SparesImperial InnovationsEngineering & Technology CompaniesCase Studies

Imperial Innovations

Engineering and Technology Companies

Contents

1. Cambridge Communication Systems

2. Cortexica

3. EVO Electric

4. Featurespace

5. Mycologix

6. Nexeon

7. Permasense

8. Plaxica

9. Process Systems Enterprise

Company

Cambridge Communication Systems Limited (CCS) is developing a low cost, high performance solution to the problem of backhaul in small-cell mobile communications networks. Small-cell networks are accepted as the only realistic solution to the pressing data capacity problem in mobile communications, but as yet no credible solution for backhaul – the transfer of data between these networks and the core infrastructure – has been developed. CCS’s technology is a unique self-organizing, self-optimizing multipoint-to-multipoint microwave communications system which operates in cheap and plentiful licensed spectrum. It is easy to deploy and maintain, has a small physical footprint, and can be rapidly scaled.

www.cambridgesys.com

+44 (0)2085 630888

Sheraton HouseCastle ParkCambridge

CB3 OAX

CCS was founded in 2010 by Steve Greaves and John Porter both experienced entrepreneurs who were co-founders of Adaptive Broadband Limited and Cambridge Broadband Networks Limited. Early 2012, Cambridge Communication Systems Limited raised over £1M of investment to fund early stage deployments of its unique small-cell microwave backhaul system. The funding round was led by Cambridge Angels Founder Robert Sansom, Chairman of CCS, and is backed by Cambridge Wireless Chairman David Cleevely as well as Imperial Innovations, Cambridge Angels and Cambridge Capital Group.

Recent Articles

New wireless venture leads Cambridge’s golden generation

14th December 2011Business Weekly

London needs 70,000 small cells for world-class mobile broadband

27th September 2011Picochip

Startups Rush to Small-Cell Backhaul 4th July 2011

Light Reading Mobile

Funding

Quick Facts

Founded: 2010Location: Cambridge

Game-changing small cell backhaul

http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/hi-tech/13272-new-wireless-venture-leads-cambridges-golden-generationhttp://www.picochip.com/news/203/http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CGAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lightreading.com%2Fdocument.asp%3Fdoc_id%3D209606&ei=qFP1T5erIcaShgen2JnoBg&usg=AFQjCNGTsZKZ87Jni7al1F_W3TomxoV78g

Founders &Management Team

www.cambridgesys.com

+44 (0)2085 630888

Sheraton HouseCastle ParkCambridge

CB3 OAX

Game-changing small cell backhaul

Steve Greaves Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Steve Greaves worked for a number of years as a Senior Lecturer in Telecommunications at the University of Huddersfield. He joined AT&T laboratories in 1997 where he worked in the Radio ATM research group until it

was spun out of AT&T as Adaptive Broadband Limited (ABL) in 1998. Steve joined ABL as a co-founder and Head of Research. In 2000 Steve co-founded Cambridge Broadband Networks Limited and served as Vice-president Engineering, Vice President of APAC and board member until 2008. In 2008, Steve joined Alcatel-Lucent as Director of Mobile Incubation Solutions. In this role he was responsible for transforming pools of ideas in the mobile communication space into solutions and commercial offers. In 2010, Steve co-founded his current company Cambridge Communication Systems Limited.

Steve has over 40 peer reviewed technical publications in the areas of light-wave and microwave communications, radio propagation and digital signal processing. He has been granted six patents in the area of radio communications.

John Porter Founder & Chief Technical Officer

In 1986, John Porter joined AT&T laboratories 1986 where he established Radio ATM as a viable research area. John headed the AT&T Radio ATM research group until it was spun out of AT&T as Adaptive Broadband

Limited (ABL) in 1998. John joined Adaptive Broadband as a co-founder, Chief Scientist and Director where he was responsible for all technical development of the product. In 2000, John co-founded Cambridge Broadband Networks Limited (CBNL) and served as CTO and board member until 2010. At CBNL, John was responsible for the development of all CBNL products. In 2010, John co-founded his current company Cambridge Communication Systems Limited.

While working for both ABL & CBNL, John was granted 15 key patents that represent over 90% of the IPR generated by both companies.

Company

Cortexica Vision Systems are the award winning creators of a bio-inspired vision system enabling intelligent image recognition and visual search using principles derived from the human visual cortex. The company provides a patented platform for radically new Visual Search products that deliver exciting new experiences and value for consumers and businesses.

As the Cortexica platform is based on the human visual cortex it is capable of adapting to a variety of real life viewing scenarios. Poor lighting conditions, rotated or skewed images, multiple objects in one frame, objects that appear far away or partial objects in a frame can all be recognised accurately giving a fantastic user experience.

