Innovation nation

From state-of-the-art composting plants to domestic power-saving gizmos, green technology centres financed by Yorkshire Forward are helping change the face of innovation in the region. Trevor Lawson reports.

“We could do the logistics, but what was missing was the scientific input,” says Steven Carrie, managing director of Mytum and Selby, a family-run rubbish collection business in Yorkshire. The company had to diversify into recycling green waste two years ago, to comply with new legislation, and they had a lot to learn. “Compared to putting the vegetable peelings in the compost bin, we were going to be composting on an industrial scale,” he says. “And there weren’t many people in the country who could help design it.”

Now Carrie knows more about the science of composting than he’d ever imagined. He’s been getting advice from microbiologists at the University of Hull, thanks to a scheme run by the Environmental Technologies Centre of Industrial Collaboration. It’s one of a network of 12 Centres of Industrial Collaboration (CICs) established by Yorkshire Forward to bring business and academic expertise together in the Yorkshire and Humber region. Unique in the UK, the network has resulted in 1,700 collaborations since it was set up three years ago, and generated £40 million of research income.

The centre helped Mytum and Selby land a DTI Knowledge Transfer Partnership, to effectively buy in the expertise of composting specialist Dr John Adams and environmental scientist Sarah Hansell. “We’re putting hard science into composting,” says Adams. “The different reactions and chemical transformations that take place are fathomless, but we’re analysing the process as much as we can and then recommending how the company should operate in order to compost as much waste as efficiently, effectively and safely as possible.”

It’s made things a lot smoother for a company venturing into unknown territory. “The CIC helped us find Sarah really quickly. We might have got that selection wrong five times! John has taught us so much about composting techniques and the properties of the different feed stocks we’ll be handling. That means that we can compost even more, including material we thought had to go to landfill.” 

He’s talking about tricky stuff like chipboard that’s bound together with formaldehyde-based resins. The EU is considering banning the industrial use of the carcinogen altogether, and Carrie assumed - as did the Environment Agency - that it couldn’t be composted. Adams proved otherwise, which means that Mytum and Selby can now divert around 1,500 tonnes of chipboard from landfill every quarter.

Understanding recycling options has also allowed Carrie to find new customers who have been struggling to find an acceptable way of disposing of their waste. Mytum and Selby staff have started advising blue chip companies on how to adapt production processes to make the most of recycling and composting for their waste.

“Like the translating fish in The Hitchhiker’s Guide, I help scientists and business people understand what they are saying to one another.”

Dr David Calvert, the commercial manager of the CIC, is delighted. “Seeing change happening, within the university or within industry, is what makes me tick,” he beams. “It gives me a real buzz to see people who might once have seen change in a negative way open up and say: ‘Yeah, I’ll give that a go.’” He describes his role as a ‘Babelfish’. “Like the translating fish inThe Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, I help scientists and business people understand what they are saying to one another. By improving the communication links between academia and companies, I can add value to the work that both are doing.”

Sometimes the two worlds can seem poles apart, he says. Scientific research is often perceived as a slow process, with PhDs taking several years, usually on a campus far-removed from industry. “Small- and medium-sized enterprises, in general, need to move much faster than that,” says Calvert. “They need someone that can be accessed quickly and easily - almost a project manager - and they need solutions that improve competitiveness and ensure they comply with new regulations. That’s real-world information.”

He’s convinced that the approach is working for local businesses. “We’ve had more than 50 companies joining our online waste recycling network who didn’t realise how much support and expertise there is in the region and how accessible that is. Environment is high on the national agenda and it’s a matter for business bottom lines, too. Excelling in environmental technology will give the region a real edge.”

Indeed the global market for the environmental technologies sector is expected to reach £400 billion by 2010 as action to tackle climate change escalates. And £30 billion of that could be up for grabs by British businesses over the next decade. It’s no surprise then, that Yorkshire Forward is investing in a new Environmental Energy Technology Centre in Rotherham. It will support more than 30 enterprises engaged in the development of products designed to aid the transition to a low carbon energy economy.

Companies located in the building can tap into the expertise of cutting edge manufacturing techniques and other technologies that exist within the adjacent Advanced Manufacturing Park. “There’s huge potential for the region’s businesses to tap into the emerging environmental energy technologies market,” says Simon Hill, Yorkshire Forward’s executive director of business. “This facility will place them in the best possible position to survive and grow in an expanding global market.”

Plugging into opportunity Yorkshire’s Centres of Industrial Collaboration (CIC) are already bringing innovative products closer to market - such as M&S’s clever sandwich packs. Thanks to backing from the Engineering Design CIC, Savasocket, a device designed to save standby energy wastage, is now in the final stages of testing and will hit shelves of major retailers this autumn.

Its inventor, James Dunne [above], claims it will use only £1 of electricity a year and could save households £50 a year by eliminating the 17.5 hours a day that most domestic devices spend on standby.

The real coup for Dunne is that Savasocket is one year ahead of the similar ‘Standby Saver’, picked out for investment by tough venture capitalists on BBC’s Dragons’ Den just this spring.

21 June 2007

Trevor Lawson