The grant funding for the two projects, which is in excess of £500,000, will advance Magnomatics’ novel magnetic power-split technology for hybrid electric vehicles. The project with Ford has the support of the Technology Strategy Board’s Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation Platform, and will develop the technology for use in hybrid passenger vehicles.

The work with Caterpillar is also assisted through the TSB in its recent investment to support innovation and growth for businesses looking to keep the UK at the forefront of high value manufacturing. A particular emphasis has been placed on the development of ‘enabling technologies’, which can lead to the creation of other products or processes able to support future development.

Magnomatics will collaborate with Caterpillar Engines, and Sheffield-based, and now US-owned, magnetic material and magnet assembly supplier Arnold Magnet Technologies, to scale-up the magnetic power-split technology for larger hybrid vehicles. Chris Kirby, MD at Magnomatics, said: “We are experiencing sustained rising demand for our products, as industries across the world seek to introduce new technologies to enhance their own solutions and to meet growing worldwide expectations for more efficient and sustainable products.”

http://www.magnomatics.com

Called CRPix, the new system is free to use for anyone involved in crime reduction or prevention. Christmas is the busiest time of the year for retailers – and shoplifters too, who stole goods worth around £2.1bn in the last year.

CRPix - Crime Reduction Partnership Intelligence Exchange - enables shops, police and local shopwatch schemes to post images on a secure website. Each week the site - at https://secure.littoralis.com - automatically sends out an email newsletter to anyone who signs up for it, displaying the latest images.

Any recipient who recognises an image displayed on the e-newsletter can immediately access the website itself and, through it, submit their information direct to the individual who is appealing for information.

CRPix is free to use for both those who post images and those who submit information about them, and is entirely funded by Littoralis Ltd, the UK’s leading supplier of secure information-sharing systems for crime reduction. It is supported by the Association of Business Crime Partnerships.

Dave Platten of Littoralis said “retail-related crime such as shoplifting, card theft and fraud is one of the biggest categories of crime in the country, and generates a vast amount of intelligence in the form of good-quality CCTV images of offenders. But putting names to them is a huge challenge because of the sheer volume of images, and pressure on police budgets and resources means that too much of this valuable material is going to waste.”

CRPix enables people involved in retail crime reduction, such as security staff in shopping centres, CCTV suite operators and retailers themselves, to peruse the images and put names to those they recognise.

CRPix will be especially useful in helping identify travelling, persistent offenders such as ‘professional’ shoplifters who may be well-known to retailers and crime reduction partnerships in one part of the country, but unknown in another. “Until now there has been no efficient way of displaying these images to people who might be able to identify them,” said Platten. “We believe CRPix will change that.”

Because CRPix handles only unidentified CCTV images - which are not classified as ‘Personal Data’ under the Data Protection Act - they can be distributed widely among people who are actively involved in retail crime and fraud reduction.

https://secure.littoralis.com

The Sheffield-based firm will use the cash to expand its operations, to grow sales, and to conclude commercial deals with its commercial partners. The Credit Protection Association (CPA) led a syndicate of investors that contributed £550,000, with Fusion IP plc and the White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund following on their prior investments with contributions of £90,000 and £75,000 respectively. Fusion IP plc simultaneously converted a £150,000 loan.

Sales of products incorporating the Phase Focus Virtual Lens have commenced for life science and ophthalmic metrology applications, and evaluations are being conducted with potential OEM partners in markets including semiconductor process control and analytical electron microscopy. The technology is also increasingly being applied in X-Ray microscopy applications.

Ian Pykett, CEO of Phase Focus, said: “Our technology continues to fulfil its promise with product sales having now commenced in multiple sectors, and with potentially market-changing capabilities in electron microscopy. This new investment will enable us to consolidate these opportunities and develop further applications from stain-free live cell imaging to semiconductor metrology.”

www.phasefocus.com