the cusp of a revolution in solid-state battery technology These are exciting times for Ilika Technologies – the solid-state battery pioneer initially spun out of the University of Southampton. Having raised £15 million of new funding in April 2020, the company is set to feel the benefit of two significant investments in its manufacturing facilities, which will enable it to increase production capacity rapidly. With the investment programmes in place, Ilika has emerged as a major player in the solid-state battery sector – capitalising on its expertise in electro [...]

David Kingham, one of the founders of Tokamak Energy, describes the challenges of delivering commercially-viable fusion energy by 2030 It is hard enough for any science and engineering-related organisation to bring advanced technology to the market. But when striving to establish a business based on the immensely ambitious aim of providing an endless supply of clean and abundant power, forever, those challenges are magnified many times over. David Kingham, one of the founders of Tokamak Energy, with the ST40 fusion energy device. That is the enormity of the task facing David [...]

Meet Nick Russel – the man who wants UK manufacturing to learn from Germany by taking a longer-term view of success The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a long-overdue reflection on the importance of national industrial capability. Many UK manufacturers proved their agility at a time of urgent need, forming part of a herculean effort to meet the demand for a range of equipment, from ventilators through to PPE. The response provided a stark reminder of the value of having a flexible indigenous manufacturing base. But what if that manufacturing sector didn’t exist? What [...]

How a Manchester-based start-up has become a global innovator in real-time diagnostic health technology Growing a business from small beginnings is never an easy task. At Manchester-based bio-electric company Zilico Ltd, Chief Executive Sameer Kothari has spent the last decade attempting to navigate the route to success. Zilico has developed an innovative platform technology that could transform health diagnostics around the world. Yet realising this potential has been a journey of many ups and a few downs. “Scaling a technology business is never easy, as the challenges come thick and fast,” says Sameer. [...]

Bessemer Society members set to transform the market for wiring harnesses Sometimes, the power of partnership can lead to the development of genuinely disruptive technology that has the potential to transform established markets forever. That is certainly the case with Q5D, a start-up formed as a joint venture by two companies that are working together to revolutionise the way that wiring harnesses are manufactured. Instead of being produced by hand in traditional labour-intensive manner, Q5D’s innovative approach to wiring harnesses combines technologies such as additive manufacturing, 5-axis machining and printed electronics in a [...]

High-strength aluminium parts spin-out makes a big impression At a state-of-the-art facility on the outskirts of Coventry, Imperial College spin-out Impression Technologies is working hard to transform the cost economics of aluminium components on modern cars. The rapidly growing company, led by materials engineer and entrepreneur Jonathan Watkins, is commercialising a revolutionary forming technology which delivers stronger, lighter and lower-cost aluminium parts. The company has invested more than $25 million to date, having developed a patented process that is scalable for high volume applications. Such has been the interest in the technology, that [...]

Healthcare company makes the most of shared experiences at Bessemer Society networking events For Keith Errey, chief executive of Oxford-based healthcare technology company Isansys, manufacturing organisations are a class apart. He believes there is a special kind of bond among those who ‘make things’, born of collective experiences from bringing products to life. That’s why Keith has been a central figure at the Bessemer Society and a regular attendee at its networking events which encourage technology innovators to get together to share their issues and experiences in an informal setting. “That’s why the [...]

Rapidly expanding start-up builds valuable new contacts Networking is an essential responsibility for any chief executive – but it can be a time-consuming exercise which doesn’t always come with a tangible return on investment. That pressure can be felt keenly by leaders of smaller organisations such as start-ups, who often recognise the value of exchanging information and ideas with their peers, but find themselves faced with a multitude of other tasks which always seem to take priority. For Simon Thomas, chief executive of Cambridge University spin-out Paragraf, identifying and making the most of [...]