BUSINESS NEWS
Jan 09. Morgan Crucible is to increase its stake in technical moulding and vehicle integration business NP Aerospace by 11% to 60% for £12.2m. The Coventry-based firm develops, manufactures and markets ballistic protective and other composite products in the defence and civil sectors. It has a strong position in the UK with the Ministry of Defence. The purchase of the 11% tranche was accelerated from the initial timetable. “I am delighted that we have accelerated the programme of purchasing the outstanding equity of NP Aerospace,” Morgan Crucible chief executive Mark Robertshaw said. “Since our initial investment in August 2007 the relationship between Morgan Crucible and NP Aerospace has strengthened and both parties have capitalised on the many benefits that we bring to each other.” (Source: Google)
05 Jan 09. The Nanotechnology Knowledge Transfer Network (NanoKTN), one of the UK’s primary knowledge-based networks for Micro and Nanotechnologies, has announced its support for one of the largest funding rounds that has been made available to the micro and nanotechnology sector. A combined total of at least €250M in co-funded grants is available to UK organisations wishing to submit collaborative R & D proposals in the next twelve months directly relevant to the micro and nanotechnology research sector. This money is a combination of European Commission, UK Technology Strategy Board and the UK Engineering and Physical Science Research Council. The opportunities cover a wide range of activities from basic research through to full industrial implementation and also activities to cover risk and engagement elements.
07 Jan 09. The Nanotechnology Knowledge Transfer Network (NanoKTN), one of the UK’s primary knowledge-based networks for Micro and Nanotechnologies, has announced its support for the €1.8bn that has been made available by the European Commission, through their Information Communications Technology (ICT) fund. There are scheduled to be two large funding calls (4th and 5th calls for proposals) over two years that have been put in place to support the nanotechnology and microtechnology markets and encourage the development of research and production in this area. UK organisations are expected to directly claim over €100m for micro and nanotechnology enabled research and development. The European Commission has launched this funding to improve the competitiveness of European Industry and to ensure Europe continues to be a key player in shaping future developments in ICT. The objective of the ICT initiative is to help drive and stimulate product service and process innovation through ICT use and value creation in Europe. By doing this, the European Commission aims to ensure that ICT progress is rapidly transformed into benefits for Europe’s citizens, businesses, industry and governments.
“The European Commission is pleased to be supporting research projects with participants from different countries and we are looking forward to seeing how we can develop new knowledge, technology and products,” explains the European Commission Framework 7’s UK National Contact Point for ICT, Peter Walters. “New breakthroughs in ICT will continue to develop over the next decade and bring ever-more wide ranging applications that will continue to drive growth and innovation and ensure sustainability in our economies and societies. We need to ensure Europe is a central point for this development and hope the funding will encourage this.” The ICT Theme is divided into a number of different challenges covering varying areas of interest. Challenge 3 covers Components, Systems and Engineering with an estimated allocation of €180m for 2009 and €195m for 2010. Challenge 5 focuses on sustainable and personalised healthcare and has been allocated €95m for 2009, and Future and Emerging Technologies that has been provided with €171m for 2009 and 2010. It is expected that the UK will capture at least 15% of this sizeable amount o