NATEP News & Events

Innovative research into sustainable materials and processes has placed NATEP beneficiary Samantha Bunyan among an exclusive cohort of the UK’s leading female entrepreneurs, and Cecence – the company she co-founded – on course for further commercial success.

Samantha is one of 40 visionary women awarded grants of £50,000 in the 2020-21 Women in Innovation Awards programme to take their innovative ideas to market.

The funds will help Cecence commercialise aircraft interior components resulting from several related streams of research, phases of which received backing from NATEP.  The Salisbury-based SME plans to develop a range of furniture for economy and business class cabins, all made with sustainable composite materials, including recycled materials and natural fibres.

The funding will also enable the business to develop sustainable aerospace in-flight carry-on items, such as amenity kits, expanding its customer base for clean products beyond businesses to consumers

“The award will support the delivery of ‘ecocence’ as an independent in-house sustainable brand for Cecence,” said Samantha. Items will be made of natural and recycled fibres bonded by a bio-resin system.

Cecence has a history of working toward the decarbonisation of the aerospace industry with eco-friendly alternatives to the current interior products of aircraft.

From 2016, it developed an award-winning composite lightweight aircraft seat-back – currently in service on Airbus types – using woven carbon fibre and a phenolic resin bonding system. NATEP supported the development of the Q Ultra Slim seat-back which harnessed a bio-resin system, and discoveries made on the NATEP programme are being fed into the company’s new project.

The UK Women in Innovation award will help Samantha and her team take lightweighting technology and Cecence’s low-energy rapid processing know-how a step closer to the cabin of the future with next-generation aerospace components using sustainable materials.

“I am hugely proud of the team at Cecence and what we have already achieved in this area, and excited to see how we can make further advances in lightweight sustainable materials and components for aerospace interiors” .

“Innovate UK’s mentoring and outreach programme will provide opportunities to engage with a wide range of female innovators and provide a platform to promote an interdisciplinary STEAM approach to innovation and product development.

“Being selected as part of this cohort of extraordinary women is a huge honour and I am looking forward to connecting with and supporting one another on our independent and collective journeys over the course of this year.”

Update: 11/FEB/21 – We have had a great response to our call for applications therefore this is now closed.

Adding the industry perspective – contributing to the NATEP programme.

NATEP is looking for panel members to join our regional Project Review Panels (PRPs) to provide industry feedback to National Aerospace Technology Exploitation Programme (NATEP) applicants.

NATEP is aimed at supporting small and medium sized suppliers, with our unique programme of funding and mentoring, to develop their own innovative technologies to enhance their capabilities, strengthen the UK supply chain and increase their ability to win new business.

Industry representatives from across the aerospace supply chain meet on a quarterly basis under the NATEP banner to discuss and review the latest technology ideas being proposed – prior to the projects’ submissions for funding. The feedback from these meetings adds enormous value to the projects’ applications for the technology scope, understanding of the market and route to exploitation.

As NATEP’s popularity continues to grow, additional reviewers on our regional panels are needed to broaden the panels’ expertise to match the increasing diversity of the technologies being proposed.

These regional Project Review Panels (PRPs) are a great and informal way for representatives to network with colleagues from industry from across all regions of the UK and to be at the forefront of the technology innovations being developed within the civil aerospace supply chain.

NATEP has funded over 200 projects since 2013.

If you’d like to get involved and would like more information and a copy of the panels’ Terms of Reference please contact:

Nancy Jardine
NATEP Operations Manager

nancy.jardine@natep.org.uk
Tel: 020 7091 4543
M. 07860 853348

The University of Sheffield AMRC aims to develop a robust, end-to-end methodology for process parameter development. Intellegens’ AI-embedded platform Alchemite will be at the heart of it.

The Spring 2021 call for projects is now open.

You have until 13 Nov 2020 to submit an application.

Did you miss our introductory webinar last week? It was a chance to hear all about NATEP funding, and our unique mentoring support, from NATEP Programme Director Harriet Wollerton.

An innovative new concept in electronic packaging that could make a significant impact in aerospace and defence owes its genesis MAA 267 TEE P Sample 5 Overall to the redundancy notices issued to two 30-year industry veterans.