EPSRC gives £3.6m to fund light based research

The money will be used to fund a number of 18 month feasibility studies that aim to advance core science towards manufacturing in diverse sectors including pharmaceuticals, chemicals, electronics and security. Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, said: "This funding will develop research to support the UK's growing manufacturing sector which already employs around 2.5m people. This early stage research will give businesses a great opportunity to develop new technologies to create more effective and efficient manufacturing processes." Amongst the 14 projects being funded are: using light to assemble electronic components into circuits; and using lasers themselves to create high power laser devices that can be adopted by the UK manufacturing sector. David Delpy, EPSRC chief executive, said: "These projects demonstrate how research into the fundamental science and engineering of optical phenomena can have a significant impact in manufacturing and also shows how well the UK academic base works with industry to enable the UK to benefit from fundamental discoveries."