Aberinnovation completes fit out of new facilities

 
AberInnovation Logo Bilingual.png
 
Aberinnovation Ben Jones headshot.jpg

Ben Jones, Marketing and Partnerships Manager, AberInnovation

AberInnovation recently finalised its procurement activities to realise the full potential of its £43.5m investment in mid-Wales. The final pieces of the jigsaw were the final fit-outs in the Future Food Centre and Advanced Analysis Centre. These translational facilities join the existing operational Biorefining Centre, Seed Biobank and Innovation Hub to provide a development hub for collaborative agri-food and circular economy R&D.

Development Facilities for Industry Collaboration

  • Our Biorefining Centre is a pilot scale facility for extracting, analysing and optimising chemicals from biomass and waste stream materials, with co-located industrial biotechnology and a food grade environment.

  • The food grade environment is integrated with the Future Food Centre, for the testing, validation and improvement of existing and novel materials as foods including nutritional content, advanced compositional analysis, shelf life and consumer preferences. Sensory testing booths and a dedicated kitchen allow real-time responses to sensory properties of novel foods.

  • Both of these centres are supported by the first-floor Advanced Analysis Centre offering bespoke facilities for supporting analytical needs and advanced compositional testing in bioprospecting, bioprocessing and fermentation process support.

  • On the same site, the Seed Biobank houses more than 35,000 seed varieties collected from all corners of the world for over 100 years and stored in controlled environments.

  • The front door to all of these facilities is provided by the Campus’s Innovation Hub and its array of meeting, conference and networking spaces – an incubator for innovation-led companies.

Dr Rhian Hayward MBE, CEO at AberInnovation said: “The team are to be congratulated in completing the next stage of our journey to full operations. We will support greater collaboration between Aberystwyth University researchers and industry and we are moving forward on the project pipeline at pace. Businesses from Wales, the wider UK and internationally are coming forward to enquire about the new facilities to explore the innovation potential from Aberystwyth University’s research and create brand new products and services in food and the circular economy.”

With its capabilities complete, staff at AberInnovation will continue expanding the Campus’s project portfolio as well as offering contract research, bespoke technical training, and a range of start-up incubation and investor-readiness services. 

 
AberInnovation Campus.jpg
 
Valerie Evans