£14m graphene centre will focus on application development

The £14million facility will build on existing capabilities and help to develop graphene-based products ahead of organisations in the Far East, where there has already been a significant number of patents registered. George Osborne said in his Budget speech: "If Britain isn't leading the world in science and technology and engineering, then we are condemning our country to fall behind. "So we will establish new centres for doctoral training, for cell therapy and for graphene – a great British discovery that we should break the habit of a lifetime with and commercially develop in Britain." The Graphene Applications Innovation Centre will be based at the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) in the North East, which is part of the government's network of Catapult technology centres. The CPI said everything from high capacity batteries to ultra fast transistors and aircraft wings could benefit from the material. CEO Nigel Perry described the funding as 'vital'. He continued: "Graphene is a very interesting material with great promise. The UK has a strong position in the fundamental science of graphene and the new centre will increase the focus on exploring potential applicationns via the scale up of manufacturing processes for both material and products. "If the UK is to create economic benefit from graphene it will require a concerted effort to become closer to market by proving that processes work at an industrial scale."