A programme that offers free legal advice to environmentally positive startups from Imperial’s Enterprise Lab and Undaunted’s Greenhouse accelerator has been named Most Effective Pro Bono Partnership in this year’s LawWorks awards.The Green Tech Legal Collaborative(GTLC)was singled out in astiff competition that involved seven other partnerships active in the community and in business.“Legal issues can be daunting for startup founders whose background is in research and technology,so it’s great that we can mobilise some of the best legal minds in the country to help them at this important stage in their development,”said Dr Simon Hepworth,Director of Imperial Enterprise.“This is just the kind of diverse expertise,and personal kindness,coming from inside and outside the College,that builds founder confidence and makes us want to work even harder to bring great ideas to life.”He also thanked the GTLC participants for their commitment.“It’s amazing that busy people will give up their precious time to support others.We are very grateful to the lawyers and practices that make this project possible,and congratulate them on this well-deserved award.”The awards are given by LawWorks,a charity that supports and promotes pro bono legal services.The aim is to recognise the commitment of its members,their charity and corporate partners,and the work of independent law clinics.“We are delighted that LawWorks has recognised the important impact of the GTLC,which was started by agroup of like-minded legal and compliance professionals who wanted to support climate action using our collective expertise and specialisms,”said Ruchit Patel,a partner Ropes&Gray,one of the programme’s founding firms.“This award is welcome recognition from the legal profession of the great work the programme is doing,and is testament to the passion and dedication of all involved and the power of collaboration in the fight against climate change,"said Mia Motiee of Bloomberg,who is amember of the GTLC steering committee. 查看详细>>

Ceres Power,an energy technology company created over 20 years ago from research carried out at Imperial,made its debut last week on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.Previously listed on the Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market(AIM),the move is asignificant milestone in the company’s development.“It allows us to attract new pools of investment,particularly from international investors,who really value the full listing,”said Phil Caldwell,the company’s chief executive.“And because of our progress and our size,we should gain indexation onto the FTSE 250.”The move is also avote of confidence in London as acentre for deep-tech companies,at atime when there have been high-profile moves to New York and other markets.“I believe it’s important for the UK economy to see more tech businesses listed in London,”said Mr Caldwell.“We are proud at Ceres to be aleading example of aUK-based technology driving the global effort to tackle climate change and achieve net zero.”The company was founded in 2000 to develop fuel cell research carried out by Professor Nigel Brandon,now Dean of Imperial’s Faculty of Engineering,and Professors Brian Steele,John Kilner and Alan Atkinson in the Department of Materials.“It’s really great to see the company moving forward in this way,”said Professor Brandon.“When we set the company up out of Imperial College over 20 years ago,we were very excited about the technology and its potential impact,but Ireally do not think any of us saw just how significant this could really be.”Fuel cells consume substances such as natural gas or hydrogen in order to produce electricity,with low or zero carbon emissions depending on the fuel.They also produce zero particulate emissions,making them an inherently green energy technology.Ceres Power uses advanced materials to build fuel cells that operate at moderate temperatures,generating electricity with high-efficiency and at low cost.This makes them accessible for avariety of applications,including transport,data centres,and combined heat and power systems for homes and businesses.The same technology it uses to generate electricity can also be reversed,creating electrolysers that convert renewable energy into green hydrogen.This hydrogen can then be used as afuel or to store the energy,buffering fluctuations in production from wind or solar power,for example.The potential of this technology was recognised in June when Ceres Power was selected as one of three finalists for the 2023 MacRobert Award,the longest-running and most prestigious UK prize for engineering innovation.“These Ceres technology electrolysers show the lowest conversion losses that I’ve come across,”said Professor Sir Richard Friend,chair of the MacRobert Award judges.“They are spectacularly efficient.That is ahuge game changer for hydrogen generation.” 查看详细>>

The Agilent Measurement Suite,a flagship facility at Imperial’s Molecular Sciences Research Hub,is supporting researchers across Imperial,the White City startup community,and collaborators from further afield.It is equipped with equipment provided by the US-based instrument manufacturer to help researchers developing products such as new medicines and materials to accelerate their research and development.The facility,which provides researchers with tools to analyse the composition of molecules and cells,has already helped advance projects such as the development of new polymeric pacemaker leads and nanoparticles for drug delivery,and to identify adulterants in herbal remedies.The Suite’s operating model means that researchers and companies from Imperial and beyond can access the equipment and receive support from specialists to use it themselves,assisted by Agilent’s devices incorporating digital technologies that make them increasingly powerful for data analysis.The Suite has given researchers from academia and industry access to equipment that they do not have in their own labs and has helped them to test out workflows before raising the funds needed to purchase their own equipment.Positioned at the heart of the emerging White City Innovation District,home not only to Imperial but also dozens of life sciences startups and large organisations such as Novartis,L’Oreal,and NATO,the Suite has hosted hundreds of researchers and thousands of visitors.Its ongoing success is allowing Agilent and Imperial to continue jointly supporting agrowing community of innovators,and it is now easier than ever to access for the research and industry community with an expanded operation and expert support team. 查看详细>>