Cortexica released an API to its visual search and image recognition platform to mobile app developers in June 2011. This allows the developers to upload images and video to be hosted and matched against visual queries from any application. Potential applications are numerous. For example, a user could photograph a music video they see playing in a bar or club, and an app could return information on the artist, the name of the track, and provide purchasing options or other content.

www.cortexica.com

+44(0)2075 943541

Bessemer Building Exhibition Road

London SW7 2AZ

In 2002, in the Bioengineering labs of Imperial College London, Dr Anil Bharath and Dr Jeffrey Ng found inspiration from the way human beings see and have spent seven years reverse engineering how the human visual system works. In 2009 Cortexica Vision Systems Limited was founded.

With initial applications such as Brandtrak and WINEFindr, Cortexica identified commercial opportunities that benefit from their reliable image recognition capability. BrandTrak analyses video streams in and is able to recognize various images including logos in real time, from low-grade online video with visual artifacts to broadcast television or cinema. The WINEFindr application enabled the user to find out more about wine by taking a photo of a wine bottle label.

Recent Articles

Cortexica Announces Free Distribution of Award-Winning API

1st September 2011Cortexica.com

New visual search technology mimics human eye

21st June 2011The Mobile Indian

Tech media invest 100 13th September 2010

The Guardian

History

Quick Facts

Founded: 2008Location: London

bio-inspired vision system for intelligent image recognition

www.cortexica.com

+44(0)2075 943541

Bessemer Building Exhibition Road

London SW7 2AZ

bio-inspired vision system for intelligent image recognition

Founders &Management Team

Iain McCready Chief Executive Officer

Iain McCready has over 25 years’ experience within the world’s Telecommunications and IT Industries, achieving significant success in growing businesses internationally. Until recently he was the CEO of NeoMedia

Inc., a public US based software business that is the world leader in state-of-the art barcode creation, capture, delivery and reading technology for use in the ticketing, couponing, publishing and marketing sectors.

Steve SemenzatoVice President, Business Development

Steve Semenzato is an experienced business entrepreneur with extensive software sales and marketing background both in the UK and the US. Steve was the founder and CEO of a successful VC-backed enterprise software

company called ClusterSeven, and held senior executive positions at Sapient, ScreamingMedia, Dragon Systems and Avid Technology. He then played a lead role in Cortexica’s early formation, leading the team to a number of ‘world firsts’ in Mobile Visual Search for retail. Dr Jeffrey Ng

Chief Technology Officer & Founder

Jeff Ng is co-inventor behind the Cortexica technology and co-founder of the company. He was a Research Scientist at Imperial College. His research interests and expertise are in machine learning, face detection, pose estimation,

object tracking, behaviour recognition, computational biology, the human visual system and adaptive wavelet filters. He has recently been working on real-time vision systems based on Graphics Processing Units.

Dr Anil BharathChief Scientific Officer & Founder

Anil Bharath is a co-inventor of Cortexica’s underlying technology and a co-founder of the company. Dr Bharath was Deputy Head of the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London between 2003 and 2009.

Martin WilkinsonOperations

Martin Wilkinson is Cortexica’s Operations Manager. He coordinates all the day to day operations and support activities of the business. A qualified Project Manager with over 25 years real world experience, Martin has

worked for a major UK retailer, management consultancy and a number of start up SME’s.

Company

EVO Electric is a leading developer of electric drive solutions for the low-carbon vehicle market. EVO Electric developed a cutting-edge axial flux technology to produce high-torque electric motors and generators. These axial flux motors/ generators make it possible to design lighter and cheaper hybrid and electric power vehicles, and improve their performance and durability. EVO’s innovative technology supports electrification of the drive train and contributes to the development of a smarter, greener, and safer transport system. In addition to motors for electric vehicles, EVO Electric is also developing other applications for a low-carbon economy in areas as diverse as military equipment, electric boats, and wind power generation. In 2011 alone, EVO delivered electric systems based on their innovative axial flux technology to customers in France, Germany, India, Sweden, and the UK, including four global cars manufacturers, two global bus and truck manufacturers, and three premium vehicle manufacturers.

EVO Electric technology powered the first electric-drive vehicle to ever complete the Dakar Rally, the fastest electric race car to run the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany, and the first electric supercar to travel the full length of the Pan-American Highway, a 26.000km long route crossing 14 countries from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.

