Research and Development

“Collaboration with one of Wales’ leading academic institutions has been beneficial in bringing green benefits to a £10 billion industry.”
Andrew Loyns, CEO Atraverda

If your business is looking to harness or develop forward looking technologies, collaborating with Wales’ Centres of Excellence for Technology and Industrial Collaboration offers a proven route to success. Wales is making a huge investment in this network which has set a new benchmark for industry-partnered automotive research.

• Swansea Institute of Higher Education (SIHE) offers vehicle styling design and automotive engineering expertise, and is planning a new Automotive Design Centre to provide full size clay modelling and structural design.
• The Wolfson Centre at Cardiff University has an international reputation for applied R&D within magnetics – a science that offers massive potential for improving engine efficiency.
• The Materials Centre of Excellence, based at Swansea University, provides key materials technologies to a host of industry sectors requiring specialist expertise - in areas that include high performance metallic alloys, engineering ceramics, polymers and composites.
• A number of research institutes within Wales offer specialist expertise within Non-destructive Testing, while the new NDT Validation Centre in Port Talbot is a new national research centre set to play a critical role in ensuring the future safety of materials and components used in performance engineering.
• At Cardiff University’s School of Engineering, the Centre for Research in Energy Waste and the Environment has gained an international reputation for research in energy, combustion and process management.
• The Centre for Advanced Software and Intelligent systems, Aberystwyth, works with automotive partners on failure mode effects analysis software for electrical systems.
• The National Centre for Product Development, Cardiff, manages projects from concept to rapid prototyping, and has created an in-cab display system for Trident. It has also recently invested in selective laser melting.
• A hydrogen fuel cell minibus is being developed by Glamorgan University - the only project of its kind in the UK and funded by the Energy Savings Trust.