The WISE Network is administered and coordinated by the University of Wales, Bangor.
The Network draws on the business facing expertise of staff based in the University’s School of Ocean Sciences, School of Chemistry, Centre for Applied Marine Sciences, CAZS-NR and BioComposites Centre and others within the University.
Over 20 people are involved in the provision of free consultancy and advice to eligible companies within Wales.
Sustainable Development - 'Sustainable Development' is the hot topic of the day. Wales has one of the few legislatures in the world with a commitment to sustainable development incorporated into its constitution and as a result has a legal duty to consider sustainable development in every aspect of its function. The public sector is responding to this demand.
Businesses in Wales are waking up to the fact that their customers are also demanding that they think beyond their bottom line to consider their responsibilities towards the planet and its people. But what does this mean practically?
We are here to help the business community and the public sector with Synnwyr Busnes Business Sense and WISE Network.
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BioComposites Centre (BC) - The BioComposites Centre (BC) is one of the foremost self-funding research, development and technology transfer centres focused on natural materials in the UK. Recent investment in laboratories and equipment as well as significant European funding to establish a technology transfer centre dedicated to the development of low carbon impact materials have secured an enviable international client list and project portfolio. With nearly 20 years’ experience of operating in the forest, forest products and natural materials sectors and with a staff of 20 scientists, technologists, analysts and managers, BC’s technology transfer offering completes the unique service available at UWB.
The BC offer is a broad one, encompassing products and services for a wide range of industries at every stage of the evaluation, research, product development, product trial and manufacturing processes. They include:
- Desk-based studies, materials analysis, literature and patent surveys, market reports, ideas generation, consultancy and consortium-building
- Proposal writing, submission and liaison with funding agencies
- Laboratory-based syntheses, material analyses, chemical and materials production, product development, prototype testing, evaluation and validation
- Up-scale manufacture, in-plant trials and sampling.
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Chemistry - The School of Chemistry at Bangor has one of the UK’s leading groups on thin film photovoltaics. Professor Stuart Irvine who has 30 years’ experience in semiconductor materials and currently leads the management hub of the EPSRC PV Supergen consortium runs the school’s Opto-electronics Materials Chemistry (OMC) research group.
The OMC research is focused on the CdTe based thin film solar cell and is concerned with fundamental aspects of device structure, as well as innovative routes for higher performance solar cells and reduction in cost for production. A strong emphasis is placed on materials’ characterisation, process monitoring and growth kinetics. Complementing the CdTe research the OMC group is also investigating transparent conducting oxides such as ZnO and CdO for use as photovoltaic front contacts.
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CAZS-NR - CAZS Natural Resources is a semi-autonomous self-funding centre within the College of Natural Sciences, The centre has over 20 years' experience of rural development work in some of the world's poorest countries. A central focus of CAZS Natural Resources is the promotion of agricultural and forestry development and the provision of technological and scientific innovation to improve natural resource development and management. Work has concentrated on arid and semi-arid lands but, in recent years, the work of the Centre has evolved to encompass virtually all agro-ecological zones and spans many countries across Africa, Asia and Europe.
CAZS-NR has acquired an international reputation for its business services which span a range of services in renewable natural resource development, conservation and aspects of human development. Specialised consultancy services are offered to a wide range of clients in the private and public sectors.
- Technical Assistance
- Analytical Services
- Sustainable Business Practice
- Project Management Institutional Development
- Environmental Impact Assessment
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Marine Sciences - The Centre for Applied Marine Sciences (CAMS) offers a multi-disciplinary service and is able to respond to the needs of industry and government by drawing on expertise, from within CAMS and the School of Ocean Sciences, over a broad range of marine topics.
CAMS is a WAG recognised Centre of Excellence in Technology and Industrial Collaboration providing a world-class scientific, technical and research resource for the benefit of local, national and international companies, including organisations that are seeking to invest in Wales.
CAMS is actively involved in many projects in areas such as:
- Climate change impacts and assessment
- Coastal Zone Management
- Environmental impact assessments
- Fisheries
- Geographical Information Systems
- Instrumentation & Survey – offshore and onshore work including ships and small boats
- Marine aquaculture
- Marine biology
- Marine chemistry
- Marine geology & geotechnics
- Marine pollution
- Marine seismics and acoustics
- Oceanography
- Remote sensing – satellite and airborne imaging
- Renewable energy – biofuels, offshore winds, tides, wave, etc.
- Shellfisheries
CAMS has access to the facilities of the Marine Science Laboratories in Menai Bridge including well-equipped survey vessels, aquaria and powerful computing facilities suitable for the range of activities listed above. The 33m R.V. Prince Madog is the largest University owned research vessel in the UK and is capable of working for up to 10 days offshore in shelf sea regions. For inshore survey work, UWB has a fleet of inshore vessels; the Macoma, Meia and Awen Môn.
CAST is home to state-of-the-art visualization equipment and can provide 3D content creation for interactive real-time models and for animations, we particularly focus on the use of visualization to aid decision making and communication in both rural and urban environmental projects. Additionally we can provide scientific data visualization for analysing large data sets.
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