The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Good Growth programme is backing cutting-edge innovation with an £15.85-million investment in projects to drive more research, development and innovation (RD&I) across the local economy.
RD&I investment is seen as crucial to helping businesses develop new products and services, create more well paid jobs, and become more competitive and productive. But in Cornwall and Scilly such investment has lagged behind other areas.
Now the Good Growth Programme has invested millions of pounds to help local businesses embrace innovation. As well as investment in business support projects to offer advice and grants, the programme has just announced a £3-million investment in a trio of pioneering Cornish companies.
They include Piran Advanced Composites (PAC). The programme is investing £649,000 towards a £984,000 project that will see the business relocate from three separate sites in Cornwall into a 40,000 sq ft former aircraft shelter at Cornwall Airport Newquay, creating an Advanced Aerostructures R&D Facility.
Family-run PAC has been at the forefront of advance composite technology manufacturing for the last 15 years and has grown into one of the UK’s leading suppliers in the Aerospace Industry with customers including BAE Systems, Boeing and Airbus. A leading member of Cornwall's Space Cluster, PAC manufactures ultra light-weight carbon composite components for a range of sectors, up to 35m wingspan unmanned aerial vehicles.
The new facility will house PAC's current extensive list of machinery, and new additions including a new 3D scanner, large autoclave (one of the largest know in the South West) and a new purpose built two-story cleanroom. PAC is committed to fostering local talent and has developed a composites Apprenticeship.
The biotechnology company near Truro Phytome Research Limited has secured £1.63-million investment towards a £2.63-million project to create new research and development facilities focused on hi-tech indoor agriculture.
The project, called SMART-Ag, is a collaboration between Phytome, which has a research campus at Ruan High Lanes, Duchy College Rosewarne and the University of Plymouth. It will support the trialling of new technologies and crop varieties including vertical farming, plant-derived pharmaceuticals and cultivating other high-value chemicals.
It will provide new and existing Cornish businesses with local access to world-class research and development services, and help inspire and train the workforce of the future in technology-driven sustainable food production with higher yields and fewer environmental impacts.
The greentech company Cleaner Sea Group will receive £742,000 towards a £990,000 world-leading project that will convert microfibre plastics into a new material for use in various industries.
The company is focused on innovations that prevent microplastics from reaching the environment and oceans and has already launched a ground-breaking, circular microfibre capture filter for domestic and commercial washing machines.
Microfibre pollution from laundry wastewater is the number one source of primary microplastic pollution in oceans. These fibres pose a serious threat to marine environments, human food chain and human health.
In partnership with leading UK academics and universities, Cleaner Seas Group has developed a world first, emission-free technique to convert captured microfibres into a new material for use in new products. The output material has a multitude of properties and uses from building materials to electric car battery components which will be available for global supply.
Cllr Louis Gardner, Cornwall Council portfolio holder for economy, said: “Our region has a proud history of innovation and these investments from the Good Growth Programme are supporting some of our most innovative companies to commercially develop new ideas and technologies while creating skilled, high-value jobs.
“Overall, we are investing £11.4-million in research, development and innovation including specialist support and small grants for business, which are delivered through the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Growth Hub. As well as helping to boost business efficiency and productivity, many of these investments are supporting the journey to net zero, including the development of cutting edge technological solutions to environmental issues.”
Other RD&I projects supported by the programme include £4-million of grant funding available via the Growth Hub, who are still offering capital grants to help local businesses purchase kit and equipment to help them grow though innovation.
The programme has also funded STRIDE (success through research, innovation and development), which provides bespoke business support to champion innovation in clean energy, geo-resources, data and space, the visitor economy and agri-food industries.)
Another project, Made Smarter Cornwall, is helping local manufacturers adopt digital tools and innovation into their manufacturing processes. Agri-Carbon Kernow meanwhile is a project working with local farmers to decarbonise their operations over three years and encourage nature-based activity.
Recent investment has also helped Cornwall College establish a new high-tech soil laboratory in collaboration with the Eden Project to help farmers, growers and horticulturalists in Cornwall manage their land and soils more sustainably and productively.
To find out more about the Good Growth Programme, visit ciosgoodgrowth.com