A major new collaboration between academia and industry will put the University of Bath on the map as a centre of expertise for the sustainable use of plastics and chemicals.
The university is to host a new £17m centre to lead research into sustainable chemical technologies, accelerating the UK’s transition to net zero carbon emissions.
The Innovation Centre for Applied Sustainable Technologies (iCAST) will also help tackle the global challenges of the climate emergency, sustainable development and plastics pollution.
It will focus on research into four core programmes – bio-based feedstocks, sustainable chemical production systems, sustainable engineering materials and plastics – as part of a circular economy.
It will be hosted by the university’s Centre for Sustainable and Circular Technologies (CSCT), which brings together industry with expertise from the universities of Bath and Oxford, the Bristol-based National Composites Centre and the Centre for Process Innovation, as well as innovation experts at the University of Bath-supported SETsquared small business incubator, and a number of local enterprise partnerships and investors.
iCAST will build on the very successful partnership between CSCT and SETsquared to deliver business acceleration hubs and scale-up programmes in the region and will unlock its partners’ world-class resources and fundamental research expertise to deliver commercial success in cutting-edge sustainable technologies.
Its partners include more than 45 companies ranging from spin-outs, high-growth SMEs and multinational corporates, including Bath-based Wessex Water, Unilever, Total and Swindon-based Recycling Technologies.
iCAST director and University of Bath Whorrod Professor of Sustainable Chemical Technologies Matthew Davidson said the centre would become established as the ‘go-to’ place in the UK for innovation in sustainable technologies.
“There is currently a translation gap between publicly-funded investment into fundamental research and its deployment by UK companies.
“iCAST will address this gap by enabling companies to easily invest in research and development in a collaborative and agile environment and by providing specialist business support for innovations to be deployed commercially,” he said.
“By partnering companies with the critical mass of research expertise at Bath and at Oxford, iCAST will accelerate scaleup of new technologies, deliver economic impact, and build supply chains, jobs and growth in the UK.”
University of Bath vice-chancellor and president Prof Ian White added: “We’re delighted to announce this new venture.
“iCAST will cement our links with existing academic and industrial partners and put Bath on the map strategically as a centre of expertise for knowledge exchange with industry to solve real-world global challenges in sustainability.”
He also said iCAST would be an important part of the university’s commitment to deliver impactful research and innovation supporting the transition to the net zero carbon economy.
Since it was set up in 2008, CSCT has received more than £40m and has graduated more than 75 PhD students. It involves more than 75 academic staff and interacts with 40-plus external partners.
One of iCAST’s innovation programme, STBAH (Sustainable Technologies Business Acceleration Hub), has worked with 120 SMEs to help generate £14m of grant income and £12m of investment.
