Commissioner takes first look at Graphene Hub

European Commissioner, Johannes Hahn, who signed off the £23 million European cash injection into Manchester’s Graphene Hub to turn it from a pipe dream into reality, will take a first look at progress on the site on Thursday (27 February).

Local Labour Euro MP, Arlene McCarthy who has lobbied for continued European funding for the region and who will be joining the Commissioner on his visit, said: “This is a great opportunity to showcase Manchester’s fantastic use of European funding to drive growth and create jobs in the region. There can be no doubt that every penny of European funds is being put to good use in the city.

“In the short term the Graphene Hub will bring 100 additional jobs to the city but with the expectation that many thousands more jobs will be created as the myriad of commercial applications of graphene are exploited and developed by the hub.

“We are already starting to see the commercial benefits of graphene to the local economy with Rochdale firm TBA Electro Conductive Products Ltd confirming last week that it is ready to go to market with its sprayable transparent conductive graphene coating.”

Making the sprayable transparent conductive graphene coating cost TBA around £2m to develop. Of that £2m, £830,000 came from European Union funding.

TBA Electro Conductive Products business manager Mark Lineker said: “The project wouldn’t have been possible without the funding from Europe. Without the funding the project was just an idea so receiving the money was a huge help.”

The Graphene Hub has also received £850 million over 10 years in FET (Future Emerging Technologies) funding, as part of the EU led consortium of 126 research groups from 17 countries, to develop the commercial applications of graphene.

Ms McCarthy added: “Today’s visit gets to the heart of why our EU membership is so valuable. It not only delivers benefits through vital funds but by being part of a powerful Europe-wide Research & Development consortium which puts Manchester at the heart of graphene development.”