Tech innovation centre to boost city region’s SMEs

Technology innovation centre CPI has announced a new project to work with SMEs across Leeds City Region to accelerate the commercialisation of new formulated products.

The project, called ​‘Formulation Technology applied to Materials and Products’ (ForTaMP), is supported with £2.7m worth of funds from the European Regional Development Fund.

SMEs will be able to engage with CPI’s extensive capabilities within formulations, helping them to develop and launch innovative products.

ForTaMP will be delivered from existing CPI facilities within the North East Technology Park (NETPark) site.

Over a three-year period CPI will assist SMEs active in – or seeking access to – the health/personal care, consumer goods, materials and food & drink sectors via the application of colloid chemistry, nano-technology, powder processing and materials science.

Using CPI’s expertise and formulation chemistry facilities, businesses will have the opportunity to enhance product performance, enabling better stability while improving the properties of manufacturing processes.

CPI says this will help translate the region’s strong science base into valuable intellectual property, including patents, know-how and registered designs.

Dr Robin Brinham, project manager of ForTaMP, said: “This project aims to support small businesses who work in a range of markets to develop new and exciting formulated products.

“CPI’s state-of-the-art scale-up and testing facilities will provide a powerful springboard for the growth of these formulated products within the Leeds City Region, something the ForTaMP project is proud to be a part of.”