Noise Reduction Technologies to Help Protect Marine Life

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We are participating in one of four newly announced partnerships between industry and academia, developing ground-breaking technologies to help tackle global challenges.

In support of the Government’s Industrial Strategy ambition to raise investment in research and development to 2.4% of GDP by 2027, the Prosperity Partnership projects help ensure that UK businesses and universities are leading the way in bringing new products to market that will contribute to tackling some of the biggest challenges of our generation.

We are leading one of the new partnerships between the University of Southampton, the University of Nottingham and Lloyd’s Register, to explore the development of new materials that don’t make noise underwater. Noise pollution can cut the life-expectancy of fish, dolphins and other marine life, while also affecting human health, and these new materials will help protect vulnerable marine life.

The projects, which join 11 earlier collaborations announced in 2018, will be funded with £12 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UKRI, and have leveraged £17.5 million in cash or in-kind contributions from industry.

Steve Harris, Head of External Partnerships and Brokering, BAE Systems, comments, “The Prosperity Partnership offers us the chance to explore new and low TRL technology with Southampton University, one of our five strategic university partners, building on our existing relationship with the internationally leading team at the Institute of Sound and Vibration. As an R&D intensive business driven by technological innovation, we know great things will come out of this partnership and are delighted at its announcement by the EPSRC.”

The other three projects include:

• Using AI and machine learning to speed up production of new medicines from vaccines to tablets in order to get them from the lab to the clinic faster, led by GlaxoSmithKline with the University of Strathclyde with University of Nottingham;
• Developing a new range of fully recyclable ultra-high strength aluminum alloys for the automotive industry, led by Constellium and Brunel University; and
• Creating the next generation of household products using AI to pave the way for robots to complete advanced household tasks, led by Dyson and Imperial.