Computer science holds the key

COMPUTER science experts are playing a key part in driving growth and innovation in the UK chemicals industry at a new centre near Warrington.
The Knowledge Centre for Materials Chemistry (KCMC)at Daresbury Laboratory was officially launched by John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills.
It brings together leading edge knowledge and capabilities in applied materials chemistry from Daresbury Laboratory and the universities of Bolton, Liverpool and Manchester. It provides a national centre of expertise to drive innovative, multi-disciplinary research and knowledge transfer for companies of all sizes by providing a ‘one stop shop’ for companies to access a substantial range of world class facilities and expertise in materials chemistry.
With an initial investment of £15 million from the North West Development Agency and academic partner institutions, the centre will drive industrial growth for the UK chemistry-using industries through the co-ordination, development and exploitation of leading edge materials chemistry research.
Computational scientists from Daresbury will bring their expertise in computational chemistry to the centre, contributing state of the art modelling and simulation facilities and skills.
Industrial projects will also be able to take advantage of the world-class experimental and materials characterisation facilities at Daresbury, including photoelectron spectroscopy, surface characterisation and advanced electron microscopy.
Dr Richard Blake, director of the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Computational Science and Engineering Department, said, “Daresbury’s computational expertise is known throughout the world.
“Some of the key programs used in academic and industrial chemistry research were developed here, and we have some of the world’s best high performance computing facilities here too. The combination of our cutting-edge skills and facilities will prove invaluable in helping UK chemical companies innovate and prosper.”
John Bancroft, head of business development in STFC’s technology exploitation company CLIK, added: “The chemical industry is one of the UK’s largest manufacturing sectors, with an annual turnover of £55 billion, but like all industries it has to keep developing in order to grow.
“This new centre provides a way for UK chemical companies of all sizes to get access to the skills and facilities they need to help them take advantage of opportunities in areas such as sustainable energy, smart packaging and regenerative medicine.”