Quick Facts

Founded: 2007Location: Woking, Surrey

www.evo-electric.com

+44 (0)1483 745010

Unit 14 Woking Business ParkWokingSurrey

GU21 5JY

History

EVO Electric was established by Imperial Innovations in 2007 to commercialise the axial flux technology developed at Imperial College London by Dr Michael Lamperth (CTO) and Dr Malte Jaensch (DM) among others. Peter Beynon joined the company as an Imperial Innovations Entrepreneur and successfully built up the company. In 2008, David Latimer joined the company to assist in productising the technology and stepped into the position of CEO.

In June 2011, EVO formed a joint venture with GKN Driveline, the world’s leading supplier of automotive driveline systems and solutions. The new business, GKN EVO eDrive Systems, aims to capture a share of the rapidly growing market for hybrid and electric vehicle systems. In a recent study by McKinsey & Co., the international management consultancy, the global market for electric motors alone is estimated to be more than €20 billion by 2020.

Recent Articles

Off road car powered by EVO completes Dakar Rally

29th February 2012GreenCarCongress

EVO Electric Wins ACES Award27th February 2012

Evo-electric.com

GKN invests in electric car engineer EVO23rd June 2011The Telegraph

Advanced electric motors and generators

Ian Jenks Non-Executive Chairman

Founders & Management Team

Christopher Nash Non-Executive Director

Christopher Nash is the Senior Independent Director of Hutchison China Meditech Limited and a non-executive director of NTR plc. He has had a 25 year business career during which he was Senior Vice President and Group Head of Strategy and Corporate Finance at Global Crossing Ltd.

www.evo-electric.com

+44 (0)1483 745010

Unit 14 Woking Business ParkWokingSurrey

GU21 5JY

Ian has over 35 years’ experience in the engineering sector, and has held senior positions at Ingersoll Engineering Project, Uniphase Inc, and Oplink. Ian also spent 6 years as a technology investor at Crescendo Ventures, and was founder & chairman of IE Optomech Ltd (acquired by Uniphase). Ian has a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Bristol University.

Advanced electric motors and generators

David Latimer Chief Executive Officer

Dave Latimer has extensive experience managing specialist engineering businesses. His focus has often been on turnaround situations requiring improvements to supply chain or manufacturing operations. His career has included time with Rolls Royce, Howden, FKI and Weir.

Dr Michael Lampérth Chief Technology Officer & Founder

Dr. Lampérth was appointed lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College in 1999 following a PhD at the same university. As a lecturer, he has contributed to the research in hybrid power systems and medical robotics both of which are mechatronics systems and, thus, are combining mechanical and electrical engineering to find optimal solutions.

Ivor Thomas Chief Financial Officer

Ivor Thomas has held a number of board positions, including Chief Financial Officer of three UK listed companies. He has worked in a number of different manufacturing environments and has extensive experience of M&A deals, re-organisations and fund raisings.

Robert BahnsNon-Executive Director

Robert Bahns is the Investment Director at Imperial Innovations. Robert has over twenty years’ experience in industry and finance. He is trained as an electronics engineer and worked in Japan for Pioneer Electronics, both in R&D and in the establishment of the company’s first UK manufacturing facility.

Michael Fairbrother Non-Executive Director

Michael Fairbrother is the current Finance Director of European Operations at GKN plc. (LSE:GKN) Previously Michael has been Financial Controller at GKN Driveline division and has held various operational and finance positions with Wagon Automotive.

Company & TechnologyFeaturespace was founded in 2005 based on leading research undertaken at Cambridge University into using Bayesian inference to predict behaviour.

Featurespace offers two main products which address consumer marketing and fraud detection for large internet retailers and gaming and spread-betting firms. While both based on the same underlying technology, these products offer distinct solutions to separate problems faced by these industries.

The first, Insight™ for Risk Management, enables users to increase customer acceptance rates while maintaining safety levels. Many financial services companies decline legitimate customers and unnecessarily examine others through their fraud protection systems, increasing operational costs and also reducing customer numbers artificially. This is because their fraud systems use static rules and pattern matching which indicates actions or groups of actions that are generically indicative of fraud. However, what indicates fraud for one customer will not necessarily do so for another, and this increases the number of false positives in the system.

Featurespace’s solution is to treat each customer as an individual and its system is capable of assessing each transaction a customer makes in the context of that customer’s history. The system can also continually refine its definition of ‘normal’ behaviour for that customer as more data inputs are modelled. The result is a system that offers exceptional accuracy of fraud detection, and which generally delivers reductions in false positives of between 30 and 40%. In one case, the system delivered a reduction in false positives of 77% while identifying 100% of the genuine risks. This enables users to accept more business and spend less time needlessly scrutinising legitimate customers, saving money and increasing opportunity.

