The collaboration with the University arose from an
introduction through a personal contact to one of the
academic staff in the School of Electrical Engineering who
offered a tour of the labs. This tour and the
accompanying conversation resulted in the identification
of electromagnetic technology which could be used to see
through coatings and identify the integrity of the steel
pipe-work behind it. Subsea pipe-work is coated to inhibit
corrosion so the ability to see through the coating is a
major advantage. The company paid for a feasibility study
and a deal was done fairly easily to commercialise the
technology on a royalty basis.
The project has now developed to the point at which the
company has been confident enough to take on four of
the PhD students who were working on the project, and
they remain in the University. The University helped
identify the PhD students – some of whom had moved on
and came back to a much longer term prospect –
demonstrating the commitment shown to the relationship
by the company. There is also a specialist product
developer recruited into Manchester from London. The
company moved into a dedicated refurbished laboratory
in early 2013.
Genesis has pioneered the use of electromagnetic
technology to inspect undersea pipes for corrosion
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Working with the University has been exciting
and has acted as a blueprint for Genesis to try
to overcome some of the timescale challenges
in working with academia generally.
