Plastipack Limited and the University of Surrey win the Business Innovation Award

The award was announced on Tuesday 16 October 2018, at an event at the Palace of Westminster. The Business Innovation Award celebrates both SMEs and large companies that have delivered significant economic and/or societal impact through the innovative application of physics.

Since 2012 Plastipack and the University have been successful in securing funding for a number of projects to develop premium pool covering materials. In 2016, as part of the most recent KTP, Plastipack launched a one-of-a-kind testing facility in East Sussex that uses five outdoor swimming pools to test the solar performance and evaporation controls of pool covers in development.

Over the course of the award-winning three-year project the team developed an innovative swimming pool cover that prevents algae growth whilst using solar technology to heat the water.

Dr Steven Clowes, Senior Lecturer at the University of Surrey, said: “We were approached by Plastipack who had a very ambitious vision for their products, and they wanted to tap into our team’s expertise to help meet these very high expectations. We are delighted to see that our partnership has led to such a prestigious award from the Institute of Physics, and we look forward to continuing our work with Plastipack and collaborating with more SMEs in the future.”

Peter Adlington, Plastipack Managing Director, said: “Innovation is at the heart of everything we do at Plastipack. We constantly research, develop and test new materials to give our customers the very best choice of products.”

Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK government. Innovate UK drive productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas, including those from the UK’s world-class research base.

If you would like to find out how to improve your business’ competitiveness and productivity through working with the University of Surrey, please contact the Business Development Team at businessdevelopment@surrey.ac.uk.