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Hichrom

Image shows, (left to right): Dr Stuart McKay, Hichrom’s Managing Director; Professor Mel Euerby, company supervisor for the OU; and KTP associate, Jen Hulse. OU professors Alan Bassindale and Peter Taylor (not pictured) provided academic support.

Hichrom has an international reputation as a major manufacturer and supplier of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) columns, which are used at the frontiers of science, medicine and forensics to analyse the content of new drugs, batch-test pharmaceuticals and identify contaminants in substances.

Hichrom wanted to produce new HPLC columns to meet market demand, but although working at the cutting edge of separation science, they did not have the expertise to develop capabilities in the synthesis of novel silanes which was necessary to achieve their goal.

So Hichrom joined in a three-year Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with The Open University (OU), which is home to one of the world's leading silicone chemistry research groups. 

The KTP with the OU helped us to efficiently expand our offering and provide innovative, quality products for our customers.

Stuart McKay
Managing Director, Hichrom

Hichrom gained the services of a full-time dedicated KTP associate, and regular high-level academic input. This made it possible to transfer the required knowledge and embed it into Hichrom’s operating processes, speeding up the development, manufacturing and commercialisation of novel silanes and HPLC columns.

Achievements

The Knowledge Transfer Partnership with The Open University has enabled Hichrom to:

  • extend its existing competencies and create new ones, leading to the creation of new products and processes and an up-skilled R&D team 
  • gain new knowledge on silanes and bonding, so they are better able to meet customers’ needs
  • benefit from agile product development techniques, improving product quality and speeding up the process to take the product to market
  • gain a competitive advantage which is helping to ensure the long-term future of the company

Want to find out more about Open University KTPs? Then email the Enterprise Team.