University of Southampton wins prestigious innovation award

The partnership, made up of the University of Southampton, Geotek Ltd and Matthew Druce - the associate who delivered the project - have collaborated to drive innovation in the design and manufacture of scientific apparatus for the analysis of geological samples taken from the deep ocean floor and retained under high pressure during testing. This will better support the exploration of natural resources and has been commended as a ‘world first' for the engineering sector. As a result, the team was nominated for the Best Partnership Category and won an award in the Engineering Excellence category.

Dr Jeffrey Priest said:

"The Government's KTP scheme gave us the opportunity to embed the results of more than ten years of research into practice. We have benefitted enormously from interaction with Geotek, from whom we have learned much, and through the support of the KTP system. This award, and the recognition that it brings, is the crowning achievement of our project."

John Roberts, Company Supervisor of Geotek Limited, said:

"We are delighted that our project won at what is a really prestigious awards event in the field of innovation. The partnership we've embarked on with the University of Southampton and Matthew Druce, has bought lots of innovations to our sector which we are really proud of. The fact that we have won an award in the Engineering Excellence category is testament to all of the hard work and time we've invested in our project."

The UK Awards, which are held annually, are run by the UK's innovation agency the Technology Strategy Board to honour the best KTPs in the UK.

KTP is a UK-wide programme, organised by the Technology Strategy Board along with 12 other public sector partners. The programme offers the opportunity for three partners - a business, UK university or college partner, and a recently qualified graduate (associate) to work collaboratively to develop a business opportunity or innovative idea. Knowledge Transfer Partnerships allow ideas to be shared more easily between UK businesses and academic institutions.

Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board, said:

"Once again we have been inundated with entries for the KTP Awards 2013, which really do showcase the outstanding and innovative collaborations which have taken place right here in the UK. Having seen the excellent work of this KTP, we felt it only right that it was confirmed as a winner at this year's Awards event. What's more we hope to see many more excellent innovations developed by it in the near future."

To find out more information about KTPs please visit: https://www.innovateuk.org/-/knowledge-transfer-partnerships