Birmingham, England--Aston University is offering free support and guidance to businesses in the United kingdom keen on developing photonic technologies, such as fiber optics and laser sensors. The £600,000 project, open to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the West Midlands region of the UK, is designed to help raise awareness of how photonics—and its applications such as telecommunications, data storage, optical imaging, medical diagnostics, and others—can fundamentally change existing technologies.
"This funding for phase two of the project will enable us to transfer our expertise to local SMEs and offer them the technical support required to utilize this innovative technology and help their business to develop,” says Professor Sergei Turitsyn, a professor at the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Aston University.
“I am really pleased that we are able to offer additional support through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to phase two of this project," says Norman Price, deputy chair of the West Midlands ERDF Local Management Committee.
The West Midlands ERDF is managed by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Phase two of the project has secured £295,245 of funding from ERDF, which will be matched by Aston University. The recently completed phase one of the project saw 60 businesses involved in developing new fibre-optic technologies and offered innovative knowledge transfer. This latest phase will provide further technical support, such as bespoke demonstrator units, and enable further knowledge-transfer activities.
To find out more about working with Aston University, contact Emma Sutton in the Business Partnership Unit at: [email protected] or 0121 204 4542.
Source: http://www1.aston.ac.uk/about/news/releases/2012/november/free-photonics/
