KTP Project wins IChemE Global Award 2020

The IChemE Global Food & Drink Category award “recognises the best project, process or product that demonstrates innovation to optimise manufacturing operations and contribute to the manufacturing of safe, sustainable food or drink.”

This KTP project received financial support from UKRI through Innovate UK and the Welsh Government and highlights the collaborative achievements of improving enzyme manufacturing processes, and the successful validation of the ultra scale-down techniques, pioneered at UCL, in an industrial setting. The benefits also translate to the customers of Biocatalysts. The economic benefits of the improved enzyme manufacturing process will enable more customers to access Biocatalysts Ltd’s enzyme products and therefore gain the advantage of using enzyme-based processes.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) aim to help businesses improve their competitiveness and productivity through better use of the
knowledge, technology and skills held within the UK knowledge base.

The team at UCL is composed of

• Davy Rowan (KTP/Research associate, now Process Improvement Scientist at Biocatalysts Ltd)
• Prof Mike Hoare (academic supervisor)
• Dr Andrea Rayat (academic advisor)

Natalie Gough, Programme Manager: KTP and Enterprise Secondments at UCL Innovation & Enterprise, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for the KTP team, and clearly demonstrates the positive impact KTPs can have on helping to transform the food and drink industry.”

Professor Gary Lye, Head of the UCL Department of Biochemical Engineering, said “This project has been an excellent example of academic-industrial collaboration and true two-way knowledge exchange. From an academic perspective, it is great to see UCL ultra scale-down technologies being used across a wider range of industry sectors and having a real impact on the companies that use them. My congratulations to the team and especially Davy Rowan, the KTP associate, who really drove this project forward.”

Links

• Read the press release from our partners, Biocatalysts
• Find out more about growing your own business through a KTP
• Find out more about ultra scale-down here 
• For more information please contact Dr Andrea Rayat