Featurespace’s second product, Insight™ for Marketing Optimisation, enables users to increase the value of the data their customers generate. The system can build and continuously refine detailed behavioural profiles for each customer based on data from a variety of different sources of customer interaction. The system integrates with a user’s existing marketing infrastructure to predict a customer’s future behaviour.

This enables marketers to identify, for example, the lifetime value of a customer, the optimal moments to cross-sell or up-sell to customers, and also the points at which customer loyalty is dropping - allowing the business to reconnect with its customer.

Quick Facts

Founded 2005Location Cambridge

Predictive modelling for fraud detection and marketing analytics

www.featurespace.co.uk

Founders & Management University InvolvementFeaturespace was founded in 2005 by David Excell (currently CEO of the company), who was a PhD student at the time, and Professor Bill Fitzgerald his supervisor, at Cambridge University. Professor Fitzgerald is a world-renowned expert in behavioural analytics and the application of Bayesian inference to data modelling.

The company has a strong Cambridge involvement, having initially recruited in the area and from the University. A key non-executive director of the company is Dr Mike Lynch, also a former PhD student of Professor Fitzgerald, as well as founder and CEO of Autonomy prior to its sale to HP.

FundingFeaturespace received initial seed funding in 2008, three years after it was founded. In 2010, the company received a seven figure Series A investment round from investors including NESTA, Cambridge Angels and Cambridge Capital Group and Mike Lynch.

In 2012, Imperial Innovations led a £1.5 million funding round for the company alongside existing investors.

Recent Articles

Innovations leads £1.5m funding round for Cambridge software developer Featurespace

12th June 2012imperialinnovations.co.uk

Predictive modelling for fraud detection and marketing analytics

Mike WheatleyChief Executive Officer

Mike has over 25 years experience in software consultancy and management, and has led Clickstream Technologies, Envisional (sold to Group NBT plc) and Ensembli. Prior to joining Featurespace he was VP Global Sales Brand Protection for OPSec Security, Inc. Mike has a degree in Geography from the University of Wales and an MSc Computing Science from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

David ExcellCo-founder

David founded Featurespace in 2005 alongside Professor Bill Fitzgerald at Cambridge University. David has more than 15 years’ experience in software development and the translation of research into commercial reality.

Karen SlatfordChairman

Karen has worked with venture-backed and private software companies for the last decade. She is chairman of Neverfail Group and The Foundry, which makes software for video post-production. Her earlier career was spent at Hewlett Packard, where she was global head of sales and chairman of HP UK ltd.

Professor William FitzgeraldCo-founder & Non-Executive Director

William is Professor of Applied Statistics and Signal Processing at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, and also Head of the Signal Processing and Communications Laboratory. He holds a PhD in theoretical physics and is a Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge, and Director of Studies in Engineering.

www.featurespace.co.uk

http://imperialinnovations.co.uk/node/665

Company

Mycologix is developing low cost, highly efficient biological pre-treatment processes for converting woody biomass into 2nd generation biofuels and biochemicals.

The Mycologix process is based on decades of fundamental research into the microbial decay of wood; this insight has been combined with process engineering expertise to develop an enhanced pre-treatment process which will use brown rot fungi to break down the cell structures in woody biomass which bind up useful carbohydrates content, allowing it to be used to produce sugars which can be further processed into second generation biofuel.

Because Mycologix uses woody biomass as its feedstock for the production of biofuel, it overcomes many objections associated with first generation biofuels and effectively solves the food vs. fuel issue. In addition, the use of brown rot fungi allows for more effective reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. To optimise a range of brown rot fungal strains for all major lignocellulosic feedstocks, Mycologix is working collaboratively with a number of leading international companies in the ethanol, sugar and forestry sectors.

www.mycologix.co.uk

+44 (0)7920 060218

Level 2 Bessemer BuildingExhibition Road

London SW7 2AZ

The company was formed in 2009, based on more than 20 years of research by Dr. Richard Murphy of the Department of Biological Sciences at Imperial College London. Mycologix has secured grant support from the Technology Strategy Board and the Carbon Trust Incubator programme, in addition to which it has raised seed funding from Imperial Innovations.

Founders &Management Team

Quick Facts

Founded: 2009Location: London

Natural pre-treatment solutions for next generation biofuels

Nick BrooksChief Executive Officer

Nick Brooks was an entrepreneur in residence at Imperial Innovations, and has more than thirty years’ industry experience, including senior management positions at Shell and as CEO of a number of biofuels companies, including SunBiofuels, Bioverda and Bioenergy Africa.

Dr Richard Murphy Chief Scientific Officer

Richard Murphy is Reader in Plant Sciences at Imperial College London, where his research focuses on the sustainable production and use of plant biomass for biomaterials, biofuels and bioenergy.

