Impact Report 2012

STFC Impact Report 2012

STFC’s high performance computing capability isaccessible to industry, speeding up the innovationcycle and accelerating economic growth.

Contents

STFC Impact Report 2012

Executive Summary................................................................................................................................2

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................4

World Class Research ............................................................................................................................6

Research statistics ....................................................................................................................6

Generating new knowledge ....................................................................................................7

Creating long term impact ......................................................................................................8

Solutions for Global Challenges............................................................................................10

World Class Innovation........................................................................................................................12

Innovation from grant-funded programmes ......................................................................12

Commercialisation of STFC IP................................................................................................13

Supporting UK businessess to take advantage of our facilities and subscriptions......14

Delivering impact through the Science and Innovation Campuses................................15

Investment in e-infrastructure ..............................................................................................19

World Class Skills ..................................................................................................................................20

Highly skilled people ..............................................................................................................20

Inspiring and involving ..........................................................................................................22

Collaboration activities ..........................................................................................................23

Methodological developments and future challenges ..................................................................24

STFC impact evaluation programme....................................................................................25

Appendices ............................................................................................................................................27

Appendix 1: STFC publication statistics ..............................................................................27

Appendix 2: STFC Statistics ..................................................................................................28

Appendix 3: Glossary..............................................................................................................29

Note: All images are courtesy of STFC unless otherwise stated. Cover image courtesy of Dreamstime.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is one of seven UK research councils. Ourresearch seeks to understand the Universe from the largest astronomical scales to the tiniestconstituents of matter, yet creates impact on a very tangible, human scale. From cancer treatment toairport security, high-tech jobs to hydrogen-powered cars, energy generation to accident-sceneemergency care, our impact is felt within and beyond the UK in many aspects of daily life.To sustain the UK’s position as one of the world’s leading research nations, we maintain a focus onresearch excellence and leadership. This creates an immediate impact on skills and training, and bypushing the boundaries of science and technology, supports the growth of a high-technology UKeconomy.

Creating capability and advancing the UK’s skills base

• STFC research inspires future generations tostudy STEM subjects. Research shows that theareas of physics that spark the most interest arethose supported by STFC, and applications touniversity physics courses continue to rise. Newdiscoveries attract strong public interest – anestimated 26 million people followed TV andradio coverage of CERN’s announcement of thediscovery of a new Higgs-like particle.

• Graduates from STFC-supported PhDs enjoy nearcomplete employment (93%), and develop thehigh-level computing, quantitative andtransferable skills that drive a knowledge-based,innovative economy.

• In 2011/12, STFC also provided over 12,000training days to students from many disciplines,supported by other research councils, in a varietyof skills across our facilities and departments.

• STFC is a focal point for the UK’s nationalcapability in areas such as microelectronics, highperformance computing, and in researchtechniques such as neutron and X-ray scattering.

Improving the performance of existing businesses

• Industrial access to our facilities maintains thevibrancy and innovative capacity of a range ofkey sectors, including aerospace, nuclear, low-carbon, oil and gas, automotive, and space. In2011/12 over 60 commercial organisations usedSTFC’s UK facilities, and around 50 UK companiesaccessed the ESRF and ILL, to develop newproducts and improve existing ones.

• UK companies have been able to commerciallyexploit technology advances from fundamentalphysics research, and access new markets,through collaboration with STFC and itsuniversity research communities. The economicbenefit of these interactions to two UKcompanies, Oxford Instruments and e2v, isestimated to be £500 million - £700 million.

• The thriving National Science and InnovationCampuses, Harwell Oxford and Sci-TechDaresbury, support nearly 5,000 jobs and createdover 90 new jobs in the last year.

Creating and nurturing new businesses

• STFC’s Business Incubation Centres andInnovation Technology Access Centres supportnearly 50 new high-technology start-upbusinesses.

• Technology originally developed for STFC scienceis being redeployed for economic and socialbenefit. For example: satellite technology hasbeen used to create portable X-ray scanners forimproving accident-scene emergency care;software for spacecraft control is revolutionisingthe graphics and gaming industries; data handlingexpertise from CERN is improving the efficiencyof the architecture and construction industries.

• One of STFC’s earliest spin outs, Nominet, hashad a profound impact on the UK economy.Nominet manages the ‘.co.uk’ domain, one of theworld’s largest Internet registries with over 10million UK business domain names.

• Knowledge arising from STFC research intoparticle accelerators was a key enabler forMagnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Thispowerful medical diagnostic tool created a

Executive Summary

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STFC Research Performance and Economic Impact Report 2012

1 http://www.stfc.ac.uk/resources/pdf/STFCCS2010.pdf

significant sector in the UK, which now supportsover 2,200 jobs and contributes £111 millionannually to UK GDP.

Improving public policy and public services

• Research at STFC’s ISIS facility supported 5-yearlife extensions to two UK nuclear powerstations, deferring the need for decommissioningand replacement at a cost of £3 billion.

• STFC is playing a key role in developing a UKspace weather strategy. Extreme space weathercan cause severe disruption to communications,electronics and power grids, and is identified asa significant risk in the UK’s National RiskRegister.

• STFC spin-out Cobalt Light Systems Ltd securedapproval for use of its INSIGHT100 bottlescanner at European airports, which can rapidlydetect the presence of a dangerous liquid in aclosed bottle. It is anticipated that this willenable a relaxation of the ban on liquids in airpassengers’ hand luggage, and is being trialled atseveral major airports.

Attracting R&D investment from global business

• Element Six, world-leaders in synthetic diamondsupermaterials, selected the Harwell OxfordCampus as the best place in the world to locatetheir new innovation centre. The £20 millioninvestment will create employment for over 100scientists, engineers and technicians.

• STFC spin-out Cella Energy attracted $1 millioninvestment from Space Florida, which willenable it to set up research facilities at NASAand at STFC, and double its employee numbers.Cella’s innovative, safe, low-cost solution tohydrogen storage could provide a futurealternative to petrol fuelled vehicles.

• A major collaboration between STFC and IBMhas established one of the world’s foremostcentres in high performance computing andsoftware development. Following a £37.5million e-infrastructure investment from BIS,STFC’s Daresbury laboratory hosts the UK’s mostpowerful supercomputer and the 13th mostpowerful globally. Establishing high performancecomputing as a highly accessible and invaluabletool, its capabilities are already attracting globalbusinesses.

STFC’s vision is to maximise the impact of ourknowledge, skills, facilities and resources for thebenefit of the United Kingdom and its people. In2010, STFC set out a ten-year strategy1to deliverthis vision, through our three strategic goals ofworld class research, world class innovation, andworld class skills. By monitoring and evaluating ourimpact, we track our progress towards realising ourvision. In this, STFC’s second Impact Report, wepresent quantitative data and case study exampleswhich illustrate the breadth and depth of oureconomic and societal impact, across the whole ofthe UK’s science and innovation landscape.

The 25 metre antenna at STFC's Chilbolton Laboratory, which received the first signals

from the first satellite of Galileo, the European satellite navigation system.

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World Class Research

World Class Innovation

World Class Skills

One of the first images from the ALMA telescope, whichUK researchers and industry have helped design and build.ALMA will provide an unprecedented view of the earliestand most distant galaxies. Credit: ESO

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IntroductionSTFC creates impact in research, innovation and skillsthrough three distinct but interrelated functions:

• Grant-supported programmes: Supportingfundamental research in particle physics,astronomy, nuclear physics and space sciencethrough UK universities.

• Facilities: Providing UK university and industrialresearchers with access to a range of world-leading, large scale facilities across a range ofscience, within the UK and abroad.

• Campuses: Developing the Science andInnovation Campuses, Sci-Tech Daresbury andHarwell Oxford, to promote collaboration andeconomic growth.

Our role within the research councils is thus uniquelybroad; we commission and deliver our own scientificprogramme, and through our facilities and Campuseswe enable our strategic partners to deliver theirprogrammes. Strong relationships are core to thesetwo facets of our role and many of our impacts aregenerated in collaboration with others.

