Cambridge GaN Devices co-founder & CEO named RAEng Engineers Trust Young Engineer of the Year

Dr Giorgia Longobardi, co-founder & CEO of UK-based Cambridge GaN Devices Ltd (CGD), has been selected by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) as one of five young female engineers who have been outstandingly successful in their respective fields at an early stage of their careers. As an RAEng Engineers Trust Young Engineer of the Year, she has received a £3000 prize.

Longobardi completed her PhD (focused on the physics of power devices) in 2014, in collaboration with NXP Semiconductors. She then spent a year in Japan sponsored on a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship. Funding of £75,000 from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) Follow-on-Fund has enabled Longobardi to work on prototyping a new generation of power devices, to file two patents, and in 2016 (together with group leader Professor Florin Udrea) to set up Cambridge GaN Devices (spun out of the Electrical Power and Energy Conversion Group of the University of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering), which shared first prize in the annual Postdoc Business Plan Competition run jointly by the Entrepreneurial Postdocs of Cambridge (EPoC) and Cambridge Enterprise.

CGD develops highly efficient power electronics targeting energy savings in applications ranging from power supplies for consumer electronics to LED drives, data centers and wireless chargers. The firm now employs 10 people and was recently selected as one of the best deep-tech startups to watch by the School of Entrepreneurship & Innovation in Turin.

Longobardi also has a research fellow in Electronic Engineering at the University of Cambridge’s Gonville & Caius College, focusing on gallium nitride technologies including sensors and system solutions for efficient power management.

“I’m very grateful to all the people that have contributed to this prize by supporting my work at both the Department of Engineering and Gonville & Caius College,” says Longobardi. “A special thank you goes to my team in Cambridge GaN Devices for their work and commitment towards this amazing venture.”

As an STEM ambassador engaging with school students in countries around the world (including Italy, the UK and Japan), Longobardi aims to promote STEM subjects to the next generation, especially women.

Tags: GaN power devices

Visit: www.cai.cam.ac.uk/people/giorgia-longobardi

Visit: www.enterprise.cam.ac.uk/tag/cambridge-gan-devices