University of Sussex set to receive £2m nanomaterial funding boost

Advanced Material Development Ltd (AMD) is set to add £2 million to the University of Sussex Materials Physics Group research budget.

The additional money will fund five new three-year research posts focused on developing nanomaterial technologies for environmentally sustainable uses.

One such example, is technology that aims to stop the 11 billion clothing tags currently sent to landfill and incinerators each year with recyclable alternatives. AMD, in partnership with Marks and Spencer, is developing and commercialising an eco-friendly radio frequency identification tag which is wholly recyclable.

Professor Alan Dalton leader of the Materials Physics Group within the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Sussex and co-founder of AMD said: "We’re on the cusp of taking a number of our inventions out of the lab and to market, and this significant new boost from AMD means we can recruit the team we need to make the next step. The company has exciting collaborations with global companies such as Marks and Spencer and Honeywell, with many others lined up. The potential applications for nanomaterial inks are boundless.”

Dr Sue Baxter, Director of Innovation and Business Partnerships at the University of Sussex, said: "The University’s burgeoning partnership with AMD has been critical to driving our ground-breaking research to market in a fast, agile and cost-effective way. The partnership directly supports new discovery in our labs and has shared it with commercial clients at phenomenal speed compared to the more conventional routes to market available for University-based research. If all universities had partnerships like this, the economic and social benefits of their research base would be accelerated exponentially.”

John Lee, Chief Executive Officer of AMD, said: "We have been working with the University of Sussex since mid-2018 under a Research Framework Agreement which governs how an SME can work with such a large academic organisation. The partnership has enjoyed huge successes as we have moved forward, both from engagement with such a fantastic team of researchers within Professor Dalton’s team but also with the continuing positive support received from the Sussex Innovations and Business team. Our commitment to the ongoing work at the University is a strong belief supported by our shareholders in our ability to create true ground-breaking advances in the commercial applications for materials science.”

30-June-2021