Impacts are realised on differing timescales andlevels:

• Direct – relatively easy to quantify, attribute andpredict, these outputs are short- to medium-termin nature.

• Indirect – may only be predictable in generalterms. These impacts often occur when originalresearch is used in a novel, manner and normallymaterialise over the medium term.

• Global – significant international impact, whichhas an effect on people’s daily lives. This kind ofimpact arises infrequently and generally happensover the long term.

This report is structured around our three strategicgoals of research, innovation and skills and illustrateshow our different delivery functions generate arange of impacts on varying timescales. We alsoreview the improvements we are making in ourevaluation efforts and methodologies.

36 inch telescope at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, home of STFC's UK Astronomy Technology

Centre. The UKATC builds instruments for many of the world's major telescopes, and leads activities

that inspire the public to get involved with astronomy.

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World Class Research

Research statistics

In 2011/12:

• STFC invested £98.7 million in grant funding,supporting 266 Principal Investigators.

• Over 3,600 users accessed STFC’s UK largefacilities, carrying out over 2,000 experimentsand generating around 900 publications.

• Around 1,000 UK researchers accessed thefacilities funded by STFC at the ESRF and ILL.

• Diamond Light Source recorded 319 newdepositions in the Worldwide Protein Databank2, up from 282 in 2010, and ESRF recorded 881.

This single archive of the world’s proteinstructure data leads to a greater understanding ofprocesses in the human body, for example how tolessen the impact of diseases.

• Around 650 UK particle physicists carried outresearch at CERN, and around 400 astronomerscarried out research using the telescopesoperated by ESO. These facilities are provided bySTFC through international subscriptions.

• Publication records were broken at the JAC (JointAstronomy Centre), with both telescopes UKIRTand JCMT producing their highest ever numbersof peer-reviewed papers.

The most recent bibliometric data confirms that interms of research quality, the UK was first in theworld in citation impact in astronomy and particlephysics, and second in nuclear physics. An updatedreport will be available by March 2013; the change inthe timing of the reporting has been made to ensurethat we have the most robust data available. Furtherstatistics can be found in Appendices 1 and 2.

The Joint Astronomy Centre produced its highest ever numbersof peer reviewed publications. Credit: Joint Astronomy Centre

Our ambition is to sustain the UK’s position as one of the world’s leading research nations and support thegrowth of a high-technology UK economy. This section demonstrates our progress towards this goal,starting with research statistics to give scale and context. STFC creates direct impact by generating newknowledge from fundamental research through our grant-funded programmes and at our facilities. That new knowledge can then create long term impact and benefits for society and the economy via thedevelopment of enabling technologies, for example our Futures programme uses our strengths andcapabilities to find solutions for global challenges.

• £98.7m amount invested inresearch grant funding to UK institutions

• 26m number of people reached by TV and radio coverage of announcement ofdiscovery of new Higgs-like particle

• £3bn cost of decommissioning andreplacing two nuclear power stations,deferred after research at ISIS supportedthe case for 5-year life extensions

Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN this yearannounced the discovery of a new particle. Credit: CERN

2 http://biosync.sbkb.org/stats.do?stats_sec=RGNL&stats_focus_lvl=RGNL&stats_region=European

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It’s a boson!Particle physics entered a new era of discoverywith the announcement from CERN that a newparticle had been observed, with propertiesconsistent with that of the elusive Higgs Boson.The UK played a central role in this discovery, fromPeter Higgs and other theorists who formulated themodel, to the engineers and scientists whodesigned, built and exploited the Large HadronCollider (LHC).

The global scale of the media coveragedemonstrates how fundamental physics excitesand inspires the general public. Twelve millionpeople watched the UK television coverage and afurther 14 million heard it on local and nationalradio. The Higgs was mentioned every 1.1 secondson Twitter at the peak of the excitement with eightof the ten ‘trending’ topics being Higgs-related.

The discovery represents a significant breakthrough in our understanding of the basic forces that shapedour Universe but is just the start of the LHC’s scientific mission. Scientists will continue to probe the datato seek answers to ‘big’ questions such as ‘what is our Universe made of?’

The Higgs was mentioned every 1.1 seconds on Twitterhighlighting the huge public interest the announcement.

Generating new knowledgeSTFC funds curiosity-driven research that is seeking to answer some of the most fundamental questionsabout the Universe. We also provide access to world-leading facilities for multi-disciplinary research, whichallows researchers to understand the structure of materials from the atomic to the cellular scale. Theoutputs of these endeavours create impact by advancing human knowledge, by pushing the boundaries oftechnology and by inspiring the next generation of scientists and innovators. Here we highlight two of themajor advances made in 2011/12.

Cutting-edge research in fundamental physics inspires future generationsto study STEM subjects.

Super-fast computing capabilityenables to the UK to remain atthe forefront of research.

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ALMA reveals its first image

ALMA’s fifty-four telescopes are located 5000m above sea level and will provide an unprecedented view of the earliest andmost distant galaxies. Credit: ESO

A new telescope is offering exciting new scientificopportunities to UK astronomers and itsconstruction has strengthened the capabilities of UKhigh-tech businesses. ALMA, the most complexground-based telescope in existence, opened inOctober 2011 and produced its first image.

UK astronomers will now be able to study starsand galaxies from the very early Universe usingALMA through STFC’s membership of the European

Southern Observatory (ESO). The telescope tookover a decade to design and construct, involvingcollaborators from four continents and with STFC’slaboratories and funded university groupscontributing key areas of technology. The returnto UK industry during the construction phase wasin excess of £5 million, benefitting companies suchas Dorset company NTE Vacuum Technology Ltdand engineering services firm BrixworthEngineering Co Ltd.

Creating long term impact

Impact arises from fundamental research in waysthat are not always foreseen at the time, and cantake years to materialise, but can bring significantimprovements to our lives and wellbeing. Forinstance, the techniques used at our facilities forneutron and muon scattering, lasers, andsynchrotron light are all based on decades-old

fundamental physics principles, but are now beingused daily as tools to generate some veryimmediate benefits to the economy and society. Bysupporting curiosity-led research, we create thecapability and skills-base that will lead to futureeconomic and social impact. Here we give examplesof how long term impact has been generatedthrough fundamental physics discoveries andthrough research at our facilities.

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Celebrating Centenaries

In the past year we celebrated three significantcentenaries of discoveries in fundamental physicswhich have gone on to shape our everyday lives.These applications were not foreseen at the time,which illustrates that whilst the value of currentresearch can be difficult to predict, its impact onthe future can be world-changing.

Superconductivity was discovered in 1911, and hasenabled a major advance in healthcare throughMagnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). A key advancewhich made superconducting magnets practicallyfeasible was achieved at STFC’s RutherfordAppleton Laboratory in the 1970s, enabling theMRI technique to go on to become a powerfuldiagnostic tool. Conservative estimates show thatin 2010, the MRI systems industry’s total value-added contribution to UK GDP was £111 million,supporting around 2,200 jobs. MRI has led toimproved healthcare through its specialcapabilities in imaging soft tissue, particularlyimportant for the diagnosis and treatment ofconditions such as cancer and dementia. Over 2.5million MRI scans are performed in the UK eachyear. The economic impact of the availability ofMRI for just one common condition (surgicaltreatment of prolapsed discs) was estimated to bearound £166 million each year3.

Also in 1911, Ernest Rutherford discovered thenucleus of the atom, and his insight changed ourworld forever. The study of nuclei has led to thedevelopment of nuclear energy generation andmethods to treat cancer. The civil nuclear energyindustry in the UK generates around 16.5% of theUK’s energy, and supports around 80,000 UK jobs4.STFC supports continuing research intofundamental nuclear physics, which has led to newmedical imaging and security scanning techniques.

Cosmic rays were discovered in 1912, giving rise toa new field of study, particle astrophysics.Interfaces have been developed with a remarkablevariety of fields, including atmospheric physics,climatology, geology, seismology and volcanology.A multi-disciplinary project at the STFC-fundedBoulby Underground Laboratory is using cosmicrays to perform 3-D geological surveys, withapplications in mining and potential future CarbonCapture and Storage (CCS) technology5.

