News: Suppliers
17 May 2024
UK’s EPSRC grants Cardiff $11m to lead compound semiconductor research and manufacturing hub
As one of five new hubs supported by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Cardiff University is to receive funding to lead a hub that aims to capitalize on the opportunity of compound semiconductor manufacturing identified in the UK’s national semiconductor strategy.
The researchers will develop energy-efficient optoelectronics for use in key emerging technologies such as quantum, the 6G network, sensors for autonomous vehicles (AVs), the Internet of Things (IoT) and satellite communications.
A key driver for the hub will be to expand the environmental benefits of compound semiconductors by carrying out research in an environmentally friendly way, developing new manufacturing processes and creating new devices that are energy efficient along the way.
“This award is an endorsement of our vision to establish the UK as the primary global research and manufacturing hub for compound semiconductor (CS) technologies, expanding and extending the CS Cluster here in South Wales that our previous EPSRC Manufacturing Hub initiated,” says professor Peter Smowton, the Cardiff hub lead and managing director of Cardiff University’s Institute for Compound Semiconductors. “Supported by new start-ups and inward investment into our region, the hub will be at the very heart of the cluster, ensuring we can continue to develop CS technologies which enable our connected world, our health, our security and protect the environment,” he adds. “The time is right for a step-change in CS manufacturing.”
The five manufacturing research hubs are supported by the EPSRC (part of UK Research and Innovation) with an investment of £55m, with each hub receiving £11m. Partner contributions, cash and in-kind, takes the total support committed to the new hubs to £99.3m.
The hubs aim to address a wide range of challenges in commercializing early-stage research within different manufacturing sectors by reducing waste, finding alternatives to expensive or environmentally damaging materials, and speeding up processes.
Working with industry partners, the researchers will also explore different pathways to manufacturing, including production scale-up and integration within the wider industrial system.
Advances in environmental sustainability across manufacturing processes are also a focus of the hubs, which hope to bolster the economy though efficiencies such as reducing waste, emissions and pollution, and lowering production costs.
“Given the scale and importance of the UK’s manufacturing sector, we must ensure that it is able to benefit fully from advances made across the research and innovation ecosystem,” says EPSRC executive chair professor Charlotte Deane. “With their focus on innovation and sustainability, the advances made by the hubs will benefit specific sectors, the wider manufacturing sector and economy, as well as the environment.”
Cardiff University researchers will also support the Sustainable Chemicals and Materials Manufacturing hub led by the University of Oxford and the Advanced Metrology for Sustainable Manufacturing hub led by the University of Huddersfield.
The remaining hubs announced include:
- the MediForge Hub led by the University of Strathclyde;
- the Manufacturing Research Hub in Resource-Enabled Sustainable Circular Automation Manufacturing (RESCu-M) led by the University of Birmingham.
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