The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), which has its HQ in Redcar, is to be home to a new £14 million Graphene Applications Innovation Centre. Announced in last month’s Budget, the new centre will receive its funding from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Scheduled to open later this year, it will provide both the resources and the expertise to help firms develop, prove, prototype and ‘scale up’ graphene-based products and processes.

In his Budget speech, Chancellor George Osborne said that the centre is an important part of the Government’s plans to ‘kick-start’ the UK’s technology and manufacturing sectors. “If Britain isn’t leading the world in science and technology and engineering, then we are condemning our country to falling behind. Graphene is a great British discovery; we should break the habit of a lifetime and commercially develop it in Britain.”

CPI chief executive Nigel Perry said: “Graphene is a very interesting material, with great promise. The new centre will work alongside academic organisations such as the National Graphene Institute, graphene manufacturers and end users to develop and prove commercial applications for a range of major industries. The new centre will integrate with existing development facilities at CPI’s printable electronics and formulation centres at Sedgefield.”