Game Changers announce NNL focus area challenge awards

The latest Game Changers opportunities have successfully resulted in potential solutions to a widely diverse range of challenges, demonstrating the breadth and scope of the Game Changers programme.

The three focus area challenges launched on behalf of the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) in support of their open innovation agenda encompass clean energy, health and nuclear medicine, and security and non-proliferation. Nine funding awards have been announced in response to these distinct and varied challenges, showing the flexibility of the Game Changers process and illustrating the huge range of sectors that Game Changers connect with.

And the geography of the funded projects matches the wide scope of the challenges with projects from Tonbridge in the south, to Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University in the north, and as far afield as an alpha radiation mapping project in Finland.

The three challenges were:

• Health and Nuclear Medicine - Flexible method of production for thin film targets used in nuclear physics and nuclear medicine experiments

Applications were invited for innovative processes or methods to put down thin, metal-based films onto a low atomic mass backing material in a flexible and reproducible manner.

• Security and Non-Proliferation - Stand-off alpha radiation detection under daylight conditions

In collaboration with the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), NNL invited solutions that could enable the remote detection and identification of radiologically hazardous sources of alpha radiation.

• Clean Energy - Technologies to scale thermochemical methods of hydrogen production

Innovations that could overcome the barriers to scaling commercial deployment of thermochemical methods of hydrogen production from water.

NNL funding awards in the thin film targets challenge go to The University of Bristol, Solaris Photonics (Cambridge) and Thin Metal Films (Basingstoke).

Projects receiving awards for the alpha radiation detection challenge are from WilCrom Ltd (Manchester), Mirion Technologies (Canberra UK Ltd, Didcot), i3D Robotics (Tonbridge), Alfa Rift Oy (Finland) and Interface Analysis Centre (Bristol).

Robert Gordon University (Aberdeen) will deliver a project in response to the thermochemical hydrogen production challenge.

Frank Allison, CEO of FIS360, which delivers Game Changers in partnership with NNL, said: “We are delighted to see that our proven processes are capable of supporting such a widely diverse range of projects from an equally diverse range of sectors.”

Allan Simpson, Senior Research Technologist at NNL, said: “It is fantastic to see the range of companies selected to undertake each Focus Area challenge, from UK academic institutions to technology companies based as far as Finland.

“In health and nuclear medicine, we value the unique Game Changers process to bring forward ideas to address our common challenges. Innovation is a vital component of NNL’s S&T agenda; tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges to find reliable solutions.”