Life Sciences Sector

Emerging Technologies

Nanotechnology

Birmingham has established itself as a research centre in nanotechnology and there have been a number of initiatives to help establish a major nanotechnology cluster in Birmingham. It is a concept which verges on science fiction and which entails the engineering of components down to small clusters of atoms, so tiny they are invisible to the naked eye.

The technology is central in the development of the Central Technology Belt, running from Birmingham to Worcestershire. The regional development agency, Advantage West Midlands, is encouraging knowledge-led industries to locate along this corridor, which might also be involved with determining which diseases an individual is likely to develop in future years.

Professor Graham Davies, Head of the School of Engineering, Birmingham University, speaks matter-of-factly about the day when it might be possible to permanently implant nanotech sensors into the human body, providing feedback to a central location that monitors the health of the population on a minute-by-minute basis.

He points out that the potential applications for nanotechnology will be limited only by the human imagination.

These include –

• The Centre for Nanoscale Sensors & Devices which has 10 industrial partners across the world.
  
  
• The Centre for Scientific Instruments with its Advanced Machining Facility that provides nanoscale machining facilities to smaller local engineering companies.
  
  
• The I2 NanoTech Centre which plans to build an incubator building to house spin-off companies resulting from academic nanotechnology research. The Centre plans to spin out 70 such companies over the next ten years.

Photonics

Photonics or opto-electronics, is simply the technology of using light to transmit information. But that just scratches the surface of the technology, according to Glenn Borrowman, the project manager of the Midlands Photonic Cluster. Photonics can be used to test structures, such as bridges, for stress points, providing invaluable information that can be incorporated into future designs, and permitting preventive maintenance programmes to be started before the danger signs begin to show.

Telecommunications

Birmingham is now leading the way in the provision and use of information communications technology. Huge sectors of the region's population are already able to take advantage of broadband technology.

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