Through marking these significant anniversaries,we can recognise the major contributions tosociety and the economy made through advancesin fundamental physics.

THE MRI industry contributed £111 million to the UK economyin 2010. Credit: Dreamstime

2012 marks the 100th anniversary of thediscovery of cosmic rays.

3 The economic impact of physics research in the UK: Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scanners Case Study, Oxford Economics, 20124 http://www.niauk.org/facts-and-figures 5 http://www.aspera-eu.org/images/stories/files/GEOSPHERETOCOSMOS_5MB.pdf

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Supporting the integrity of the UK’s power supply

Research at STFC’s ISIS facility supported five-yearlife extensions to two UK nuclear power stations,enabling uninterrupted energy generation, anddeferring the need for decommissioning andreplacement at a cost of around £3 billion. EDFEnergy worked with the Open University MaterialsEngineering group to satisfy safety regulators of theintegrity of repair welds in four reactors, using thepowerful Engin-X instrument.

Engin-X was built using £2.5 million capitalinvestment from EPSRC, and is a dedicatedengineering instrument which can precisely andnon-destructively map stress distributions withinmaterials. Frequent users of this instrument include22 UK universities, international researchers from24 countries, numerous multinational companiessuch as Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Qinetiq, the NaturalHistory Museum, and Government agencies fromthe UK and abroad.

Solutions for Global Challenges

STFC undertakes a wide range of activities thataddress the global challenges in energy, theenvironment, security and healthcare. It is ourambition to ensure that our science, skills andfacilities are at the heart of the research effort todevelop innovative solutions to the GlobalChallenges. Some examples of STFC’s impact inthese areas include:

• Signal processing techniques from particlephysics are being used to analyse biomoleculesand medicines by Imperial College spin-outdeltaDOT Ltd. The UK firm has been selected toform part of the US’s $285m programme forbiosecurity preparedness.

• Instrumentation developed for an STFC-fundedspace mission is being used to develop a rapidand accurate test for tuberculosis – a diseasewhich kills around 2 million people every year.

• A team of nuclear physicists is applying radiationdetection techniques to develop a portablegamma ray detector, which can be used toexamine radioactive material in remote andhostile environments.

• Technology originally developed by STFC for useon satellites is being redeployed by RadiusDiagnostics Ltd to create portable X-ray scannersthat could, for example, be taken to the scene ofan accident. Potentially, this will benefit patientsand medical professionals, saving time andoptimising emergency care.

• Research performed at STFC’s Central LaserFacility has led to a new insight into how plantsfight disease, which will help to improve cropresilience to diseases, pests, and the challenges ofdrought and a warming climate.

Reasearch at ISIS has supported 5-year life extensions to two

UK nuclear power stations. Credit: British Energy

Cheaper, more efficient solar cellsResearch at ISIS and Diamond has shown thatefficient solar cells can be made from very thinfilms, with a flexibility like cling-film. These can bemanufactured in high volumes, using very simpleand inexpensive methods. The combined use ofneutron scattering at ISIS and bright X-rays atDiamond enabled scientists from the universitiesof Sheffield and Cambridge to understand howdifferent processing steps change the overallefficiency and performance of the solar cells.

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Space Weather

The Futures Programme, together with NERC, issupporting a coordinated UK approach to theunderstanding and forecasting of space weatherevents. Space weather refers to the conditions inouter space created by solar activity, such as flaresand coronal mass ejections. Extreme spaceweather can cause severe disruption tocommunications, electronic circuits and powergrids, and is included in the Government’s NationalRisk Register6. Of the non-malicious risks identified,space weather is second only to pandemicinfluenza when likelihood and impact are takeninto account. STFC provides critical space weatherexpertise and monitoring services, and by bringingtogether researchers, industry and government,will be instrumental in developing a UK spaceweather strategy.

Understanding Space Weather is crucial to protecting the UK’scommunications infrastructure. Credit: STEREO (NASA)

Lake observing network

STFC, working with NERC, is aiding governmentpolicy implementation by developing the UK’sfirst coordinated, high-intensity lake monitoringnetwork. Lake systems play a fundamental rolein storing and providing fresh water and food,supporting recreation and protecting speciesdiversity, and are coming under increasingpressure from the demands of society and thechanging climate. This project will haveimmediate practical benefits for themanagement of the lakes included in the studyand will aid in managing all UK lake systems.Beneficiaries include the statutory bodies withresponsibility for protecting the freshwaters ofthe UK7.

Monitoring lake environments allows practical managementof UK lake systems. Credit: Dreamstime

6 http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/CO_NationalRiskRegister_2012_acc.pdf 7 www.ecn.ac.uk/what-we-do/science/projects/ukleon

STFC’s research facilities andenergy challenges

Research at STFC’s large facilities addresses theGlobal Challenge areas in a variety of ways. Energy-related research is a particular strength and rangesfrom studies on hydrogen storage materials, batterytechnology, materials for new forms of solar cells,

green catalyst systems, nuclear power plantengineering and lifetime studies, through totechnology development for a new laser energyfacility (HiPER). We now estimate that we spend£11 million out of £70 million on facility time atISIS, Diamond and the Central Laser Facilityaddressing this key global challenge. drought and awarming climate.

World Class Innovation

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Our ambition is to realise the innovative capacity of STFC’s science and research facilities to supportthe growth of a high-technology UK economy. To achieve this, we are taking a number of steps fromsupporting innovation from our grant-funded programmes through a range of schemes andindustrial collaborations, supporting the commercialisation of STFC intellectual property (IP),through to helping UK businesses to take advantage of our facilities and subscriptions by enablingindustrial access. We also help UK companies win contracts from UK and international facilities anddeliver considerable impact through our National Science and Innovation Campuses which offer adynamic environment for innovation and the opportunity to reap significant economic benefit fromthe successful exploitation of the Government’s new investment in e-infrastructure.

8 http://www.axomic.com 9 ‘The economic and societal impact of STFC support: case studies on e2v and

Oxford Instruments’, The Galbraith Muir Consultancy Ltd, 2012

• £500-£700m estimatedeconomic benefit realised by Oxford Instruments and e2v through long-standing ofcollaboration and engagement with STFC and its university research communities

• $1m investment from Space Florida inSTFC spin-out Cella Energy

• £25bn forecast annual revenuegenerated through successful exploitation ofhigh performance computing

•90 new jobs created at Sci-Tech Daresburyand Harwell Oxford Campuses

Innovation from grant-funded programmes

STFC operates a number of schemes to support thecommercialisation and exploitation of technologyemerging from our grant-funded researchprogrammes, investing almost £3.5 million in2011/12. STFC’s e-Val data from 2011 indicatesthat since 2006, 10 spin-outs have arisen from ouruniversity research base, employing up to 66people. Axomic Ltd8, a London-based company, isan excellent example - using know-how fromCERN, they have created data managementsoftware that helps architects, civil engineers andconstruction companies store and search forimages. Set up in 2002 by two UK CERNresearchers, the company is already a keenexporter with a client base that includes 250 ofthe world’s leading architectural practicesincluding Foster & Partners.

Mutual benefits ofcollaborating with industry

Through long-standing collaboration with STFCand its university research communities, OxfordInstruments and e2v have been able tocommercially exploit technology advances madethrough fundamental physics research and gainaccess to new markets. Without the inputs fromSTFC, these two major high-technology companieswould have had markedly different productportfolios. The economic benefit for the twocompanies is estimated to be in excess of £500million, and could be as high as £700 million.9

Group Chief Technology Officer of e2v, Trevor Cross,said, “The catalytic effect of contracts in sciencefacilities enable early entry into commercial markets,usually resulting in a higher market share and anenhanced reputation for innovation and quality. This effect has been replicated a number of times.” John Burgoyne of Oxford Instruments describedinteractions with STFC in the provision of newtechnology to the ISIS facility as follows: “...we startto understand the science that they are trying toachieve... that enables us to continually innovate,continually develop our technologies… we seeourselves working hand in hand with the scientists:they define the needs of their experiments: wedefine the innovations, the technologies that areavailable to them, and by bringing those twotogether, obviously with the funding provided bySTFC and other bodies, then we get the results thattake science forward here in the UK and abroad.”

