During the MRes year, innovation training is provided through modules on:
- Nurturing and Managing Innovation in Science which is designed to help emerging scientists understand the factors at play in the process of converting lab based research to commercial products and services
- Nanointegration, which focuses on system integration and interfacing nanomaterials and devices with traditional electronics
- Responsible Research and Innovation, and Societal & Ethical Dimensions of Micro and Nanotechnology, which provide students an opportunity to explore some of the societal and ethical implications of innovation in micro- and nanotechnologies, and to look at their own projects with a responsible research and innovation lens
Interaction with industry partners through events and joint PhD projects, as well as the Nano-Innovation Seminars, helps enrich the students experience during the MRes as well as later years.
Transitioning academic research to higher Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) and commercial applications is a key focus of our centre, which we support through a one-year Translational Prize Fellowship to selected PhD students who are in the final stages of completing their PhD.
The Innovation and business training combined with a strong scientific foundation has enabled a number of our students and alumni to set up startup businesses based on their own research or on other topics.
Nano Innovation Seminar Series
The Nano-Innovation Seminar series provides an opportunity for students to engage with leaders in nano-innovation during the MRes year and beyond. Recent speakers have included Prof. Ijeoma Uchegbu (Co-Founder, Nanomerics Ltd), Prof Charles G. Smith (Co-Founder, Cavendish-Kinetics Ltd and Cambridge Lab on Chip Ltd), Dr. Lakmal Jayasinghe (Oxford Nanopore Technologies), Prof Henning Sirringhaus (Co-Founder Plastic Logic and FlexEnable), Dr Alex Shard (NPL), Dr. Mark Goulding (Merck) and Philip Hunt (Co-Founder, Orenko)