Paul Mulhollem Chairman

Paul Mulhollem has over thirty years’ experience of agricultural feedstock and biofuel production, having formerly been President and Chief Operating Officer of global agricultural company Archer Daniels Midland.

History

Company

Nexeon is a battery materials and licensing company developing silicon anodes for the next generation of lithium-ion battery. Their technology unlocks the potential of silicon to deliver increased capacity without compromising lithium-ion battery cycle life, providing lighter batteries with more power and longer lifetime between charges.

Nexeon’s silicon anodes cover a unique solution to the well-known cycle-life problem previously associated with silicon and offer significant benefits for a range of applications. With their world-class research team, Nexeon is set to make a major contribution in shaping the future of lithium-ion batteries. Nexeon’s technology will improve consumer experience with electronic devices, and encourage the switch from disposable batteries. It will also help to unlock the full potential of sustainable energy sources and energy efficient transport including hybrid and electric vehicles.

Quick Facts

Employees: 40 Founded: 2005Location: Oxfordshire

www.nexeon.co.uk

+44 (0)1235 436320

136 Milton Park Abingdon

Oxfordshire OX14 4SB

Nexeon has a fully automated and instrumented pilot plant in full operation, capable of producing more than 1 kg of material a day (enough material for approximately 500 x 18650 cells). This pilot plant closely represents a commercial manufacturing facility, and allows an accurate understanding of the processes and costs associated with making anode materials. Tests have shown that low first cycle loss and extended cycle life can be achieved using Nexeon’s silicon anode materials at a lower cost than graphite for a given capacity. This low-cost silicon anode technology demonstrates a clear commercial viability compared to other more expensive approaches such as silicon nano-fibres, ribbons or tubes. Additionally, the technology has been developed so that it does not require any significant changes to the existing manufacturing processes for making Li-ion batteries.

Nexeon has won many awards, including several Rushlight Awards, (including overall Clean Energy Award twice), The Engineer Excellence in Technology Award 2010 and a prestigious Climate Week award in 2012. Nexeon was chosen for the Guardian Cleantech 100 listing in 2010, two Cleantech Connect listings and voted ‘Top Cleantech Company to Watch’.

Recent Articles

Silicon points the way1st February 2012Automotive World

Nexeon tips magic dust into our batteries 4th December 2011

Independent on Sunday

Nexeon produces world’s highest capac-ity Lithium-ion battery

16th December 2010The Engineer

Unique silicon anode technology for the next generation of lithium-ion batteries

History & Funding

Nexeon was founded in 2005 as a result of work done by Professor Mino Green, Emeritus Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering at Imperial College, London. Imperial Innovations has played an active role alongside Chairman Paul Atherton in building the Nexeon team.

Nexeon started life within the Imperial Innovations incubator and during its first 12 months progressed in a very capital efficient way with £0.5m of seed funding from Imperial Innovations and Paul Atherton, as key questions were answered in laboratory scale tests, lowering the subsequent technology risks. In July 2007, Imperial Innovations made a £1.95m investment, leading a £4.25m Series A fund raising. Then again in February 2009 Imperial Innovations led a further £10.0m Series B round, contributing £4.0m alongside a strong syndicate which includes Invesco Perpetual and PUK Ventures. In August 2011, Nexeon raised another £40million and announced the establishment of a 250 tonne pa manufacturing facility. In December 2011, a collaboration was started with a global tier one automotive OEM, with a view to optimising the company’s technology for electric vehicle applications. Nexeon now boasts a fully automated and instrumented pilot plant, producing sufficient material to make high volumes of cells per day and with a good understanding of the cost involved.

2005 Nexeon founded

www.nexeon.co.uk

+44 (0)1235 436320

Unique silicon anode technology for the next generation of lithium-ion batteries

Highlights

20063600mAh/g capacity

2007£4.25M investment

2009 Fully operational pilot plant

2009 £10M funding

2009 First customer samples

2010 World record cell capacity

2011 £40M raised for

manufacturing facility

Nexeon lithium-ion battery test cells

Founders & Management Team

www.nexeon.co.uk

+44 (0)1235 436320

136 Milton Park Abingdon

Oxfordshire OX14 4SB

Dr Scott Brown Chief Executive Officer

Dr Paul AthertonExecutive Chairman

Dr Scott Brown joined Nexeon as CEO in June 2009 and has a strong track record of intellectual property management and licensing. He has held senior management roles at Cambridge Display Technology (CDT),

Dr Atherton is a successful technology entrepreneur, having co-founded and managed Queensgate Instruments until its sale in 2000. Paul holds a Physics PhD from Imperial College London, and an MBA from the

Unique silicon anode technology for the next generation of lithium-ion batteries

Sumation (a joint venture between CDT and Sumitomo Chemical) and Dow Corning.