Space technologyrevolutionises graphics industry

Support from STFC and the Royal Society ofEdinburgh has helped commercialise a softwareproduct, IKinema, which is revolutionising thegames and animation industries. Developed at theUniversity of Surrey, the software was originallyintended to assist control systems for spacecraft.IKinema and world-leading UK special effectscompany Framestore together produced theanimation for the Hollywood movie ‘Wrath of theTitans’ which took £8 million at the UK Box Office.Framestore employs over 600 staff, and has anannual turnover of £48.5 million. A spokespersonsaid, “IKinema is really unique in what it does andhow it does it – it’s like something we’ve alwaysbeen missing without knowing it…”

The UK film and gaming industries are growing andsignificant. The film industry contributes around£4.5 billion to the UK economy and while gamingonly contributes £1 billion from global revenues of£2.8 billion, it is growing by 25% per year. Withinboth industries visual effects are the fastestgrowing component, with the film industryrecording 16.8% growth between 2006 and 2008.

Commercialisation of STFC IP

STFC has a dedicated technology transfer office,STFC Innovations Ltd, which has the exclusive rightsto the commercial exploitation of STFC’sintellectual property (IP). They identify and brokerdeals that exploit STFC’s IP through spin-outs,patents and licence agreements. STFC only ownsthe IP arising from our own facility developmentand laboratory activities, which is less than 10% ofour total investment and similar in scale to auniversity physics department. We do not own IParising from grants to universities, experimentscarried out at our facilities, or the work carried outby our international partners such as CERN.

Commercialisation statistics:

• 15 spin-outs created since 2002, employing 121people, of whom 28% hold a PhD and 95% areeducated to at least bachelor degree level.

• Filed four new patent families in 2011/12, andcreated two new royalty bearing licences.

Our portfolio currently contains 54 patentfamilies, with 189 separate filings across manycountries (of which 76 granted, 113 pending). In2011/12, 20 new Proof of Concept projectswere funded, bringing the total to 118 since2004.

News from STFC spin-outs:

• One of STFC’s earliest spin-outs, Nominet,manages the ‘.co.uk’ domain, one of the world’slargest Internet registries, that underpins the UKdigital economy; Nominet manages 10 millionUK business domain names, employs over 100staff with an annual turnover of £27 million.

• Cella Energy attracted $1 million investmentfrom Space Florida, which will enable it to setup research facilities at NASA and at STFC’sRutherford Appleton Laboratory, and to doubleits employee numbers. The company hasdeveloped an innovative, safe, low-cost solutionto hydrogen storage, which could provide analternative to petrol fuelled vehicles.

• Cobalt Light Systems Ltd secured approval foruse of its INSIGHT100 bottle scanner atEuropean airports and is now deployed in trialsat several major airports. The device uses lasersto rapidly detect the presence of a dangerousliquid in a closed bottle. It is anticipated thatthis will enable a relaxation of the liquids ban inair passengers’ hand luggage.

• Microvisk Technologies won the HealthcareProject of the Year Award at the 2011 BionowAwards. Based on STFC technology developedfor planetary exploration, Microvisk’s bloodcoagulation monitor allows patients that are atrisk from potentially fatal blood clots to monitortheir status with immediate results. The system

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The INSIGHT100 bottle scanner enables accurate detection ofliquid explosives and is being trialled at European airports.

is simpler, quicker and more precise than thealternative - a visit to a surgery and a 24-hourwait for results. A study in ‘The Lancet’ foundthere were 12% fewer major haemorrhagicevents and 18% fewer deaths in those who self-monitor compared to those in the ‘usualcare’ regime.

Supporting UK businesses totake advantage of our facilitiesand subscriptions

In 2011/12, over 60 commercial organisations froma variety of sectors accessed STFC’s UK facilities,and around 50 UK companies accessed the ESRFand ILL. To give an example of the way that STFC’sfacilities are helping to maintain the vibrancy andinnovative capacity of key industries, we highlightsome of the contributions made to the automotivesector in 2011/12:

• Lightweight alloys are being studied at ISIS byMagnesium Elektron, which can be used tomake lighter vehicles and therefore improvefuel efficiency.

• Infineum, a joint venture of ExxonMobil andShell, is using our facilities to study additives forlubricants and fuels which will allow bettercontrol of vehicle emissions.

• Toyota has been optimising electrode materialsfor lithium-ion batteries used in electric cars.

Last year we launched a pilot Innovation VouchersScheme to enable small- and medium-sizedenterprises (SMEs) to access STFC’s facilities,helping them build their innovation and researchcapabilities, and profit from our expertise. To date,four SMEs have benefitted, undertaking training invarious R&D techniques, and enabling them toimprove their products.

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Industrial access to ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

A scheme launched in 2011 is helping morecompanies to access ISIS. The Collaborative R&DScheme provides a fast-track, low-risk route tolarge facility access, for companies that wish toexplore solutions to specific technical, often nearmarket, problems. It has been enthusiasticallyreceived, with 52 days of beamtime allocated at avalue of just over £1 million. The aggregatedforecast of the value of the research to thecompanies over 10 years is £160 million.Acknowledging that these figures are estimates,they nevertheless demonstrate the significantvalue of our facilities to UK businesses. Usage bysector is approximately 50% chemical andcatalyst industry, with the remainder evenly splitbetween aerospace engineering, energyengineering and innovation, and petrochemicals,fuels and lubricants.

This scheme complements the main mode ofaccess through university/industry partnerships.

In 2011/12 over 280 days of beam-time wereallocated via this route10. This research contributesto key UK sectors such as chemical and catalyst(40%), energy engineering and innovation (25%)and pharmaceuticals and healthcare (11%), withthe remainder in automotive, aerospace,manufacturing and petrochemicals.

STFC’s facilities have been widely used by the automotiveindustry to research more efficient fuels, batteries andlightweight materials for vehicle construction. Credit: Dreamstime

10 In 2011/12, ISIS operated for a total of 140 days. Multiple experiments can run concurrently on different instruments and beam lines; ISISdelivered over 730 experiments in 2011/12, with each experiment lasting on average 5 days.

Creating new businessopportunities

STFC helps UK companies take advantage of on-going opportunities to supply products and servicesto our national and international facilities, ensuringthat our membership of organisations such as CERNbrings direct benefits to the UK. We provideadvance notice of upcoming tenders, and givesupport and advice through the tender processes.Targeted events link potential suppliers with facilityprocurement specialists, and promote collaborationbetween business and academia.

In 2011:

• £14.5 million contracts from CERN were placedwith UK companies, up 30% on 2010, andbringing the total since 2008 to £38.0 million;

• £8.3 million contracts were awarded to UKfirms from ESO, bringing the total since 2005£53.1 million;

• £1.5 million UK contracts came from the ESRF;

• £911,000 of orders were placed with UKcompanies by the ILL facility.

Like our partner facilities, STFC also has ongoingprocurement requirements and in 2011/12 weplaced £111 million in contracts with UKcompanies, just under half of which went to SMEs.

Delivering impact through the Science and InnovationCampuses

STFC is a major partner in delivering the twoNational Science and Innovation Campuses, Sci-Tech Daresbury in Cheshire and Harwell Oxford. InAugust 2011, Prime Minister David Cameronannounced that both Campuses were to becomeEnterprise Zones. Companies within the EnterpriseZones enjoy lower taxes, less stringent planningrestrictions and access to superfast broadband.Both Campuses are world-class hubs for science,technology and business, providing a uniqueenvironment for innovation and business growth.The proximity to STFC’s facilities and expertise,together with the provision of first-rateaccommodation and business support services, hasproved to be a compelling combination, attractingspin-outs, SMEs, and large blue chip industries alike.

