Taking CHAMP Beyond University Research
At The Digital Forge in Sheffield, Hydra Chairman Professor Keith Jackson spoke about how difficult it can be to scale strong engineering ideas and retain the resulting innovation here in the UK.
It’s a question that sits close to Hydra’s own journey. CHAMP began as research at the University of Leeds before becoming the foundation for the spin-out. Since then, Hydra has been working through what comes next when a successful research platform starts moving towards wider industrial use.
The technology continues to develop, although the questions around it are changing. More of the focus is now on where CHAMP can create value for industry, how companies can begin working with it and what Hydra can learn from those projects as the platform develops.
Finding Where CHAMP Fits
CHAMP has potential across a range of applications, so moving beyond the research environment also means becoming more focused about where development effort can have the greatest impact.
Customer conversations are helping Hydra build that picture. Some enquiries relate closely to what CHAMP can already investigate, while others point towards areas that may become more relevant as the platform develops.
As those conversations build, recurring requirements give the team a clearer basis for deciding where to concentrate engineering work and where further evidence would be useful. Development becomes increasingly connected to the problems companies are actively trying to solve.
This is an important part of taking a research technology into industry. Technical potential can be broad. Industrial use starts to show where that potential has a practical role.
Creating A Route Into The Technology
Companies can become interested in CHAMP long before there is a case for bringing a machine in-house. Hydra has therefore been developing ways for customers to explore the technology around their own application first.
A project might begin with feasibility work around a component and its requirements. Where that creates a reason to continue, the next stage can involve producing parts and generating evidence through a pilot. Suitable manufacturing work can also remain with Hydra while the customer develops a better understanding of the process.
This gives companies a way to engage with CHAMP at a level that reflects where their project has reached. It also gives Hydra direct experience of the applications attracting sustained industrial interest.
That experience can then feed back into decisions around the platform. If companies continue to pursue a particular requirement, Hydra has stronger evidence that further work in that area could create value.
Building Evidence Around Industrial Use
The research behind CHAMP provides the technical foundation for the platform. As more companies consider using it, they also need information that can help them assess how relevant the technology is to their own work.
Hydra has started bringing more of that evidence together through material data and application projects. The aim is to make the current state of the technology easier to understand, with enough context around what has already been demonstrated and what is still being developed.
CHAMP is also moving into a wider ceramics environment. The installation at The AMRICC Centre has taken the platform beyond its university origins, while Hydra’s work with Lucideon is contributing additional ceramics and material development expertise.
This wider exposure matters because CHAMP is increasingly being assessed by people outside the team that originally created it. Their questions help show where information is already strong and where Hydra needs to build a clearer body of evidence.
Letting Industrial Experience Inform Development
As customer work grows, it becomes another source of information for the development of CHAMP.
Requirements that appear across different projects can help identify where additional capability would be valuable. Application work can also highlight where stronger evidence would make it easier for engineering teams to consider the technology.
This gives Hydra the opportunity to develop CHAMP with a growing understanding of how companies are beginning to use it. Technical development and commercial experience can inform each other as the platform moves further beyond its original research setting.
The route from university research into industry is therefore becoming part of CHAMP’s development itself. Hydra is learning where the technology fits through the companies engaging with it and using those experiences to shape what comes next.
Keith’s comments at The Digital Forge reflected a wider challenge around turning promising ideas into businesses that can scale. For Hydra, that process is already underway.
CHAMP began as university research. The next stage is about building the experience and industrial relationships that allow more companies to use it.
If you are interested in exploring whether CHAMP could be relevant to a technical ceramic application, speak to the Hydra team.