London Business School, where he was governor for six years.

Professor Mino Green Chief Scientific Officer

Professor Mino Green is the founder and developer of Nexeon’s basic technology and an Emeritus Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering at Imperial College London. His distinguished career includes commercial

experience with the Zenith Radio Corporation.

Dr Bill Macklin Chief Technology Officer

Dr Bill Macklin joined Nexeon in October 2008 and has spent most of his career working on Li-ion batteries. He gained his PhD in Chemistry at Oxford University working with Professor John Goodenough, one of the earlier

pioneers of Li-ion batteries. Dr Macklin has published and patented extensively in the Li-ion battery field and is very well known in the Japanese battery community.

Ian McDonald Engineering Director

Ian McDonald has spent 30 years in high technology process engineering, including the nuclear industry. He has extensive experience of managing the design and build of Li-ion battery manufacturing facilities

and was Director of AEA Technology.

Company

Permasense is an expert in the field of continuous corrosion monitoring for the oil and gas industry based on oil pipe wall thickness measurement. Its unique corrosion monitoring systems, a combination of innovative sensor technology and wireless communication, continuously deliver high integrity data, reliably and safely, in environments where conventional inspection is restricted, for example by extreme temperature or inaccessibility.

For the petroleum and gas industries, maintaining high integrity data about corrosion occurring in facilities is of extreme importance for safety. In addition, economic benefits can be derived from improved information about corrosion. For instance, continuous monitoring data may reveal the causes behind certain instances of corrosion and allow process improvements to mitigate these instances; it can allow planning for replacement parts to occur much earlier; and it can provide crucial information about the delivery and efficiency of chemical inhibitors, which are used widely in the oil and gas industry to prevent corrosion. In addition, given the Permasense system can be installed in inaccessible or dangerous locations, it allows corrosion monitoring to occur without the need to risk personnel or shut down plants.

Quick Facts Founded: 2009Location: Horsham

www.permasense.com

+44 20 3002 3672

Century House100 Station Road

Horsham, RH13 5UZUnited Kingdom

History

The principles of the Permasense system were developed by the non-destructive testing research group at Imperial College London, led by Professor Peter Cawley. Since 2006, the system has been refined and proven in collaboration with BP, and has already been deployed at BP refineries around the world, delivering corrosion monitoring in a range of circumstances and environments where manual monitoring is difficult, insufficiently accurate or otherwise inadequate. In 2009, Permasense was established to continue developing and marketing its innovative system for use with other oil companies.

Recent Articles

Consider a new monitoring system to prevent corrosion

3rd January 2012Hydrocarbon Processing

Spotting the rotSensor technology: Ultrasound is being exploited in a novel way to monitor corrosion at rusty oil refineries more reliably

3rd December 2011The Economist

Corrosion monitoring systems for the global oil and gas industries

Permasense sensor on pipe

Dr Peter Collins Chief Executive Officer

Founders & Management Team

Tom Fuggle Business Development Director

Tom Fuggle has a successful track record of managing client relationships in the Oil & Gas sector and was previously Director of Business Development at global energy solutions provider Dresser-Rand, where he led many of the company’s large project developments in EMEA in the Oil & Gas sector. Prior to this he was Managing Director of Engineering and General Equipment and Group Products Director at Alfa Laval, and where he also led university research in non-invasive, real-time condition monitoring.

www.permasense.com

+44 20 3002 3672

Century House100 Station Road

Horsham, RH13 5UZUnited Kingdom

Peter Collins has held board-level technical and operational roles in public and private companies. He was formerly Operations Director at Sondex plc, which specialises in the engineering and manufacture of directional drilling and formation evaluation systems and wireline tools for the production of Oil & Gas, now part of GE Energy, and has been Technical Director at PII Ltd, the Oil & Gas pipeline inspection provider, also part of GE Energy.

Dr Jon Allin Chief Technology Officer

Jon Allin drove the development of the system and then led the creation of Permasense Ltd to deliver and support the system on a commercial scale. He holds a PhD from Imperial College London.

Dr Jake Davies Technical Support Manager

Jake Davies led the operational testing of the Permasense system at BP refineries from the outset, and subsequently Permasense’s commercial deployment of the system at refineries across the world. In his early career, Jake consulted for Guided Ultrasonics Ltd leading to a successful commercial introduction of his doctoral reasearch to the upstream Oil & Gas market.

