Electrochemical technology underpins many energy generation and environmentally friendly processes that can reduce CO2 emissions and improve global standards of living. It is also an area of significant commercial importance; for example, the Carbon Trust estimates that the UK market for polymer fuel cells could be worth up to $19bn by 2050.
With universities having a key role to play in helping the UK retain and improve its economic competitiveness in this area, the UCL Electrochemical Innovation Lab (EIL) was officially launched on 16 June 2011 at an event attended by over 150 academics and industry representatives.
The EIL seeks to accelerate the commercialisation of electrochemical technologies arising from UCL's world-class knowledge base in electrochemistry. It is a collaboration between UCL's Centre for CO2 Technology (led by Professor Stef Simons and Dr Dan Brett), UCL Business PLC (UCLB) and a range of individuals with significant expertise in commercialising electrochemical technologies, such as Dr David Hodgson (CEO, Vallontia) and Nick Milligan (CEO, South West Electrolysers).
The EIL has been created to:
- Provide a recognisable conduit for industry and entrepreneurial individuals to connect with UCL's broad expertise in electrochemical technologies.
- Develop collaboration mechanisms that incentivise organisations to feed their experience of commercialisation and productisation of electrochemical technologies into the UCL knowledge base.
- Seek to technically and commercially de-risk opportunities emerging from the UCL knowledge base at an early stage.
- Promote new forms of engagement between industry and academia (e.g. flexible mechanisms for accessing space, expertise and facilities).
Dr Tim Fishlock, Business Manager at UCLB and member of the EIL management team, said: 'The EIL is about creating the right environment to connect with industry to accelerate the commercialisation of UCL's world-class electrochemical research. The recent "spin-in" of CMR Fuel Cells to the EIL is evidence of the flexible and innovative approach we're taking."
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