At the event,hosted by Imperial College Business School’s Brevan Howard Centre for Financial Analysis and the World Bank,academics,global policymakers and leaders from the financial sector explored how to deliver investments at scale for low and middle income countries(LMICs)and emerging economies to enable urgent action on climate change.The talks explored the financial aspects of the energy transition,de-risking green investments,decarbonising transport,equipping LMICs to attract commercial climate finance and tapping international carbon markets.Keynote speakers included Gabriel Yorio González,Mexico’s Deputy Minister of Finance and Public Credit,Dr Mohamed Gawad Alla,Minister Plenipotentiary(Commercial),at Egypt’s Ministry of International Cooperation,and Abyd Karmali,Managing Director,Environmental,Social and Governance Advisory at Bank of America.Imperial has committed to using its influence through investment,research,education,sponsorship and other actions to accelerate the transition to net-zero.The Brevan Howard Centre for Financial Analysis,led by one of the world’s most respected economists,Professor Franklin Allen–aims to serve as abridge between the Business School and the world of business.Its experts help drive agreater understanding and more efficient management of risk,promoting investment and productivity.The World Bank is the largest provider of climate finance to LMICs with commitments to increase these levels to 35%of total investments,50%of which would go to helping countries adapt to climate impacts.Professor Franklin Allen said:“Amidst much progress on climate change,there is still substantial uncertainty on how different sources of funding can be structured to pay for needed climate action.“As the world moves from the achievements of COP26 in Glasgow to the promise of COP27 in Egypt,greater clarity is needed on the financing structures to coordinate available climate resources in atimely and fair manner and the roles of key actors including finance institutions,commercial investors,as well as national governments.” 查看详细>>

Dr Marc Stettler presented his work on real-world vehicle emissions to the civil servants,highlighting the need for decision makers to have accurate information.Stressing the need for stakeholders to lay out astandard for extracting data from existing data sets,Dr Stettler also said we can give this information to consumers so they can make an informed decision before deciding to purchase aparticular vehicle.Dr Stettler outlined his work taking advantage of machine learning techniques to incorporate vehicle and engine data so that models can be implemented in real-time.Existing emissions modelling does not accurately account for the variability of vehicles or the effect of congestion.However,more data can help us to develop better models and understand the uncertainty in our estimates.In light of atrend towards consumers opting for larger vehicles,Dr Stettler also stated it is not just fuel type consumers need to consider,but also the size and type of vehicle.Dr Stettler also discussed several projects from within his team at the Transport and Environment Laboratory.Taking advantage of the pedestrianised streets at the Great Exhibition Road Festival,researchers measured air quality and found areduction of 15%in exposure to nitrogen dioxide.This modest reduction is likely due to air travelling from other polluted roads. 查看详细>>

BioJapan was held in Yokohama Life sciences academics and Imperial start-ups led adelegation to Japan to spur further research collaboration.They were joined at anumber of events,including the annual biotech partnering conference,BioJapan,in Yokohama,by academics from other institutions and industry leaders.The visit provided aplatform for the Imperial scientists and start-ups to build international networks and create long-lasting partnerships.Dr Paul Bentley has developed... 查看详细>>

Innovative biodegradable plastics company Polymateria and ocean-cleaning startup Ichthion-both based in the I-HUB at Imperial‘s White City Campus-are among eleven innovative projects to win the support of a£4m Government fund to tackle plastic pollution.Innovate UK‘s‘Plastics innovation:towards zero waste’competition supports activities or products with the potential to reduce plastic waste in the environement.The fund builds on the UK’s position as aglobal leader in the fight against waste plastic,to allow the UK to reap the economic benefits of the transition to alow carbon economy while leaving the environment in abetter place for future generations.Polymateria,which was founded by Imperial alumnus Dr Graham Chapman,is developing additives that allow plastic products and packaging to biodegrade over time.They have been awarded two separate grants from the fund,totaling over£1M.Polymateria’s CEO,Niall Dunne said:“The grants will allow us to create the first additive-based Biotransforming technology for Polyethylene terephthalate(PET)to be exploited in the food packaging market and the first petro-plastic that meets compostability standards.This promises to create asignificant business opportunity and will disrupt the biodegradable plastic additive market,setting anew standard in environmentally responsible plastic.”Polymateria have developed their technology in association with Imperial Innovations and were one of the first occupants in the Imperial White City Incubator when it opened its doors in 2016.They are soon set to expand into new and larger office facilities in the I-HUB. 查看详细>>