MATERIAL testing expert Lucideon is preparing to launch a revolutionary initiative which will re-affirm Stoke-on-Trent’s position as the ‘world capital of ceramics’.

The Penkhull company has teamed up with Stoke-on-Trent City Council to launch AMRICC – an Applied Materials Research, Innovation and Commercialisation Company.

The aim of AMRICC is to create an international research and testing facility for advanced ceramics, metals and polymers to help develop innovative ideas into market-ready technologies and processes more efficiently.

It is hoped that the £30 million project will attract investors and businesses from around the world and initially create up to 50 direct jobs.

Lucideon chief executive Tony Kinsella said: “There are plenty of places which constantly develop innovative new products, but AMRICC is about filling that gap between the development stage and commercialisation.

“The facility will be open to everybody, it will initially be established regionally and eventually internationally.

“We want to attract the best talent from around the globe to Stoke-on-Trent. We hope that AMRICC will act as a magnet and draw high-tech businesses to the city.

“Stoke-on-Trent has a long history of world class activity, especially surrounding the manufacturing of materials, and there’s a huge amount of inventorship here, so for AMRICC, Stoke-on-Trent is its natural home.”

A business plan outlines that AMRICC will include testing facilities, a postgraduate school and education facility and a small business incubator to support the growth of new enterprises.

Councillor Janine Bridges, Stoke-on-Trent City Council cabinet member for education and economy, said: “AMRICC will help to deliver on aspirations for Stoke-on-Trent to be a world leader in technical ceramics that are used in automotive, aerospace, energy and medical technologies. ”

“A key aim of AMRICC is to get innovations from the lab to the production line more quickly. In addition, we hope to establish a career structure for research scientists in the field of applied materials in ceramics and so tempt the best graduates to stay, live and work in Stoke-on-Trent.

“We are funding a project officer for two years, running until this September, and in our capital programme have identified a potential investment of £200,000.”

The Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEP is supporting the initiative. Board member Jonathan Dale said: “People know Stoke-on-Trent as being the centre of ceramics and advanced materials and through AMRICC we are trying to reference that by building something for the future.

“It will be a global centre which will attract inward investment and new jobs.”

Business and financial consultant John Capper was drafted in to help set up AMRICC.

He said: “A willingness to think on a huge scale by industrial pioneers such as Josiah Wedgwood and James Brindley put Stoke-on-Trent at the forefront of the industrial revolution. Now is the time for Stoke-on-Trent to think on that grand scale again and use materials, led by advanced ceramics, to build a new economic future.”

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