1. #adrdforum @adbioresources
STEVEN BROOME
HEAD OF BUSINESS AND PROJECTS – AD, CENTRE FOR PROCESS INNOVATION
NAVIGATING THE AD
INNOVATION 'VALLEY OF
DEATH'

2. © 2014 Centre for Process Innovation Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Steven Broome
Head of Business and Projects - AD
Navigating the AD Innovation
‘Valley of Death’

3. Agenda
• The big picture
• The innovation ‘valley of death’
• Example projects at CPI

4. The UK versus the key players
• The UK generally does very well across European R&D programmes (Horizon
2020/FP7)
• Performs in the top 1 or 2 of all 28 EU member states
• The European Research Council’s (ERC) sole criterion for proposals is ‘excellence’
• UK is by far the biggest beneficiary of this fund with over 1/5 of the funding coming
to the UK

5. Source: EU R&D Scoreboard 2014
Number of world top R&D investing companies

6. The UK versus the key players
However:
• The UK’s own public R&D spend has been ‘held flat’ since 2011 (so in reality eroded
by inflation)
• Overall, the UK spends around 1.7% of GDP on R&D
• Around 63% comes from the private sector
• In the OECD, this is 7th in absolute terms but only about 18th in percentage terms
• US spends about 2.5% of GDP, Japan about 3.7%, Germany about 2.3%
• Overall EU average target is 3% by 2020 (France and Germany are also aiming for
this nationally)

7. The UK versus the key players
World top 100 universities (out of 16,000)*
Criterion UK Germany USA
Number in top
100
19 3 28
Number in top
50
8 1 18
Number in top
10
4 0 6
Number in top
5
4
(2 are joint 5th)
0 2
* QS World University Rankings 2014/15

8. The UK versus the key players
• The UK’s strategic competitive advantage in its top universities has not always been
translated through to GDP growth in many circumstances
• The UK generally under spends on innovation
• In Germany, the Fraunhofer Institutes have a powerful impact on the economy (annual
budget of around €2 billion)
• How can the UK mimic this to harness the knowledge generated by its universities?

9. Technology Readiness Level 7-9
Industry and Companies
Technology Readiness Level 1-3
Researchers and Inventors
Technology Readiness Level 4-7 (Valley of Death)
CPI helps companies succeed
where many otherwise fail
3
2
1
9
8
7
6
5
4
Technology Readiness Levels (TRL)
Actual System proven through successful operations
Actual System completed and qualified through testing and demonstration
System prototype demonstration in an operational environment
Component validation in laboratory environment
Analytical and experimental critical function and/or characteristic proof of concept
Technology concept and/or application formulated
Basic principles observed and reported
Component validation in relevant environment
System model or prototype demonstration in a relevant environment

10. UK Catapult centres
• Reduce the risks associated with taking university type knowledge through to market
• Part-funded by central UK government
• Also funded by public-private projects and private commercial funding
• Access to specialist infrastructure and staff
• Current Catapult centres:
CELL THRERPAY, DIGITAL, FUTURE CITIES, OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY,
SATELLITE APPLICATIONS, TRANSPORT APPLICATIONS, HIGH VALUE
MANUFACTURING

11. CPI
CPI is a UK technology innovation centre and the process element of the Government’s High
Value Manufacturing Catapult.
We use applied knowledge in science and engineering combined with state of the art facilities
to enable our clients to develop, prove, prototype and scale-up the next generation of
products and processes.
Sustainable Processing
Centre
National Printable
Electronics Centre
National Biologics
Manufacturing Centre
Formulations and
Flexible Manufacturing

12. A single network covering high value
sectors from pharmaceuticals to power
generation, where knowledge gained in one
area can be transferred to another.
The High Value Manufacturing Catapult brings
together UK-based centres of collaborative
research to create something even greater
than the sum of its parts...
High Value Manufacturing Catapult
£350 million invested to date
Over £350 million for the next 5 years
Over 430 industry clients
A combined 800 staff and growing

13. CPI – Industrial Biotechnology and Biorefining
• Anaerobic digestion technology development is a core competence

14. CPI Head
Quarters
AD Development Centre
National
Industrial
Biotechnology
Facility
Fermentation
and algae
research labs

15. Key themes
• Syngas to commodity chemicals/products
• Sugars to commodity chemicals/products
• Innovation in anaerobic digestion – cross cutting

16. Key services
• Programme scoping and road mapping
• Process modelling and simulation
• Techno-economic evaluation
• Risk analysis and mitigation
• Scale-up process development and demonstration
• Technology development, testing and validation

17. Example project – ‘Plascarb’
• Creating higher value products via AD-generated biogas
• Eight partners from five EU countries
• Graphitic carbon (graphite) and renewable hydrogen from food waste
• Molecular cleavage of methane using a novel low-energy microwave plasma
process
• Techno-commercial optimisation
• Potential for graphene production in the longer-term
• Hydrogen is a potential future transport fuel - renewable generation is key

18. Example project – ‘SeaGas’
• Flagship AD project bringing together a unique and powerful consortium: CPI, The Crown
Estate, Queen’s University Belfast, Scottish Association for Marine Science, Centre for
Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Newcastle University
• Innovate UK funding
• Seeking to show how the UK’s seabed can be used to harvest large volumes of macro-
algae (seaweed) as a reliable, sustainable AD feedstock
• Innovative seaweed storage
• Techno-economic feasibility
• Three –year project will explore all key variables

19. Summary of CPI as a Catapult
Reduce risk before investing large sums of money on
new facilities by demonstrating and refining novel
technologies
Proof of concept and process scale-up showing that
new concepts are feasible before approaching potential
investors, stakeholders or funding programmes
Decrease the time to market for a novel product or
process by accessing proven demonstration assets and
key expertise

20. Thank you...
For more information visit www.uk-cpi.com
Email:
Twitter:
info@uk-cpi.com
@ukCPI

21. www.uk-cpi.com