The Minister for Economy, Science and Transport, has opened the new Pilot Manufacturing Resource Centre at SPECIFIC in Baglan, bringing the creation of buildings as 'power stations' that can harness the sun's energy to generate, store and release their own energy a step closer.

Dedicated to the scale-up and commercialisation of functional coatings for steel and glass, the centre, which houses new laboratory facilities and a new processing line, will be used to develop materials for manufacture and for coating and product testing.


Opening the centre, Mrs Edwina Hart, said: "This is an extremely important milestone in the SPECIFIC project and highlights the importance of industrial and academic collaboration in taking forward such highly innovative work.

"The new centre has the capability to deliver commercial solutions to industry partners, create new products and services which will benefit supply chains in Wales and generate valuable IP.

"I am delighted the Welsh Government is supporting this new resource centre which has very real potential to make a significant and substantial contribution to the green clean energy agenda and to the wider Welsh economy.

"The outstanding research being undertaken also places Wales firmly in the spotlight and underlines the expertise we have in Wales."

(CD/JP)