Faculty of Science and Technology

Energi Holdings plc, a newly established company developing and installing solar Photovoltaic systems, is the third public limited company (plc) to move into the Lancaster Environment Centre.

Energi joins Plant Impact plc, a plant biotechnology company developing novel, environmentally-safe agrochemicals and Mouchel Group plc, a multinational support services organisation.

All three companies are investigating project partnership opportunities with the LEC. These partnerships marry the research excellence within LEC to new commercial opportunities for R&D project finance, valuable data gathering and successful routes for commercialisation.

They join another twelve companies that have also moved into the third phase of LEC, since it's opening in May 2007.

A growing number of these resident companies are engaged in projects with academic staff, ranging from student projects to fully financed research partnerships. Small World Consulting Ltd, one of the first companies to co-locate, is undertaking research into carbon footprinting methodologies with the centre's energy researchers in addition to collaboration with social scientists and engineers across the Lancaster campus.

Paul Tanner, lead of the co-location team in LEC said, "We are encouraged by the level of interest from the business community in LEC and the growing number of partnerships which are developing between resident companies and the researchers in the University and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology".

Sun 25 November 2007