You may have seen or heard of the Aura Innovation Centre, but you may be wondering who we are and what we do.
We help Humber SMEs turn their ideas into reality, connecting businesses of all sizes to the research power and expertise of the University of Hull.
Do you have a pinch point in your business that needs addressing, or you have a number of ideas that you do not have resource or capacity to deliver?
We’ve helped over 80 SMEs in the Humber region to develop new products and processes that will reduce energy consumption and emissions, delivering cost savings and helping optimise efficiencies.
We specialise in matching university expertise to industry challenges, especially in the early stage development work around market analysis, feasability studies, testing, prototyping and initial manufacturing. Funding is available to help pay for university expertise to deliver across these areas.
As well as helping you collaborate with the research power of the University of Hull, the Aura Innovation Centre also has fantastic facilities in our InventX innovation space, including 3D printing, scanning electron microscopy, circuit board and electronic design and build, and augmented and virtual reality, to name a few.
Here are just a few examples of how we can help your business get your carbon-reducing ideas off the ground…
Digitisation of Industry
- Changing manual processes to digital processes.
- Using machine learning to automate decisions and improve efficiencies.
- Creating digital twins to enable online data modelling and testing to optimise product development.
- Utilisation of virtual and augmented reality to provide savings on training and development time, reducing costs and travel.
See how we helped Qudos Energy find the right lighting for vertical farms
Additive Manufacturing
- Utilising latest techniques and systems for rapid prototyping and design in the local area.
- Development of waste and organic products for uses in 3D printing and plastics manufacturing.
- Strengthening of existing product, making products lighter to transport, improving tensile strength and mechanical properties.
How we helped a caravan chassis manufacturer test their workplace emissions
Waste and recycling
- Understanding what you use, what you waste and how these could be re-purposed.
- How products can be redesigned to ensure there is less waste and no landfill.
- How to maximise existing supply chains to link waste as feedstock for other sectors.
Find out how we helped a farming partnership transform pea pod waste into a commercial opportunity.
New materials design
- Utilising research around nano materials – making products stronger, lighter, more breathable, cheaper to transport and easier to make.
- Opportunities to develop brand new products with market leading characteristics, shorter supply chains, lower energy needs and better environmental properties.
Explore how we helped analyse the market for novel nanofibres.
Product Engineering
- Designing, fabricating and testing new structures that improve the thermal, acoustic and sustainable properties in modular buildings.
- Developing and applying physical science to solve electrical, electronic and mechanical engineering problems, from components to full systems, including electronic build capabilities to ensure product development money delivers.
- Replicating processes of fluids, gases and material flows in industry standard simulators, lifecycle analysis and carbon mapping.
Learn how we helped bring computer simulation to a family-led project.
Knowledge and Support
Aura and the University of Hull have access to around 2,000 researchers and postgraduates from across the world, bringing their expertise to the region. With labs and facilities across the campus, we can help support your access to any of them, whatever the project requires. Chemistry, computer science, engineering, business and economics, electronics and mathematical modelling, energy systems, environmental and many more to help your business solve its challenges.
See how we helped Qudos optimise lighting for their vertical farms.
Ready to achieve your low-carbon ambitions?
If you’re ready to take the next step in your project or idea, or just want to know how to help navigate the rapidly changing low carbon landscape, get in touch with our Innovation Managers for a chat.
Fill in our contact form, give us a quick sentence or two about your project, and we’ll be in touch.