September 20, 2021 | University Partners

University of Wolverhampton Engineers Top Accolade for Innovation at Awards Night

The University of Wolverhampton has secured a top accolade for its commitment to providing innovative research at a prestigious awards ceremony held recently.

The Innovation Awards is an annual awards ceremony which is organised by the Technology Supply Chain (TSC) - a Community Interest Company. The awards focus on innovation in engineering, manufacturing, technology and are designed to specifically promote, recognise, celebrate and reward the leading individuals and businesses for their work in these vital areas epitomising the exceptionally high standards set and achieved by the UK.

The University’s School of Engineering was in the running for two awards and staved off competition from finalists, Aston University Smarterials Group, Transfer for West Midlands Group, University of Birmingham and the Warwick Manufacturing Group to take the award for the Engineering Innovation Champion category.

The award was presented in recognition of the University’s work with regional engineering and manufacturing companies through research and collaboration enabled by its two research centres, Composite & Additive Layer Materials Engineering Research & Innovation Centre (CALMERIC) and its Centre for its Centre for Engineering Innovation and Research (CEIR) for new product development and advanced manufacturing delivering significant impact on the regional economy.

Professor Andrew Pollard, Industrial Professor in the Faculty of Science & Engineering and a specialist in the development and commercialisation of new products, said: “We were delighted to have been successful in winning this prestigious award for innovation. The University of Wolverhampton has worked with hundreds of regional engineering and manufacturing companies in recent years, supporting them in product and process innovations by channelling grant funding for new product development and entering into research collaborations with them.

“We are deeply committed to supporting innovation and solving problems relevant to industry, recently opening its new Centre of Engineering Innovation and Research (CIER).  From advanced additive manufacturing to metamaterials, tissue engineering biomaterials, next-generation energy-absorbing devices, and advanced energy storage, the innovations at CEIR are focused on pushing the boundaries of engineering through interdisciplinary enquiry.

“This builds on the work of our CALMERIC project focusing on Composites and Additive Layer materials technologies.  Part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the CALMERIC project supports SMEs across Shropshire and Staffordshire to carry out research and innovation projects in the field of advanced engineering materials.”