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STFC’s membership of organisations such as ESRF, ILL, ESO andCERN brings direct benefits to UK companies. Credit: VISTA, ESO

Research at ISIS has enabled a UK company toimprove one of its processes, making it greener,cleaner, more energy-efficient and cheaper. IneosChlorVinyls is Europe's largest PVC manufacturer,producing over 100,000 tonnes of methylchloride every year, which is used in a wide rangeof everyday products from plastics topharmaceuticals. They found that their processproduced a wasteful side product that wasexpensive to recycle back into the process.

A collaboration between Ineos ChlorVinyls andthe University of Glasgow used neutronscattering to understand what was happening ata molecular scale, enabling them to modify theprocess. This significantly reduced costs byalmost eliminating the unwanted side product,thereby avoiding construction of a new wastehandling plant. This insight, gained in just 12 daysof experiments, could not have been achievedusing any other technique. The new process hasnow been operating continuously at thecompany’s chemical reactors for several years.

Molecular makeover

Sci-Tech Daresbury

Sci-Tech Daresbury has been in operation since 2006and now some 100 companies are based there,employing 437 people, of which 72% are educatedto bachelor degree or above.11 The success of theventure has led to the construction of a newbuilding, Vanguard House, which opened in June2011 and now houses many of the companies thatoutgrew their original Campus accommodation. The 2011 company survey showed the continuingsuccess of the Campus in challenging economiccircumstances, with low failure rates, stronggrowth, high-value job creation, high levels ofcollaboration and strong innovation performance:

• Created a net increase of 62 jobs, up from 45 in2010. 71% of companies are forecasting furtherrecruitment in 2012 for 182 new jobs, in rolessuch as software development, specialist IT, andbusiness development;

• Delivered £28.3 million in sales, 24% of whichwere exports. Nearly two-thirds of companiessaw sales growth. The average sales growthover the past 4 years has been 37% per year;

• Attracted £75 million investment;

• Developed 125 new products, with a quarter ofcompanies filing patents.

In nearly seven years, only nine companies havegone into administration, of which six havephoenixed and one was acquired by anotherCampus company.

The Campus also supports a highly networkedbusiness environment:

• 48% of companies are actively collaboratingwith another Campus company, generating avalue in terms of new sales or cost savings ofover £1 million (£845k in 2010);

• 71% reported that they had a collaborationwith either a university or STFC (65% in 2010);

• 40% are using services and/or expertise fromSTFC (34% in 2010).

The Campus management team are exploringopportunities to build on these successes. Theseinclude the development of collaborationprogrammes with blue chip companies such as IBMand Siemens, and further work with UKTI to boostexport sales.

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UK company wins major CERN contract

In February 2012,Midlands-basedcompany Brandauerwon a major contractfrom CERN worth £3.5million, to supply partsfor the Large HadronCollider. The family-owned precisionpressing and stampingfirm employs 50people, and has been inbusiness for 150 years. This new contract followsan earlier deal from CERN worth £350,000.Brandauer’s managing director said, “Simplyworking on this contract has pushed ourtechnical capability to the best in the world.Working with CERN has been such a boost – itonly deals with excellence.” The company alsosupplies the automotive, aerospace, electronics,medical and alternative energy sectors.

Many UK companies havesecured contracts from CERNto supply parts for the LHC.Credit: CERN

Sci-Tech Daresbury companies secured £75 million in investmentin the last financial year.

Vanguard House opened in June 2011 to accomodate thegrowing businesses at Sci-Tech Daresbury.

11 The UK average for similar companies is 13%. ‘UK Innovation Survey 2009’,Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, December 2010.

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Attracting international investmentIn May 2012 Element Six, world-leaders insynthetic diamond supermaterials, selected theHarwell Oxford Campus as the best place in theworld to locate their new innovation centre. A division of De Beers, Element Six are investing£20 million to create the world’s largest and mostsophisticated synthetic supermaterials R&Dfacility. Construction is due to complete in spring2013, and will create employment for over 100scientists, engineers and technicians. Cyrus Jilla,Element Six CEO, said: “I am proud we selectedthe UK as the best location globally for our

Innovation Centre. I am positive it will deliverhigher performance products for our customers,disruptive technologies for new applications andmarkets, inspire and spur new related businesses inthe UK, and provide an extremely rewardingenvironment for our scientists who are at theforefront of their field.” Element Six syntheticdiamond materials are used in a broad range ofsectors from aerospace to healthcare withinnovative uses including optics in lasers forautomotive engineering, detectors in medicalradiotherapy, and drill bits for oil and gas drilling.

Harwell Oxford Campus

Harwell Oxford is at the heart of the Science Vale UKEnterprise Zone. Around 150 organisations,employing approximately 4,500 people, are locatedthere. A survey of the Campus companies wasundertaken by the Goodman management team in2011. The survey, the first undertaken at HarwellOxford, revealed the highly collaborative andnetworked nature of the Campus. Of the 54companies that responded:

• 42% were collaborating with another Campuscompany;

• 53% were using another Campus company as asupplier or service provider;

• 44% reported that their customer base includedother Campus companies;

• 50% were using equipment or facilities providedby another Campus resident.

In assessing what most attracted companies toremain on Campus, 40% cited opportunities tocollaborate with STFC, other public sector

organisations, or other Campus-based companies asbeing a key factor.

Campus companies are also collaborating with STFCin a variety of ways, from engaging our technicalexpertise (15%) through to using our lab/office space(20%) or equipment (20%). Other businessrelationships have been developed through the useof STFC as a supplier (15%) and as a customer (15%),indicating the mutual benefit of the co-location ofthe Campus with the laboratory.

The Campus supports a significant number of high-value jobs: 55% of companies reported that over50% of their staff hold at least a bachelor degree,and 30% reported that over 91% of their staff areeducated to this level. In 2011/12 the 54 companiessurveyed created 30 new jobs on Campus and 30%had identified a need to recruit for 40 new jobs overthe next year.

Some 20% of companies reported sales growth inexcess of £100k in the past year with many reportingthis growth to be export driven. Sales were reportedacross all regions of the globe. The most significantexport market was Europe, followed by NorthAmerica. Asia Pacific, the Middle East and SouthAmerica and Africa featured to a lesser extent, butsales to all regions were reported. The majority ofsupplies were sourced within the UK.

The survey will be repeated annually to monitor thesuccess of the Campus. A number of improvementshave been identified and will be implemented for the2012 survey.

The Harwell Oxford Campus supports a highly collaborativeand networked business environment.

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Innovation Technology Access Centres

STFC has developed Innovation Technology AccessCentres (I-TACs) at both its Campuses which offereasy, affordable access to advanced laboratoryfacilities, technology and expertise that can givestart-ups and established businesses a competitiveedge. The Daresbury I-TAC opened in February 2010,with the Harwell Oxford I-TAC following in 2012.Between February 2010 and September 2011, theDaresbury I-TAC supported 26 companies andcreated 34 new jobs. Notable successes include:

• I-TAC Daresbury won ‘Best Service Provider’ atthe 2011 UK Energy Innovation Awards, and‘Service Provider of the Year’ at the 2012Chemicals Northwest Awards;

• I-TAC tenant Atmos Technologies Ltd isdeveloping economic, non-toxic ways ofobtaining hydrogen from sea water using solarenergy, and won the ‘New Energy Generation’prize at the 2011 UK Energy Innovation Awards;

• I-TAC tenant and hygiene technology innovatorByotrol launched a new cleaning spray for Tescoand signed a seven-year licencing deal withglobal brand Kimberly-Clark. Byotrol is highlyeffective in combating antibiotic-resistant

The European Space Agency’s Business IncubationCentre at Harwell Oxford offers a unique andintensive package of technical expertise and businesssupport for up to ten start-up businesses a year, tocommercialise technology originally developed forspace. This centre is now fully operational, havingwelcomed its first tenant in May 2011.

Following this success, and in collaboration withCERN, we launched this year the first ever CERNBusiness Incubation Centre at our Sci-TechDaresbury Campus, which will nurture smallbusinesses to develop marketable services andproducts based on CERN technologies. The mainareas of focus will include accelerators, detectors,cryogenics, magnets, superconductors, materialsscience and high performance computing.

