Despite disruptions to rail services and severe weather over the weekend, CALMARE’s launch party attracted an impressive turnout, with dozens of business representatives from all over the region attending. About 60 delegates, from manufacturing companies, product development start-ups and a host of other partners and supporters found out more about the centre’s offering at the event, which was hosted at the University of Exeter’s Innovation Centre. Funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the University of Exeter and industry partners, CALMARE provides companies with access to the expertise, advice and technology to help them improve their products and processes.

A networking opportunity over breakfast was followed by introductory talks from:

• Ken Evans, Dean of the College of Engineering, Maths and Physical Sciences, where the centre is based
• Oana Ghita, Lead Academic for the centre
• Paul McCutchion, the centre’s commercial manager

John Bessant, from the University’s Business School, which is working closely with CALMARE, delivered a presentation about the importance of innovation, a pertinent topic to the product developers in the audience.

Following tours of the centre’s state of the art laboratories and facilities, and equipment demonstrations by the team, delegates watched presentations delivered by Ray Khan, from centre partner Hambleside Danelaw, which is providing the project access to its grinding facilities, and from Jason Goozee from Europlastix, which collects and reprocessed recycled plastics, and has completed an initial project with the CALMARE team.

Businesses reported that they found the event helpful and informative. Peter Stevens, of JPRS Developments, based just outside Newton Abbot, has already benefited from the 12 hours fully funded support offered by CALMARE to small and medium enterprises in the South West. He attended with his wife and business partner Jacqui, and said: “I wanted to say thank you for an instructive, useful and enjoyable event today at the official launch of CALMARE.

“It really broadened my understanding of your remit and areas of interest – even though we are already working together – and gave Jacqui a great insight into current and potential areas of collaboration.”

Paul McCutchion said: “I am absolutely delighted to see so many representatives from our region’s businesses here for the launch. This fantastic event really showcases what we have to offer, through our facilities, experience and materials development.”

Following our successful launch event, CALMARE is planning a programme of workshops, based on what we think will be of interest to businesses and what businesses tell us is of interest to them. If you have any suggestions about workshops you would like us to run, feel free to contact us at

PLASTICS are renowned for being easy to recycle – and, when it comes to thermoplastics, this reputation is well deserved. However, with thermosets, it’s a different story, and the chemical bonds between the layers in the material make recycling difficult. That is one of the key issues currently facing the plastics industry, and one that the new Centre for Alternative Materials and Remanufacturing Technologies was set up to help resolve.

The need for a centre such as CALMARE, which offers 12 hours initial fully funded support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) throughout the South West, was also inspired by other issues, specific to manufacturers and suppliers based in the region. Firstly, SMEs, which make up many of the businesses within the South West, normally lack the ability to gain access to higher education facilities and expertise. In today’s world, collaborative partnerships, such as those between universities and businesses, can be vital in driving innovation. Therefore, it seemed pertinent to establish such a centre within the College of Engineering, Maths and Physical Sciences at the University of Exeter. The £1.8m centre is funded for two years by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the University of Exeter and industry partners.

Secondly, one of the large industries in the region is the marine industry, which, in the future, is likely to face legislative demands similar to those seen in the automotive industry, with the end of life directive. The reuse and recycling of glass fibre, which is widely used in the industry, is likely to become a real issue. Paul McCutchion, Commercial Manager for CALMARE, said: “The side of our centre that deals with the recycling and reuse of these products is vital to ensuring that the landfill costs that these companies are exposed to in the future are not so great that it makes it in-viable and is detrimental to the region.

“The University has lots of experience in polymers, compounds, natural materials, remanufacture and recycling, so CALMARE offers an excellent opportunity, especially for companies working with plastics and composites, to be able to take that next step and have that competitive edge, and really develop the South West as a region.”

He added: “The South West is particularly strong on the green agenda and, looking at environmental solutions. A centre like CALMARE gives us a real opportunity to lead that agenda, and really help the South West become the region that is known for our green products and sustainable future.”

Part funded for two years by the European Regional Development Fund Programme 2007 – 2013, with match funding from partners, the centre provides companies with targeted support to improve their products and processes, as well as opportunities for networking and exploring collaborative commercial ventures.