Napton-based Lontra has become one of 2016’s first recipients of the Horizon 2020 grant, a funding scheme designed to support small and medium-sized enterprises as they expand their activities into new markets.
With a funding pot of €3bn from 2014-2020, the Horizon 2020 grant targets SMEs with the highest potential to develop groundbreaking innovative products, solutions and processes that are ready to face the global market.
Lontra has already had proven success in the wastewater treatment sector; demonstrating significant energy and cost savings of 21.2%, and better reliability during site trials with Severn Trent Water.
Having already secured early sales with Severn Trent Water and Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, and licensed to global leader Sulzer to roll-out the Blade Compressor as part of its product offering, Lontra will now have the resource required to introduce its revolutionary Blade Compressor to multiple new industries.
In 2016, Lontra will set its sights on the food and pharmaceutical sectors, two of the UK’s largest manufacturing export sectors worth a combined £38bn to replace outdated and inefficient pneumatic conveying low pressure compressor (blower) systems.
Lontra’s goal in 2016 will be to address the current problems of high energy use and high maintenance costs that the food and pharmaceutical markets endure through use of traditional oil-free blowers by replacing them with its superior Blade Compressor technology.
Lontra’s founder and CEO, Steve Lindsey was named in The Manufacturer’s Top 100 2014.
TM is once again scouring the length and breadth of the UK to find the greatest people working in manufacturing today; 100 unique stories of struggle; grit; determination, and success; individuals helping to change popular perceptions of careers in manufacturing; and tales that act as shining examples to draw young people into the sector.
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The firm will license its innovations through one or more licencees who are active in food and pharmaceutical industries, enabling it to reach market scale faster and leverage third party sales resource and brand strength to dominate these high-demand sectors.
Founder and CEO, Steve Lindsey commented: “Being awarded with this grant proves the huge successes we have achieved over the past two years and thanks to our highly capable team, those successes are only going to continue.
“The food and pharmaceutical sectors are hugely lucrative for British export trade and our primary targets for 2016, but both use outdated blower technology, meaning Britain is losing significant chunks of money every year.
Lindsey continued: “Following testing of our Blade Compressor, Severn Trent’s then chief executive, Tony Wray said that they would save £1.8m a year in electricity costs if Lontra’s technology was deployed across all of the company’s wastewater works.
“The Blade Compressor® has now successfully ran for 10,000 hours, the equivalent of more than three years of normal operation, without issue. These superior results could be achieved in the food and pharmaceutical sectors too, but this will require the men and women at the top of these types of organisations to be open to bringing in modern innovations, which could save millions of pounds every year.”