A hub for space innovation

The Harwell Oxford Space Cluster is fastbecoming the national innovation hub for spacetechnology and new satellite applications andservices. It supports the UK’s ambition to growour 6% share of the £160 billion world spacemarket to 10%, predicted to be worth £400billion by 2030, and create at least 100,000high value jobs. The hub was founded on STFC’scapabilities in its RAL Space department andnow includes the International SpaceInnovation Centre, the European SpaceAgency’s UK office, their Business IncubationCentre, and is soon to be the location of thenewly announced TSB-supported SatelliteApplications Catapult Centre.

STFC’s RAL Space department, with supportfrom NERC, plays an underpinning role insatellite navigation technology through themonitoring of space weather and the

evaluation of signals from Galileo, the Europeanglobal navigation system. The GPS-sensitiveproportion of UK GDP is around 7% with GPSdelivering substantial business efficienciesincluding a £1.6 billion annual saving by theaviation industry due to reduced delays andlower emissions. The satellite navigationindustry is expected to generate a value-addedcontribution of £1.45 billion to the UK economybetween 2011 and 202012.

The Harwell Oxford Sapce Cluster supports the UK’s ambition tocreate 100,000 jobs in the industry by 2030. Credit: ESA

Business Incubator Centres – helping high-tech start-ups

12 The economic impact of physics research in the UK: Satellite Navigation CaseStudy’, Oxford Economics, 2012.

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superbugs such as MRSA: a study atManchester Royal Infirmary showed thatByotrol outperformed bleach by 33% whencontrolling MRSA growth.

Investment in e-infrastructure

A major collaboration between STFC and IBM hasestablished one of the world’s foremost centres inhigh performance computing and softwaredevelopment at Daresbury Laboratory. Following a£37.5 million e-infrastructure investment from BIS,the IBM ‘Blue Joule’ machine installed at ourDaresbury laboratory is the UK’s most powerfulsupercomputer and the 13th most powerfulglobally, and provides the ability to simulateextremely complex systems, such as the Earth’sclimate.

The facility will establish high performancecomputing as a highly accessible and invaluabletool to UK industry, speeding up the innovationcycle and accelerating economic growth. Already,Unilever is working with STFC to speed up thedevelopment of more efficient and moreenvironmentally friendly personal care products. Itis estimated that the successful exploitation ofhigh performance computing could increaseEuropean GDP by 2-3% within ten years13. For theUK, this translates into around £25 billion per yearin revenue and more than half a million UK-based,high-value jobs.

Investments in High Performance Computing will createaccessible and invaluable tools for UK industry. Credit: AlecFinch / STFC

13 International Data Corporation, 2010,http://www.hpcuserforum.com/EU/downloads/SR03S10.15.2010.pdf

World Class Skills

STFC’s ambition is to deliver the scientific and technically skilled workforce that will sustain theUK as one of the world’s leading research nations and support the growth of a high-techeconomy, and we contribute to the UK skills base in many ways. We provide highly skilledpeople for the UK through post-graduate training and by developing our own staff. We inspireand involve young people and the general public, to encourage a greater take-up of STEMsubjects and to increase awareness of the benefits of science. We deliver our programme throughcollaborations with strategic partners, capitalising on an enhanced joint capacity to delivershared goals.

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• 912 rolling cohort of STFC-supportedPhD students

• 93% percentage of STFC PhDgraduates in employment

• 8.3% increase in applications tophysics degree courses

• 46.5m estimated total audiencereached by STFC Public Engagement schemessince 2006

Highly skilled people

Postgraduate training

In 2011/12 STFC:

• Invested £23.9 million in postgraduate trainingand fellowships in particle physics, nuclearphysics and astronomy, including 220 new PhDstudentships, bringing the rolling cohort to 912;

• Provided over 12,000 training days topostgraduate students, funded by otherresearch councils, at our facilities anddepartments across a range of disciplines. Justunder 1,500 PhD students used our UK facilities,around 40% of the total number of users.

In 2011, STFC updated its PhD career pathssurvey14, last performed in 2009, by surveyingstudents whose funding ended between 2004 and2009. The results showed that STFC PhD graduatesenjoy near-complete employment, typicallyearning more than the average professionalworker in the UK. The survey also indicated thevalue of PhD training in building capability, and indeveloping the high-level skills needed to drive ahigh-value, innovative economy. The results aresummarised below:

• 93% of respondents were in employment;

• 48% were employed in universities, 27% in theprivate sector and 22% in the public sector;

• 69% were still engaged in scientific research;

• Of those employed in the private sector, 71%work in financial or business services - thisreflects the strong demand from these sectorsfor the high-level computing, modelling,quantitative and transferable skills that aredeveloped through a STFC PhD;

• 41% were earning a salary similar to, orgreater than, the £35,000 UK average forprofessional occupations;

• The five skills considered most useful insubsequent careers were problem solving,programming, knowledge of their subject area,data analysis and written communication.

STFC provided over 12,000 training days to PhD students at ourfacilities and departments. Credit Diamond Light Source

14 http://www.stfc.ac.uk/resources/PDF/PhDcareerpathsummaryreport.pdf

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Leadership of the SKA project

The UK is taking a pivotal role in theleadership, organisation and management,as well as in the technical and scientificchallenges, of the Square Kilometre Array(SKA) project. The SKA is an internationalproject to design and build the world’slargest radio telescope, and STFCcoordinated the UK’s successful bid to leadthe SKA Organisation and has nowestablished its headquarters in Manchester.The UK headquarters, established inDecember 2011, will formalise therelationships between the partners andcentralise the leadership of the project.

The UK is playing a key role in the ground-breaking SKA project which will create the world’s largest radio telescope. Credit: SKAOrganisation/TDP/DRAO/Swinburne Astronomy Productions

Developing our people

STFC employs nearly 1,700 people, many of whomare highly skilled scientists, technicians andengineers. STFC is a focal point for the UK’s nationalcapability in a number of areas, such asmicroelectronics, high performance computing andresearch techniques such as neutron and X-rayscattering. STFC also supports skills developmentthrough apprenticeships, following a nationallyrecognised programme to provide academic andskills-based training in a range of disciplines. InOctober 2011, STFC’s commitment to professionaldevelopment was recognised with the achievementof the Investors in People (IiP) Silver Award - anational benchmark of good practice.

For the first time in 2011, STFC took part in the‘Sunday Times Best Companies Survey’ to gaugeemployee engagement, and benchmark ourprogress in key areas such as leadership,management and team working. STFC achieved‘One to Watch’ status, with a Best Companies Indexof 606.3 out of 1,000. We are currently undertakinga series of actions to better understand these initialresults and to identify areas for improvement. Weare also repeating the survey in 2012 to monitorour progress.

Research leadership

Amongst STFC’s staff, and the academics we supportin universities, are many individuals considered to beworld-leaders in their respective fields. Around 100staff members hold honorary academic positions andjoint appointments with universities or companies,both within the UK and internationally. Some 250staff received significant awards or recognition in2011/12, such as research prizes, representation oninternational scientific committees and membershipof journal editorial boards.

Collaborative projectcelebrates over 30 years ofexcellence

A project located at the Research Complex atHarwell, supported by BBSRC and MRC, andcoordinated by STFC’s Scientific Computingdepartment, has been recognised for its importanceas a resource worldwide and for its exemplary teamethos. The prestigious award from the Royal Societyof Chemistry acknowledged the achievement of theproject, established over 30 years ago to support aworld-leading suite of software programs for theanalysis of X-ray crystallography and otherbiophysical techniques.

