Avoca Medical Ltd Wins £10,000 Award from RCUK
The team led by Professor Michael Fagan from the University, received £10,000 towards kick-starting their business to commercialise a new generation of speech valve for use in speech restoration surgery, the Kingston Speech Valve (KSV).
Current speech valves are made from silicone rubber that can deteriorate rapidly due to biofilm growth and fail totally within three months. The KSV is manufactured from zirconia, an advanced engineering ceramic which is very hard with a high surface finish that is resistant to biofilm growth. Laboratory tests indicate that the unique design of the KSV will have a significantly longer life than the designs currently available.
Recent research has shown that public investment in research has a direct impact on GDP and this is crucial to driving UK growth in these economically fragile times. As the number of academics and higher education institutions engaging with business and industry rises further investment is attracted to the UK. From a recent RCUK report Research for our Future: UK business success through public investment, the evidence is overwhelming that it is the quality of UK research that attracts business and industry to conduct R&D in partnership with UK-based researchers.
Professor Dave Delpy, RCUK Impact Champion said: 'It is vital to the future prosperity of the UK that research and business work together in partnership."
