Public Funding for Vitritech Limited

Osteoarthritis (OA), especially of the hip and knee, is one of the leading causes of disability across the world. Every year there are over 3 million surgical replacements of joints -- with over 0.25 million in the UK. This number is growing all the time for two reasons: 1) arthritis is exacerbated by age and body weight and the world population is getting older and more obese, and 2) in countries such as China more of the population are being able to afford this surgery. This consortium are focussing on the next big enhancement in joint replacement through a new and improved manufacturing process for a coating to accelerate the integration of the implant into the host bone. The consortium is led by JRI an SME that is a leading UK manufacturer with over 30 years' experience in making and selling coated orthopaedic implants. They have already shown with GTS, one of the project partners, through a feasibility study funded by Innovate UK that it is possible to manufacture a new combination of implants that combine 3D printing with bio-active glass. In that study they showed that this combination had improved response from bone over existing coatings. They also confirmed that the new manufacturing process should be run at a cost that is commercially viable. In addition bioactive glasses are known to have natural anti-microbial properties, which will help fight infection. In this project two other SMEs join the existing partners (Vitritech and Metron) to optimise the manufacturing processes through novel surface engineering techniques. The SMEs will also form a robust supply chain to ensure confidence for future production. This coating process will then be validated through studies by the University of Cambridge, who will also confirm and evaluate the anti-infective properties of the bio-active glass. The outcome of this project will be the development of a manufacturing process that is ready to be scaled up for the global market as well as generating the supporting regulatory documents. This will lead to a first-in-human study, followed shortly by a global launch -- the partners are targeting: European, American and Chinese markets where JRI already has a significant presence and many years' experience of their regulatory processes.

The Customisable 3D-Glass-Laser-Sintered-Structures project, "3D GLaSS" project will bring together the complete supply chain (material supplier, Additive Manufacturing (AM) equipment manufacturer, software developers, end-users of AM technology and their customers) to demonstrate the technical feasibility of a new (patented) glass-based additive manufacturing technology, along with associated software and glass-based materials, contributing towards the goal of realising a fully integrated glass based additive manufacturing system, with user-friendly design software. The project will show how the technology can be adapted ?for use across a broad range of applications, including for manufacturing continuous flow reactors and for adding decoration to glass bottles.

Femtosecond lasers are seeing wide adoption across a growing number of applications due to their ability to deliver precise high peak intensity energy. For microscopy high-resolution images are achievable and in micromachining high fidelity material processing with reduced recast and microcracking is enabled. Ultrafast lasers are increasingly taking over roles from other laser types and enabling new levels of precision in emerging and high value industries. A key restriction in the adoption of this leading tool is its prohibitively high price for wide adoption and many yet unexplored applications. Recently Fibre lasers have witnessed high growth as they have supplied a lower cost offering than traditional crystal based systems. Fibre lasers however suffer high levels of dispersion and restricted output powers. The aim of the present project is to investigate novel glass based laser system that could present a lower cost offering than Fibre lasers and disrupt the market. The aim of this project is to deliver a prototype glass based ultrafast laser that is low cost and demonstrate it in microscopy, where MSL has strong links, and micromachining that represents a large market and impact. Additionally the project will result in the establishment of a UK based supply chain.

GMS will develop an innovative machining process for the manufacture of 3D shaped Laser and Optical Parts (3D LOP), to achieve ‘inside-out’ machining of a glass block to produce components with complex geometrical shapes, to a high precision with minimal waste and at a fraction of the cost of current cutting technologies (which cut from the ‘outside-in’). The technology will address an industry need for a low-cost, flexible manufacturing capability of glass components with complex, customised 3D shapes to high precision in short time-frames with reduced labour and energy input. The 18 month project will demonstrate the 3D LOP process in the lab at a TRL=5, developing a laser system demonstrator that can process various components with complex 3D geometrical shapes from a range of materials.

This project will develop two novel, low cost ion-implantation techniques to integrate glass-based saturable-absorber ‘Q-switch’ (SAQS) functionality into a laser rod for 1.5 µm lasers (a market for which GMS has already developed a laser rod material). Both routes avoid the need for manufacturing a separate SAQS component, further costs and risk of module rework due to misalignment of components. Incorporation of the Q-switch into the laser rod also eliminates two of the high-cost antireflective coatings within the laser cavity (one on the laser rod, one on the Q-switch) & reduces the laser transmitter size.

Investigation of the market potential of a novel glass suitable for producing mid-infrared lasers operating in the region of 3-4 microns.