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Inspiring and involving

STFC makes a distinctive contribution to the UKskills base by inspiring future generations to studySTEM subjects. In February 2012 the Institute ofPhysics reported an increase in applications touniversity physics courses of 8.3% for the secondyear running (around 2,000 extra applicationscompared to the previous year), despite an overalldecline in university applications of 8.7%15. This iswidely attributed to the high profile of astronomy,physicists such as Professor Brian Cox, and theprominence of CERN in the media. Some highlightsfrom 2011/12 include:

• The ‘LHC on tour’ exhibition showcasing the LHChas visited venues as diverse as the UKParliament and the Jodrell Bank music festival,and features a life-sized replica of a section ofthe LHC tunnel. It is estimated that over 70,000people will have visited the exhibition by theend of its tour;

• STFC sponsored the online competition, ‘I’m a scientist, get me out of here!’, and its sister event, ‘I’m an engineer…’. Students aged 11-18 were given the opportunity to engage directly with scientists and engineers by asking questions and through instant messaging conversations. Responding with huge enthusiasm, the 1,300 participating students asked 1,400 questions, generating 3,500 answers from the scientists, and over 22,000 lines of live chat.

• The STFC-led Dark Sky Discovery initiative issparking interest in science and technology byinspiring thousands of people to get involved inastronomy. Launched in 2011, it is encouraging thepublic to nominate the best stargazing spot in theirarea. Over 20 sites have been pinpointed, and inJanuary 2012 over 15,000 people took part inevents linked with the BBC’s ‘Stargazing LIVE’. Thefirst night of ‘Stargazing LIVE’, with Professor BrianCox and comedian Dara O’Briain, attracted 3.8million viewers. In the hours after the broadcast,web retailer Amazon.co.uk reported an increase intelescope sales of nearly 500%, with total sales atover three times 2011 levels.

Thousands of people are engaging with astronomy through Dark Sky Discovery events.

15 http://www.iop.org/news/12/feb/page_53743.html

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A collaborative approachleads to cancer breakthroughThe Research Complex at Harwell (RCaH) isproviding the right environment and facilities fortruly multi-disciplinary research collaborationsto flourish. For example, a collaborationbetween biologists, laser scientists andcomputational modellers has achieved a newunderstanding of a biological process thatcauses many common cancers, paving the wayfor new drug treatments.

Public engagement programme

STFC supports public engagement through a rangeof schemes. Since 2006, it is estimated that thetotal audience reached by just two schemes totals46.5 million people, illustrating the high level ofpublic interest in STFC science. This figure isdominated by one particular project, the UKHerschel Outreach Programme, which reached 38million people through numerous features in themedia and large public events. Even without thismajor contribution, the programme has achievedgreat success in disseminating STFC science.

In 2011/12:

• STFC invested in 47 public engagement awards,including three new Fellowships - the currentcohort of fellows has, to date, reached anestimated audience of 570,000 people;

• Our moon rock samples were loaned out 127times to schools, universities, science centresand astronomical societies;

• STFC welcomed over 20,000 visitors to our sites,from schools, industry and the general public -included in this number are over 1200 teachersfrom over 850 schools;

• Nearly 250 UK schools visited CERN, and nearly200 teachers attended the CERN teacherprogramme, which aims to promote theteaching of particle physics in schools, toexpose teachers to the world of research, and tohelp stimulate the popularisation of physics.

Collaboration activities

By their very nature, science and technology arehighly collaborative endeavours that exchangeknowledge and build skills. The delivery of STFC’sprogramme is underpinned by successfulcollaborations with a wide range of strategicpartners, including universities, other researchcouncils, the Technology Strategy Board, ourCampus partners and tenants, and industry. Thereare many mechanisms through which wecollaborate and provide a fertile environmentacross organisational boundaries. In 2011/12, someexamples of our formal collaborations included:

• STFC is working with Siemens Healthcare todevelop a compact accelerator which is cheaperto build and operate than those currentlyavailable;

• A five year Memorandum of Understandingwith China’s Guanghua Science and TechnologyFoundation pledges to jointly promote thedevelopment and exploitation of science andtechnology;

• Working with US laboratory Fermilab to transfertechnology developed for particle physicsaccelerators into other applications;

• Agreement with AWEand the LawrenceLivermore National Laboratory to increasecollaboration on developments towards thedemonstration of the technical and economicviability of laser fusion as a source of energy;

• Agreement with the National PhysicalLaboratory to target closer business andresearch links on commercial offerings for thehealthcare industry.

Our public engagement programme aims to inspirethe next generation of scientists.

Methodological developments and future challengesIn 2011/12 we advanced our evaluationmethodologies through the adoption of anevaluation framework and strategy, and byimproving STFC e-Val our outputs data gatheringsystem. We also piloted an evaluation of the qualityof ‘Pathways to Impact’ documents.

Impact evaluation strategy and framework

In 2011/12, STFC adopted an impact evaluationstrategy and framework. The strategy sets out ourapproach to impact evaluation and demonstratesSTFC’s commitment to developing this area as a corecompetence. Our framework helps us to articulateand evaluate STFC’s wide range of impacts. It isbased upon our three strategic goals of world classresearch, innovation and skills, and spans our variousdelivery functions including universities, facilitiesand Campuses. By populating the matrix with ourevidence, we have identified gaps in our knowledgeand prioritised our future efforts. The strategy alsohelps us evaluate our policies and programmes,generating lessons or models of best practice thatare transferable to other projects. We are raisingawareness within the organisation of this approach.Our summary impact evaluation programme is givenat the end of this section.

STFC e-Val

We completed analysis of the first data collection inlate 2011, gathering much useful and valuableinformation that we are now using to enhance ourreports and case studies. The level of reporting willcontinue to improve as we gather more informationin future years. In response to feedback receivedduring the data collection, we convened a panel toreview the performance of STFC e-Val and improvethe system for users whilst fulfilling STFC’s datacollection requirements. The panel comprisedacademics from across STFC’s research areas, plus arepresentative of university Research Managers. Ofthe many recommendations made on the systemand on broader issues such as communication,some were acted on immediately and some neededfurther discussion with the STFC e-Val developers.We have now implemented the majority of therecommendations and will run our next datacollection exercise in spring 2013 using athoroughly tested revised system.

Pathways to Impact evaluation- monitoring culture change

STFC has undertaken a pilot project to evaluate thequality of the ‘Pathways to Impact’ documents.Introduced in 2009, and now a requirement for themajority of grant schemes, these documents areintended to help grant holders consider and realisethe impact from their research. The study hasshown a good level of researcher engagement andindicates an improvement over time. This pilotevaluation project has focussed on the knowledgeexchange activities. The same methodology couldalso be applied to public engagement and we arelooking to extend the study to this area.

‘Pathways to Impact’ has raised the profile ofimpact consideration. Professor Alan Smith of UCL’sMullard Space Science Laboratory, said, “Pathwaysto Impact has manifested change in people’sattitudes to engaging with the outside world.” Hisgroup is exploring the potential to transferastronomical data analysis techniques to medicalapplications.

STFC is taking a number of steps to supportapplicants in their exploration of ‘Pathways toImpact’. A series of university visits is helping usgain a better understanding of universitymechanisms for exploring and reporting impact,which will enable us to offer more focussedsupport, including pro-active use of universitytechnology transfer offices and STFC InnovationPartnership Scheme Fellows as institution-basedfocal points for sharing best practices. A follow-upstudy is planned for 2014.

Future challenges

The highly networked and collaborative nature ofSTFC’s activities enables us to maximise our impact,but also presents a challenge in its evaluation anddemonstration. STFC’s role within the ResearchCouncils is uniquely broad; not only do we deliverour own scientific programme, but through ourfacilities and Campuses we also enable otherCouncils and strategic partners to deliver theirs. We are therefore looking at cross-Research Councilapproaches to evaluating impact, such as jointanalysis of facility usage data, and joint case studieswhere work has been supported by at least oneother RC. One ongoing project in this area isgathering information on the views of our facilityusers, who are typically supported by other RCs, onthe benefits that STFC facilities bring to theirresearch.

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STFC impact evaluation programme

Project What Date Progress

Policy/strategy work

STFC ImpactEvaluation Strategy& Framework

• Develop a framework which describes and helpsassess the outcomes and impacts across theSTFC’s key strategic themes of research,innovation and skills

• Form a plan to communicate this framework andstrategy internally to STFC and externally to ourkey stakeholders

2011/12

2012/13

Complete - signed off byCouncil 29th May 2012.

