His Royal Highness, The Duke of York has made a visit to the University of Manchester to understand more about graphene and its commercializing research.
Nobel Laureate, Professor Andre Geim assisted Prince Andrew in touring the graphene laboratories of the university. The Prince had the chance to produce graphene by himself under a microscope. The university’s graphene research team explained to the Prince about upcoming graphene applications.
The Prince had also met fellow Noble prize winner Professor Kostya Novoselov at a lunch organized by Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, who serves as President and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Manchester. He also had a meeting with some student technology entrepreneurs. He had the chance to visit NanoCo, a spin-out of the university that developed from a proof-of-concept to an over £100 million company within a six-year period.
In the afternoon, His Royal Highness visited the Innovation Centre where he met Clive Rowland, Chief Executive Officer at UMI3. The Prince also made a visit to UMI3.
Clive stated that The Duke of York showed great interest to know about research commercialization and associated activities like student enterprise projects. He is excited about the prospects of graphene and showed interest in its various applications and commercialization. He is eager to see the university’s ongoing efforts to expand its capabilities for this purpose and support its products and successes internationally. It is highly encouraging to get suggestions from His Royal Highness for the development of research work at the university, Clive concluded.