Heriot-Watt and Renishaw industry collaboration is shortlisted for prestigious engineering award

A research collaboration between Heriot-Watt University and Renishaw, a global engineering technology group, has been shortlisted for a prestigious UK engineering award.

The Royal Academy of Engineering’s Bhattacharyya Award is an annual award that celebrates  exceptional collaborations between academia and industry.

The Renishaw / Heriot-Watt University Strategic Alliance was formed in 2006 to advance research and development in areas including 3D printing of metals – known as additive manufacturing – and precision measurement for sectors including healthcare, manufacturing and electronics. It has led to 11 joint patent applications between Heriot-Watt University and Renishaw and projects including fibre optic sensors for medical testing and new approaches for cancer diagnosis and robotic inspection.

The Alliance is one of five shortlisted academia-industry partnerships competing for a £25,000 prize, with the winning partnership to be announced at a ceremony in London on Thursday 26 September 2024.

Rob Bash, Renishaw General Manager – Group Engineering, said: "Our alliance with Heriot-Watt University has been groundbreaking and continues to drive important advances in core areas of our expertise, including metal 3D printing and dimensional measurement. The projects and patents we have developed together have led to four new product families that are now used globally and manufactured in the UK. We are immensely proud to be a Bhattacharyya Award finalist.”

Renishaw employs more than 5,000 people in 36 countries and specialises in high precision technology. It is also a world leader in metal 3D printing, where metal powder is used to ‘print' parts. Around 95% of Renishaw sales are exports, supplying manufacturers globally who make a wide range of products, from smartphones to solar panels, and jet engines to dental implants. It was also responsible for key components of the Great Britain Cycling Team’s track bike for the Paris Olympics.

Duncan Hand, Professor of Applied Photonics at Heriot-Watt and the University’s Assistant Vice Principal of Research and Impact, said: “Our strategic alliance with Renishaw builds on research collaborations dating back to the 1990’s and has grown in strength and depth over the years since. We have an exceptional track record in real world innovations that are making a difference globally and helping to train a new generation of scientists in engineering breakthroughs that have a direct impact on society. Being a Bhattacharyya Award finalist is fantastic recognition of our world-class scientists and research.”

In all, the Renishaw / Heriot-Watt University Strategic Alliance has resulted in 58 research and development projects involving hundreds of undergraduates, 22 doctoral students, 26 academic leads and 19 industrial engineers. It has leveraged £54 million in funding and produced over 50 joint publications, 11 patent families and four key products.

The Alliance has developed innovations across Renishaw’s core product ranges, including position encoders, measurement probes and metal 3D printing. Notable developments include technology for a device that allows the automated inspection of surface finish and research into laser processes that led to improvements in Renishaw’s 3D printing systems. These enable users to produce higher quality metal parts, including medical and dental implants.

The five 2024 Bhattacharyya Award finalists have created thousands of highly skilled jobs in aeronautics, robotics, aviation, space, energy, defence and security and secured more than £1bn of investment. The finalists include the world’s first compound semiconductor cluster and joint ventures that resulted in a transatlantic fight using sustainable aviation fuel and extending the lifetime of the UK’s nuclear fleet.

Professor Sir Martin Sweeting OBE FREng FRS, Chair of the judging panel for the Bhattacharyya Award, said: “Our task this year was challenging, as each candidate was different in topic and scale. We were looking for evidence of sustained industrial collaboration with demonstrated mutual benefit to both academia and industry, alongside a clear contribution to the UK economy. This way of working is fundamental to driving innovation and economic growth in an internationally competitive world. Our five finalists were the most compelling candidates delivering this synergy of academic-industrial collaboration.”

The creation of the Bhattacharyya Award was announced by the UK government in 2019 as a tribute to Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya KT CBE FREng FRS, the Regius Professor of Manufacturing at the University of Warwick and founder of the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG).

The Royal Academy of Engineering advances and promotes excellence in engineering.

Read more about the finalists on the Royal Academy of Engineering website.