University of Manchester to join Future Cities Forum innovation discussion

Image: courtesy of the University of Manchester

Future Cities Forum is delighted that Dr Louise Bates, Director of Business Engagement and Knowledge Exchange at the University of Manchester, will be contributing to our Manchester Town Hall 'Innovation, science and new districts' discussion this April.

Louise completed a BSc in Biology in 2001, followed by a PhD in Neuroendocrinology which concluded in 2004, both at the University of Manchester. Louise went on initially to work in medical communications with a focus on strategic account management. 

She then transitioned to business operations roles in the Pharma Industry working for Hoffmann La Roche at their HQ in Switzerland for seven years. Louise returned to the Higher Education sector in 2018 where she was the University of Manchester's Head of Strategic Partnerships, responsible for operational and account management of strategic institutional industrial partnerships as well as the development of new relationships. 

In her current role she leads the University's function responsible for engaging with external partners, driving growth, diversity and impact from these collaborations.

The University of Manchester has been speaking recently about advances in LED technology. It describes its latest project:

'The current generation of LED and micro-LED devices are known to have limitations, including reduced efficiency at longer wavelengths and at high drive currents (commonly referred to in the industry as droop). To aid the measurement of performance and enable optimisation of the devices, Dr Patrick Parkinson, Dr Stephen Church and their Manchester team worked with LED specialists Kubos Semiconductors to develop a toolkit capable of characterising large numbers of micro-LEDs. 

'This new toolkit can perform independent and correlative measurements of the electrical and optical performance of LEDs at both micron and full device scales. The Manchester team used Kubos’ emerging cubic-Gallium Nitride-based LEDs to demonstrate the toolkit’s capabilities. 

'With access to the University’s world-leading facilities and expertise in opto-electronic characterisation, Kubos has been able to use the toolkit’s findings to implement improvements and to accelerate their route to market. This work has proved to be an important step towards Kubos’ ambition to replace traditional hexagonal-nitride LEDs with novel, cubic-nitride devices, which promise higher efficiencies and superior performance for applications in AR/VR Displays and optical communications. 

'This project has made a significant impact across the semiconductor industry within the UK and across Europe. It has highlighted the potential for emergent materials and provided essential optimisation strategies to accelerate product development and shorten the route to market.

'The success of this project showcases the opportunities that can be unlocked through partnering with university experts and underlines the value of such collaborations and their potential to deliver significant benefits to SMEs across the sector. '

Image below: courtesy of The University of Manchester