Member Article

Scientists move into new biotechnology centre

Ambitious plans to put the North East at the forefront of the multi-million pound chemical industry have received a boost with the opening of new state-of-the-art laboratories on Teesside.

The opening of the development laboratories at the Centre for Process Innovation in Wilton near Redcar is the first stage in an ambitious plan to bring competitive and sustainable technology to Britain’s chemicals industry.

By the end of the year a larger scale production facility will also come on-line, completing the facility’s ability to demonstrate its capacity in fermentation and use of enzymes to make chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

Together these facilities will form the National Industrial Biotechnology Facility (NIBF), which is being built following investment by the Regional Development Agency One NorthEast and The Northern Way: a collaboration between One NorthEast, North West Development Agency and Yorkshire Forward to cut the economic prosperity gap between the North and the average of the other English regions.

Chris Dowle, CPI’s Director of Advanced Processing, said: “It’s great to see our new facilities taking shape. We can now get on with helping others to deliver advancements in this vital field. We aim to place the UK at the forefront of new developments.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .