Focus on: Catapult – CPI

The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) is the UK’s national innovation agency – a quango that reports to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. The TSB has created a series of Catapult centres – world-leading technology and innovation hubs – that provide businesses with access to facilities, equipment and expertise, while also conducting internal R&D.

The High Value Manufacturing Catapult was the first to open a few months ago, and is composed of seven “partners”. As these academic/industry collaborations grow, new science and engineering jobs should be created – indeed many are already advertised across the various partner and university job sites.

This week we’ll take a look at what opportunities there are for chemists at these sites, including links to their Twitter account and job page(s) so it’s easier to find any open positions.

Centre for Process Innovation

Location: Wilton & Sedgefield in the North East

Jobs advertised on their own job site

Twitter: @ukCPI

The CPI focuses on six key technologies: Industrial biotechnology, printable electronics, smart chemistry, anaerobic digestion, thermal technologies and sustainable engineering.

Chemists from a wide variety of backgrounds could find something of interest here – with process chem, biochem, biocatalysis, electrochem, materials, devices, physical chem and engineering all catered for.

Smart Chemistry uses a range of technologies in conjunction with scientific expertise to quickly develop new products and processes for clients. Facilities include a range of reactor types for continuous processing, emulsification, particle engineering and milling; and new reaction chemistries have also been developed. A 50L pilot plant is available for testing scale-up feasibility.

The National Industrial Biotechnology Facility allows the development and scale-up of bioprocesses from 1 to 10,000L, and case studies include the development of petrochemical substitutes and enzyme production.

The CPI has over 170 employees, including 45 PhDs.

Current vacancies include: laboratory printing scientist, mechanical engineer, anaerobic digestion process engineer and commercialisation manager.