Internally to be done aspart of Impact Plansproject. Plan to be formedfor external stakeholders.

STFC e-Val Commission the STFC e-Val on-line system tocollect outcomes and impact data from ouruniversity research.

• Evaluate the outputs from phase 1 of the project

• Second data collection to be completed

• Explore how e-Val can be adapted to UK facilitiesand international subscriptions

2011/12

2012/13

2013/14

Pilot run in 2010 & Phase 1data collection andanalysis complete withcompleted first reportavailable. Systemimprovements undertakenin response to sciencecommunity feedback.

Second data collectionscheduled to start January2013 and run until endMarch 2013.

Initial scoping underway.

Organisational KPIs Develop a set of organisational KPIs to showprogress to BIS using dashboard to reflect balancedscorecard.

2013/14 Pilot and beta testing ofAction Plan collection toolhas been completed, fullroll out expected forJanuary 2013.

Structure of dashboardunder development draftproposals to be consideredby STFC seniormanagement by year end.

STFC corporatestrategy successmeasures

Long term, high level metrics to measure directionof travel across key strategic themes in STFCcorporate strategy.

• Agree approach to each measure

• Implement each measure

2011/12

2013/14

15 projects each withseparate plan.

Approach signed off byCouncil.

Started implementation.

Innovation index Develop a set of metrics for each of STFC’sinnovation areas which will show progress for eacharea

• Innovation

• Business Development

• Campuses

• Centres

2013/14 Approach agreed.Gathering data for someareas and exploringoptions for others.

Metric development

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Project What Date Progress

Science andInnovation Campusmetrics

Development of improved metrics to illustrate thebroad spectrum of impacts that arise from DSIC andHSIC.

• Work with BIS to modify company survey at DSICand improve reporting

• Develop a company survey at the HSIC

• Develop additional impact metrics for DSIC beyondthose contained in the DIC company survey

2011/12

2011/12

2012/13

Phases 1 and 2 complete.

Suggestions made toimprove HSIC pilot.

Phase 3 to be capturedunder innovation index.

STFC impact plans Develop plans for each STFC department whichcapture impacts measures and examples andoutline how impact is being improved.

2012/13 –2014/15

Approach beingdeveloped.

Oxford Economicsstudies on MRI &GPS

Modify original unpublished report into long casestudies and publish.

2012/13 Complete, to be publishedin 2013.

Neutrons impactreport

Undertake a study to highlight the range of impactsfrom the ISIS and ILL neutron facilities

2012/13 Complete, to bepublished in 2013.

Long termrelationship with UKindustry

• Deliver studies on impact of relationship withe2v and Oxford Instruments

• Explore additional companies to study (eg. IBM)

2012/13

2013/14

Complete. To bepublished in 2013.

Scoping stage ofadditional studies.

Impact studies

Case studies Case studies to be written over the SR period whichhighlight different aspects of STFC’s impact.

Ongoing 30 complete to go on newwebsite. Several underwayand carrying out joint casestudies with IoP.

Astronomy

Particle physics

Nuclear physics

Year No of publications & world ranking Citation impact & world ranking

2008 2075, 2nd 10.06, 2nd

2009 2256, 2nd 11.37, 1st

2010 2411, 2nd 11.79, 1st

2011 * *


2008 1127, 4th 8.35, 1st

2009 1047, 3rd 8.99, 1st

2010 1030, 4th 9.23, 1st

2011 * *


2008 372, 7th 6.47, 2nd

2009 347, 7th 6.99,2nd

2010 347, 7th 6.74, 2nd

2011 * *

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AppendicesAppendix 1: STFC publication statistics

* Bibliometric data for 2011 will be available in March 2013. The change in the timing of the reporting has been made toensure that we have the most robust data available.

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Appendix 2: STFC Statistics

UNITS 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

Total Funds Available £mil 691 705 639 601

Budget Allocation £mil 603 607 583 536

Leverage £mil 59 60 61 65

of which Private £mil 12 10 7 6

of which from Other Research Councils £mil 14 14 11 14

of which from Other Sources* £mil 34 36 43 45

of which Private % 2% 2% 1% 1%

of which Other Research Councils % 2% 2% 2% 3%

of which Other % 6% 6% 7% 8%

Total Expenditure £mil 691 657 639 601

of which Responsive Mode Grant £mil 116 120 90 99

of which Postgraduate Awards £mil 23 25 26 24

of which Other Components £mil 552 512 523 478

of which Responsive Mode Grant % 17% 18% 14% 16%

of which Postgraduate Awards % 3% 4% 4% 4%

of which Other Components % 80% 78% 82% 80%

Human Capital

Principal Investigators # 365 345 360 266

Research Leaders in Sponsored Institutes # NA NA NA NA

Research Fellowships # 19 12 11 13

Knowledge Generation

Number of Grants Assessed for Reporting # 294 189 280 229

Refereed Publications # 4281 4438 4654 **

Human Capital #

Number of PhD Students Supported # 258 235 235 220

Finishing Rates % 95% 85% 91% 92%

Commercialisation Activities

New Patent Family Applications Filed*** # 7 4 4 4

Total Number of Patents Granted Worldwide **** # 15 12 26

Spinouts/New Businesses Created # 6 3 2 0

Licences # 3 1 3 2

Income from Royalty Bearing Licences £mil 0.23 0.11 0.09 0.104

Human Capital

First destinations after PhD

of which University % 50% 52% 45% 47%

of which Wider Public Sector % 15% 6% 7% 5%

of which Third Sector % 9% 7% 13% 15%

of which Private Sector % 26% 35% 35% 33%

of which Unknown or Other % 0 0 0 0

of which Unemployed % 0 0 0 0

Facility usage

Station Days # X X 9297 11349

Unique Users # X X 2803 3675

Experiments # X X 1584 2072

*Govt organisations, HEIs, EC.** Bibliometric data for 2011 will be available in March 2013. The change in the timing of the reporting has been made to ensure that we have the most robust dataavailable.*** A patent family is a set of patents taken in various countries to protect a single invention. It can take a number of years from first filing to the patent beinggranted. **** Patents can be awarded in different countries; this number does not represent the number of inventions, but the number of patents held across all countries andacross all inventions.X Historical data unavailable due to changes in method of data collection.

Appendix 3: Glossary

ALMA Atacama Large Millimetre/sub-millimetre Array

AWE Atomic Weapons Establishment

BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

BIC Business Incubation Centre

EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

ESA European Space Agency

ESO European Southern Observatory

ESRF European Synchrotron Radiation Facility

ILL Institut Laue-Langevin

I-TAC Innovation Technology Access Centre

JAC Joint Astronomy Centre

JCMT James Clerk Maxwell Telescope

LHC Large Hadron Collider

MRC Medical Research Council

MRI Magnetic Resonance Imaging

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

RCaH Research Complex at Harwell

SKA Square Kilometre Array

STFC Science and Technology Facilities Council

UKIRT United Kingdom Infrared Telescope

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RCUK Impact Report

Research Councils UK (RCUK) is a strategic partnership of the UK Research Councils whichenables the Research Councils to work together more effectively to enhance the overallimpact and effectiveness of their research, training and innovation activities. The RCUKImpact Report reports on activities that Council are doing together, both how cross-councilworking is being delivered and the added value and impact that is being achieved as a result.The RCUK Impact Report can be found at:http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/Publications/reports/Pages/impact2012.aspx

Science and Technology Facilities CouncilPolaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, SN2 1SZ, UK

T: +44(0)1793 442000 F: +44(0)1793 442002 E: [email protected]

www.stfc.ac.uk

Head office Science and Technology Facilities Council, Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon SN2 1SZ, UK

Establishments at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxfordshire; Daresbury Laboratory, Cheshire;UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Edinburgh; Chilbolton Observatory, Hampshire; Isaac Newton Group, La Palma;Joint Astronomy Centre, Hawaii.

Impact Report 2012

Documents

stfc statistics

courtesy of stfc

stfc ip

stfc publication statistics

contentsstfc impact

class innovation

impact evaluation programme

long term impact