The University of Manchester has launched a new company, Graphene Enabled, to develop a range of industrial and consumer products, components and systems based on its broad portfolio of IP relating to graphene and other 2D technologies.
Headquartered in the University’s Innovation Centre, Graphene Enabled Systems Limited is wholly owned by the University and is led by newly appointed CEO, Andrew Wilkinson.
The company’s intends to create a number stand-alone ‘spin-out’ businesses which will licence the University’s IP for use in specific, products, components and systems for industrial and consumer applications.
Initially, the main areas of activity will be focused on applications that would benefit from:
- Graphene’s ability to enhance the mechanical performance of composites.
- The application of graphene and other 2D materials onto components using inkjet printing systems.
- Production of membranes from graphene or other 2D materials which allow the selective filtration of ions and molecules.
- Using graphene’s ability to carry and store electrical charge.
- Development of corrosion and protection systems
The company will deliver the first product demonstrators within 12 months of the company’s formation and possibly even sooner.
As an important part of the University’s Graphene strategy, it will work in close collaboration with the University’s research teams, innovation and IP groups, and, in 2017 and beyond, the new Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) and the Sir Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials, both of which will be based in Manchester.
CEO, Andrew Wilkinson commented: “The University of Manchester has been at the forefront of this scientific breakthrough and, based on this, we are now in a unique position to harness the full potential of graphene and other 2D materials.
“At Graphene Enabled we plan to create a huge range of exciting new products such as stronger, lighter composite materials; new flexible conductive inks; super-tough abrasion resistant coatings; special filters designed only to let selected materials pass through them, and a huge array of new high-performance electronic components and energy storage devices such as batteries and capacitors.”
University of Manchester academics Sir Kostya Novoselov and Sir Andre Geim were awarded the Nobel Prize in 2010 for their ground-breaking experiments which opened up this new field of science.
