The
University of Sheffield's Professor Alma Hodzic and her team has won the Knowledge Transfer Partnership
Best of the Best 2014 Awards, in the category
Best Partnership for her project with Shaun Chatterton and Dr Andrew Gill from Floreon, a spin-out company based on the biodegradable biopolymer technology developed by the university and CPD Plc in Hull.
This year’s awards celebrated partnerships that have excelled in the areas of Engineering Excellence, Societal Impact and Business Impact, among others, with individual awards being given to Business Leaders of Tomorrow. The celebration concluded with the much-coveted Best Partnership Award.
Floreon is an innovative, environmentally friendly, high performing bioplastic developed from sustainable materials.
Speaking about the project Alma says “The award is a fantastic recognition of the successful research partnership between the
University of Sheffield and Floreon Transforming Packaging Ltd.
The final product, Floreon, has been developed after four years of research and two KTP’s that have both been graded by independent Technology Strategy Board reviewers as ‘Outstanding’. This experience has shown us that KTP scheme can effectively accelerate academic know-how into the world of innovative applications, and in this case with significant benefits to the Shaun Chatterton, CEO of Floreon stated “This KTP is a perfect example of the successful partnerships between industry and academia; the technology created by researchers at The University of Sheffield and the independent partner Floreon driving forward the commercialisation of the product. We are positive about the possibility of developing a global brand having already invested over £1 million into this exciting innovation.
Floreon’s Technical Director, Dr Andrew Gill, who started working on the project as a PhD student and KTP Associate at The University of Sheffield, but his work on the KTP with Floreon has developed into a thriving career. He states “Alongside The University of Sheffield, Floreon has developed a novel, commercial product and built a company around it.”
All the nominees are engaged in fields ranging from pharmaceuticals and healthcare through to high-value manufacturing and environmental technologies. The projects offer a compelling demonstration of the breadth and depth of KTP’s that combine innovation and the application of new knowledge that allows UK business to compete in an increasingly competitive global market.
FORGET WHAT YOU THINK YOU KNOW ABOUT ENGINEERING
Engineering is a fantastic career choice for men and women, unfortunately women are woefully underrepresented.
The University of Sheffield wants to show the huge diversity of the engineering discipline; to break preconceived notions of what engineering is and to showcase our excellent Women in Engineering at The University of Sheffield.
Forget what you think you know about engineering and find out why engineering is a great choice for women from our own female engineers; past, present and future.
Research what exciting career opportunities are available.
Disclosure: Where Women Work researches and publishes insightful evidence about how its paid member organizations support women's equality.