Corrosion monitoring systems for the global oil and gas industries

Phil Pakianathan Production and Design Manager

Phil Pakianathan is a Chartered Engineer and has many years’ experience in a high technology, multinational environment, in new product introduction, business development and supply management roles.

Mechanic attaching a corrosion sensor to pipework

Company

Plaxica is a technology and licensing company focused on the production of next generation biopolymers and platform chemicals from renewable resources. Plaxica’s polymers are a range of polylactic acid (PLA) based materials which are expected to have improved physical properties compared with first generation biopolymers. These second generation PLA polymers are likely to compete effectively with conventional oil-derived products like PET, polypropylene and polystyrene in textile, automotive, electronics, household and packaging applications. The production from sustainable resources, such as sugarcane, cereals and cellulose (e.g. straw, wood), together with the use, recycling and disposal of these polymers, will have a lower environmental footprint than conventional oil-based plastics and fibres, without compromising performance.

The current market size for biopolymers is over $2 billion per annum and is growing at more than 10% per year. PLA is the most successful biopolymer to date, with approximately 40% of the market at some $800 million, and which is forecast to grow to $1 billion by 2012.

Quick Facts

Employees: 26 Founded: 2008Location: London & Wilton

www.plaxica.com

+44 (0)1642 438135

The Wilton CentreRedcar

Cleveland TS10 4RF

Plaxica’s novel technology was initially developed at Imperial College London, in the laboratories of Professor Vernon Gibson and Dr Ed Marshall. The company was founded by Imperial Innovations in 2008. In September 2011, Plaxica raised £5m Series B financing from its investors Imperial Innovations, Invesco Perpetual, and NESTA Investments. In 2012, Plaxica has established a demonstration facility at Wilton International on Teesside to demonstrate the technology and create a showcase for licensing of the technology to global polymer producers.

Transformational biopolymer technology

Recent Articles

Plaxica scheme to create plastic from plants

9th March 2012The Northern Echo

Plaxica sets ambitious goal to produce renewable plastic

10th February 2012The Manufacturer

History & Funding

Founders & Management Team

www.plaxica.com

+44 (0)1642 438135

The Wilton CentreRedcar

Cleveland TS10 4RF

Dr Martin RiedikerChairman

Previously Chief Technology Officer, Chief Innovation Officer and a member of the executive committee of Ciba, Martin was also head of Ciba’s US Polymers Division, and brings a wealth of experience to bear in his role as an independent industry expert serving as a non-executive director of Plaxica. Martin has a doctorate in Chemistry and conducted post-doctoral research at Princeton University before joining Ciba-Geigy in their central research group.

Dr Ed Marshall Head of Research

Dr Ed Marshall is a founding member of Plaxica and heads the company’s research activities. With more than 50 academic papers and patents to his name, and formerly a lecturer in the department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, he has been active in polymer chemistry since his PhD at Durham University. A major focus of his research has been the development of new catalysts for the synthesis of polymers from green sources. He was also previously the Director of Imperial College’s Master’s degree in Green Chemistry: Energy and the Environment.

Transformational biopolymer technology

Phil GoodierChief Executive Officer

Phil Goodier brings over twenty years of executive leadership experience in technology focused companies. He previously served as Group Managing Director of Hexadex, a business delivering complex technology products to the international automotive market, and has also held a number of senior positions in the chemicals and polymer industry with companies such as ICI, Arch Chemicals and DuPont.

Mark SuttonChief Operating Officer

Mark Sutton joined Plaxica at the beginning of 2011 from Davy Process Technology, a process development and licensing company in the Johnson Matthey group. During his 20 years with Davy he held a number of technology and commercial management positions and, most recently, he was Vice President responsible for Davy’s Syngas and Methanol business.

Dr Dunstan CookeBusiness Director

Prior to joining Plaxica, Dr Dunstan Cooke was Director Intellectual Property & Licensing at Thiakis, a biotech company focused on obesity and metabolic disease, where he was responsible for all aspects of global intellectual property strategy. Previously, Dunstan was a Technology Executive at Imperial Innovations.

Steve Donegan Head of Engineering

Steve joined Plaxica at the beginning of 2012 from the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) where he was Engineering & Technology Manager. Part of the UK’s first Technology and Innovation Centre, CPI is a public/ private technology company which aims to support and commercialise innovation in the process industries. Steve is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, and brings wide experience in the leadership of process scale up and demonstration activities.

