| On the 18th October we were delighted to host a visit for the I.Mech.E. president in Liverpool. The visit started the evening before with a dinner giving Joe the opportunity to meet some of the committee. The visit proper started with a visit to the “Liverpool Science Park” where we met our host for the day Rachel Patterson. Rachel explained that their organisation aimed to facilitate those wanting access to office or laboratory space within the “Knowledge Quarter” of Liverpool. The “Knowledge Quarter” being a relatively compact area containing both University based and Industry based Research and Development facilities. Our next port of call was the Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) Astro Physics department. Here we met Jon Merchant and Andrzej Piascik who explained that from their location in Liverpool they were controlling a 2 meter optical telescope in the Canary Islands. In addition to controlling the telescope they also design and build instruments both for themselves and others. One area where they are leading is in the use of Robtics eg. To change instruments in the Telescope. The LJMU telescope can change an instrument in a matter of minutes where other telescopes would need days. This is especially valuable when it is necessary to observe unanticipated events (eg. Solar flares). Our next destination was “Sensor City” where we met Louise Goodman. This research and development facility will both take on Research Projects, up to prototype stage and make available for hire office and laboratory facilities along with business support . We saw a a most impressive array of both conventional machining facilities and 3D printing equipment. Of special interest is how these technologies can be combined to produce components that could be produced by either technology alone. Following lunch we visited the “Materials Innovation Factory” (MIF) where we met Dr Ben Slater. The MIF aims to discover new and novel materials using Robotics and High Performing Computing. These materials are generally liquid compounds such as catalysts (as opposed to Engineering materials). We were shown how robots can automate a lot of traditional reaction chemistry enabling far more options to be tried than could be done by conventional means. We were also shown analytical labs. Of particular interest to Joe was the idea of “Computer Mapping” the desired properties of a material and then trying to make it. Similarly to the other facilities the MIF is a partnership between academia and industry, with Unilever having an entire floor and around 40 employees based at the MIF. Our final stop was Paddington Village, currently a huge construction site once occupied by a school. The £1Bn project is described as being “earmarked for 1.8m sq ft of science, technology, education and health space that will create a destination of choice for primarily research, education, health and science related business and institutions”. We were able to climb up to a viewing platform with our host Susan Patterson to see the impressive scale of the project. The visit was novel in a number of ways, first and foremost it was a showcase of state of the art research in collaboration with industry. A somewhat novel aspect was that it was entirely a walking tour as everything (including Lime Street Station from where Joe departed) was located within a square mile ). Big thanks are due to all whom we met and to Joe for taking the time to visit us |