Immersive event showcases Graphene@Manchester’s capabilities to industry

This week, NGI and GEIC hosted representatives from 120 large organisations, SMEs and start-ups, in an exclusive two-day event for industry. With more than 35 talks from academics, industry partners and Graphene@Manchester experts, the event immersed potential partners in the emerging science and how – through our unique capabilities – we can help them accelerate the translation of research into innovation, while supporting their sustainability goals.  

Entitled ‘Manchester Model: Industry led, academic fed’, the event brought to life how Graphene@Manchester’s ecosystem supports partners in leveraging the capabilities of 2D materials – from 2D material research tailored to organisation’s application needs, to accelerating their real-world translation. 

Professor James Baker, CEO of Graphene@Manchester explains: “We offer something unique in UK academia: a comprehensive pipeline for scaling up, supporting industry through technology readiness levels 1 to 7. This is possible due to three key strengths: our world-leading community of research and innovation experts, our state-of-the-art facilities, and our lab-to-market expertise, where we can support industry in developing products with improved performance and reduced environmental impact. 

"Our University is at the forefront of the 2D materials revolution and serves as the UK's principal knowledge partner for the commercialisation of 2D materials. Today's event aimed to showcase our exceptional capabilities to a new industry audience, enabling them to benefit from our unparalleled offerings." 

Over the course of the two days, attendees met academics – including Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov, the Nobel Prize winning scientist who isolated graphene in 2004 with Professor Sir Andre Geim – and application experts leading cutting-edge research from lab to market; toured Manchester’s world-leading facilities, National Graphene Institute (NGI) and the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC); met companies who have already benefited from their partnership with Manchester; and were shown how the University is training a new generation of 2D materials experts.  

They were also invited to the Eli and Britt Harari Graphene Enterprise Award presentation. This annual award, in association with Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Andre Geim, is gifted to help the implementation of commercially-viable business proposals from our students, post-doctoral researchers and recent graduates. 

‘Manchester Model: Industry led, academic fed’ was hosted in the run up to the official 20^th anniversary of the first graphene paper. It recognised the University’s continued role in driving a fast-growing graphene economy.  

The University of Manchester is home to the highest-density graphene and 2D material research and innovation community in the world, comprising more than 350 experts spanning various disciplines, including physics, materials science, chemistry, neuroscience. This community includes academics, engineers and application experts, who bridge the gap between academia and the real-world needs of businesses, and innovation leaders, investment experts, IP advisors, plus operational and specialist technical staff.  

Renowned for rapidly advancing Technology Readiness Levels (TRL), this community is centred around two specialist facilities: the £62m academic-led NGI; and the multi-million pound research translation centre, the GEIC.  

The NGI is the hub for groundbreaking 2D material research, featuring 150m² of class five and six cleanrooms. It is home to Nobel Prize-winning Professor Sir Andre Geim, who, along with Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov, isolated graphene in 2004 and who continues to support a leading community of fundamental science researchers. 

The GEIC focuses on accelerating the development of lab-to-market innovations. In just five years, it has supported over 50 spin-outs and launched numerous new technologies, products, and applications in collaboration with industrial partners. These include a groundbreaking hydrogel for vertical farming and a method for extracting lithium from water for battery production. 

Read more about the event at the dedicated Industry academic showcase page. 

Visit Graphene@Manchester to contact Graphene@Manchester’s experts and discover the facilities available.