Company

www.psenterprise.com

+44 (0)2085 630888

6th Floor East 26-28 Hammersmith Grove

London W6 7HA

Process Systems Enterprise (PSE) was founded in 1997 by five professors from the Centre for Process Systems Engineering - Professors Costas Pantelides, Nilay Shah, Sandro Macchietto, Stratos Pistikopoulos and John Perkins. One of the first Imperial spin-outs, the company now has a worldwide customer base of mostly Fortune 500 organisations, including BP, Shell, Procter & Gamble and Nestle. PSE operates from headquarters in London, with offices in the UK, USA, Japan and Korea, and agencies in Saudi Arabia, India, China, Malaysia and Thailand.

Over 200 academic institutions worldwide have also benefitted from PSE’s low-cost software licensing, which helps researchers to achieve rapid results by minimising programming. Use of gPROMS also facilitates universities’ collaborative work with industrial partners and provides a platform for the transfer of results to industry.

The technical excellence and successful commercialisation of the gPROMS modelling technology has been recognised by several major awards, including the Smithsonian (1998), the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Innovation (2001) and the prestigious Royal Academy MacRobert Award for Engineering Innovation (2007).

Recent Article

New technology has potential to transform pharma manufacture

16th May 2012Psenterprise.com

History & Highlights

Quick Facts

Founded: 1997Location: London

Advanced process modelling technology and services

Process Systems Enterprise Limited (PSE) is one of the world’s foremost providers of modelling technology and model-based services to the process industries and their technology suppliers.

PSE’s gPROMS advanced process modelling software is used to apply high-fidelity mathematical models of process equipment and phenomena in order to provide high-quality numerical information for decision support in process innovation, design and operation. gPROMS can be applied across the ‘process lifecycle’, from laboratory research through process design to operations and purchasing. PSE’s technology and services are currently used in virtually all the major process industry sectors: chemicals & petrochemicals, oil & gas, refining, polymers & plastics, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, power, minerals & mining, consumer goods, food & beverage and pulp & paper, as well as their technology suppliers such as automation and process design companies.

Use of PSE’s technology and services within model-based engineering or model-based innovation programmes results in faster innovation, improved designs of processes and products, enhancement of existing operations and more effective R&D and experimental programmes. Results are achieved with relatively low investment compared to alternative approaches – where these exist – with rapid return on investment and transfer of modelling know-how to industry.

Board of Directors

www.psenterprise.com

+44 (0)2085 630888

6th Floor East 26-28 Hammersmith Grove

London W6 7HA

Keith Guy, Chairman

Keith Guy FREng is Chairman of Process Systems Enterprise Ltd, Impact Faraday Ltd and Process Integration Ltd, a Director of Spiritus Consulting Ltd, and a non-executive director of Webaspx Ltd. He is currently a member of the Engineering Policy Board of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Chairman of the Exxon Teaching Fellowships Scheme and a Trustee of the Institution of Chemical Engineers Benevolent fund. He plays a regular part in industry-academic-government committees with a particular focus on sustainable development activities and low carbon energy systems.

Costas Pantelides, Managing Director

Costas Pantelides FREng is one of the original founders of the company, and has also served as its Technology Director since the establishment of the company in 1997. Costas has more than 25 years’ experience in process modelling technology, having played a leading role in the development of the gPROMS and SPEEDUP technologies. His contributions to process systems engineering were honoured by the 1998 Beilby Medal and Prize, awarded jointly by the UK Society of Chemical Industry, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institute of Materials. In 2007, he led the winning team for the MacRobert Award, the UK’s highest award for innovation across all branches of engineering.

Brian McKenzie, Finance Director

Brian McKenzie joined Process Systems Enterprise as Finance Director in February 2011 after more than 15 years’ experience in technology, media and finance. Prior to joining PSE, Brian spent 4 years as CFO at Innovision Research and Technology plc, an AIM listed “fabless” semiconductor company where he was part of the team that focussed the strategy, grew and enhanced the customer base and sold the company to Broadcom Inc at a significant premium to market.

Bernie Waldron, Non-Executive Director

Bernie Waldron has more than 25 years’ international leadership experience and a proven track record of success in competitive and changing markets. In 2007, Bernie embarked on a part-time portfolio career, working with organisations on a non-executive basis. Currently, he is a director of Kneip, a service provider to the global investment fund industry, and a Trustee of the Venture Partnership Foundation, which supports rapidly growing entrepreneurial charities.

Robert Whitby-Smith, Non-Executive Director

Robert Whitby-Smith is a partner of Albion Ventures LLP, a leading independent private equity business, managing over £250m across nine Venture Capital Trusts. Albion was formed by the Close Ventures’ management team to acquire Close Brothers Group PLC’s venture capital business, Close Ventures Limited.

Advanced process modelling technology and services

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