Business First Issue2 Vol5 CH6:Layout 1 23/10/2009 14:45 Page 34
Business and education
University of Ulster innovators
University of Ulster
triumph at £25k awards
researchers helped
build the world’s first
sustainable racing car
Top Prize: Trish Belford and Ruth Morrow from Tactility Factory with Michael Kidd, head
of Business Banking at Bank of Ireland
R
esearchers from the School of Art and Design and the
Engineering Composites Research Centre, made a barge
board – which is positioned behind the front wheel of
the Formula 3 racing car – from renewable materials.
A
University of Ulster team has walked technique, won awards in the CleanTech The car is made from products derived from flax and hemp
away with the overall winner’s prize at and Hi-Tech categories respectively.
fibres, cashew nut shells, soybean oil, potato starch, recycled
the Northern Ireland Science Park The judging panel included Sinclair
(NISP) Connect’s £25k Awards.
bottles, bio-diesel and other root vegetable and plant oil
Stockman, ex-chief scientist of BT, and
Tactility Factory, founded by Ulster Damien Callaghan of Intel Capital.
extracts.
academic Trish Belford and former Ulster The awards, sponsored by Bank of Ireland
Dr Julie Soden from Ulster’s Art and Design Research
Professor Ruth Morrow edged out nine rival and Invest Northern Ireland, were
Institute said: “The barge board component sits behind the
competitors to pick up the £10,000 prize presented at a VIP gala ceremony in the
front wheels and is used to improve airflow around the car. It
with their patented technology designed newly refurbished Titanic’s Dock & Pump-
accounts for up to 30 per cent of the cars down-force.”
to combine textile design with hard House at the NISP. The unique design has custom-tailored reinforcement from
building materials such as concrete.
Steve Orr, director of NISP Connect, said high-strength flax fibres woven into a multiple layer 3D fabric
The team’s versatile, durable concept that the awards have again uncovered local
at the Belfast campus and shape-moulded using Vacuum
could have wide-ranging implications for talent with innovative ideas and inspiring
all types of building construction – and
Assisted Resin Transfer Moulding (VARTM).
ambitions.
received particular credit from the judges
The Formula 3 Racing Car is the first full-scale demonstrator
for combining Northern Ireland’s long-
“The aim of the awards is to discover
model manufactured using some sustainable and renewable
standing heritage in textiles with
intellectual property concepts which can
materials. The racing car appeared at this year’s Goodwood’s
cutting-edge building product design.
offer measurable impact on not only the
local but global economy and that is
Festival of Speed and was driven by A1 Grand Prix champion
Trish Belford said: “We are extremely exactly what we have achieved with the
racing driver Adam Carroll.
pleased to have been named winner of this winners, Tactility Factory, and all the other “It is exciting and refreshing to see an actual product
year’s £25k Awards. The assessment finalists,” he said. coming out of the research lab,” Dr Soden said.
process has been testing but ultimately
extremely rewarding.
“The quality of entrants this year was
“The next step in the process is the testing and
exceptional and in particular the judges
“Competing for this award benefited our were impressed with Tactility Factory’s
improvement of the first design, so the initial work will be
business thinking and has given us great unique leveraging of one of Northern
built upon to show the full potential and the scope of the
insight into the potential of our business on Ireland’s oldest industrial heritages –
research.
a global scale. This award has greatly textiles – into a whole new and exciting
“While the safety critical parts are not made from
boosted our prospects to commercialise building product arena. It already seems
sustainable materials, the racing car is evidence of the
our product and go to market. In addition that this idea has great global potential significant advances made by researchers into what is readily
to this, the icing on the cake is receiving a with interest already emerging within the achievable in the sustainable composites field.”
significant financial prize which will provide Middle East regarding its potential
vital capital at this time enabling us to take
The project was undertaken in collaboration with the
application in the construction of mosques.
advantage of the opportunities that are
now presenting themselves.”
“This is undoubtedly a very exciting time
University of Warwick’s Innovative Manufacturing Research
for the company and I would like to
Centre.
There was further success for the congratulate them and all our finalists. It
For further details on accessing the University of Ulster’s
University of Ulster as TrapCop, which really is a case of ‘watch this space’ with all
expertise, contact the Office of Innovation, 9036 8019
allows steam traps to be monitored non- these finalists and I would wish them every
e-mail
enquiry@ulster.ac.uk,
intrusively, and SDW, a digital watermarking success in the future.” or visit our website
www.ulster.ac.uk/oi
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