Twelve new research and development projects will benefit from the cash, which will see industrial end-users working with their supply chains to create more sustainable technologies, products and processes.

Companies leading on the projects include Jaguar Cars, SABIC UK Petrochemicals and Unilever UK. Specific research initiatives range from developing commercially-viable recycling of waste plastics into naphtha substitute for the petrochemicals industry to substituting silver in electronic conductive inks.

David Bott, director of innovation programmes at the Technology Strategy Board, which is issuing the funding, said: “More and more UK businesses recognise that if we are to be competitive in a resource-efficient, low carbon economy, we need to develop products and processes that make better use of natural resources and generate less waste.

“Also many key enabling technologies for a sustainable economy rely on a relatively small number of high-tech materials which may become difficult to source in the future.”

Maxine Perella

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