| Innovation fund
With support from our £1 million Photonics Innovation Fund, we are building a national network of academic partners, equipped to respond to emerging industrial challenges.
The Future Photonics Hub University of Southampton University of Sheffield Innovation Fund partners Heriot-Watt University University of Bangor
Since 2016, we have awarded a total of £750,000 in grant funding to projects led by UK researchers offering new capabilities relevant to industry but outside of our core expertise. Our dynamic funding mechanism operates using an annual call for proposals, aligned with specific research themes. Our fourth call launched in October 2019 and was a collaboration with three other EPSRC Future Manufacturing Research Hubs; the Future Composites Hub, the Future Compound Semiconductor Manufacturing Hub, and the Future Metrology Hub. The joint call created new possibilities to exploit research synergies by inviting proposals involving multiple Hubs and offering funded projects access to a wider range of facilities and equipment.
We received a total of 13 photonics research proposals from ten UK institutions in response to the 2019 call. The applications were reviewed by a panel of co-investigators and independent assessors, using a common framework agreed by all four Hubs. The assessment criteria included: suitability to the call and appropriate TRL level; research quality; scientific novelty and timeliness; relevance to industry and building UK manufacturing capability; ambition, level of risk and potential for similar levels of return; appropriateness and credibility of the team to deliver and future develop the project; and planning and resources. We awarded a total of £153,000 to the three top-ranked projects: ■
‘ Growth of large Pockels coefficient PZT and BTO layers on Si’, Prof Hayden, University of Southampton. Award value: £62,259
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‘ Mid-infrared diamond integration photonics: a feasibility study.’ Dr Maziar Nezhad, University of Bangor. Award value: £59,965
University of Bristol University of Cambridge University of Oxford University of Southampton with Imperial College, London
‘ Integration of 2D materials with established silicon photonics and electronics platforms’, Dr Ioannis Zeimpekis-Karakonstantinos, University of Southampton. Award value: £30,890
University of Southampton with Phoenix Photonics University of Strathclyde Industry partners International industry partners by country
In addition, we pledged support to a fourth project:
UK photonics industry activity
‘Manufacturing of large area InP on nano-V-grooved CMOScompatible Si’, led by Dr Philip Shields at the University of Bath. This was submitted as a joint proposal to the Future Compound Semiconductor Manufacturing (CSM) Hub and us. The CSM was selected as the lead funder for the project based on a closer alignment of research priorities (award value: £62,476). Sweden China
*Grants funded at 80% FEC
12
USA
Italy
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