Video transcript: Northern Gritstone speak to Auxetec
Transcript for the video embedded on the Celebrating five years of Nexus page.
[The video starts with a science themed background of connecting points, with the text Founders with Purpose written on the screen. Next the Northern Gritstone Logo and Auxetec logo appear on screen. Followed by clips of the University of Leeds Bragg Building.]
[Over these shots, Professor Helen Gleeson, Cavendish Professor of Physics, University of Leeds voice says:] “So I’m a co-inventor of these auxetic materials which get thicker when you stretch them rather than thinner.”
[Professor Helen Gleeson is talking to camera.]
[Professor Gleeson says:] “This was a property that the auxetics community had been looking for, for about 30 years.”
[Shots of Professor Gleeson working with a microscope and talking to camera.]
[Over these shots Professor Gleeson says:] “The fact that we’d discovered something that had these properties at a molecular level, was quite remarkable and quite exciting seeing something that I’ve had a part in developing and understanding, actually make a difference to people. So Auxetec is going to take an exciting discovery of new materials with new properties and apply it to as many different application areas that bring benefits to all of us as it possibly can.”
[Shots of Professor Gleeson and Robert Gunn, CEO of Auxetec in the Bragg Building and Rob speaks to camera.]
[Rob Gunn, CEO of Auxetec, says:] “We want to be a centre of expertise for auxetic, elastomeric materials. One space that we’ve focussed on heavily, is the wind turbine industry for solving problems with leading edge erosion in wind turbine blades.”
[Clips of wind turbines, Rob and Professor Gleeson in the laboratory and Rob talking to camera.]
[Rob says:] “When you can work in features like strength and durability, you can affect the sustainability of products. And there is a strong thought that, in the future, with our materials, they will be able to be extracted at the end of the process so that we can actually have a fully circular, sustainable system to be deployed.”
[Clips of the Bragg Building and Professor Gleeson and Rob Gunn walking up the stairs in the building. Clips of the Auxetec technicians working in the lab follow.]
[Over these clips Professor Gleeson says:] “Northern Gritstone have been fantastic. They were very open to, what is a platform technology its quite early stage, but their investment allowed us to build the team in Auxetec that could begin to take those next steps.”
[Professor Gleeson speaks to camera.]
[Professor Gleeson says:] “And so that was very, very important. And to work with us on the best way of doing that.”
[Rob talks to camera.]
[Rob says:] “We have a fantastic relationship with our primary investor, Northern Gritstone. We’re very much aligned in our purpose and impact mission.”
[Shots of University of Leeds campus and Rob and Professor Gleeson in the laboratory.]
[Over these clips Rob says:] “We’re taking really innovative technology. We’re investing in it and developing it in the North to bring a continuous feedback loop in terms of societal benefits, job creation, wealth creation.”
[Rob speaks to camera.]
[Rob says:] “And in the future, when it commercialise this technology, there’ll be an ability to impact not just the local economy, but actually the green energy space, climate, space, climate tech.”
[Clips of technicians working in the laboratory and the material through the microscope.]
[Over these clips, Professor Gleeson says:] “A piece of advice I was given by an industrial collaborator very early in my career, is make sure you have good people working with you.”
[Professor Gleeson speaks to camera.]
[Professor Gleeson says:] “Because that is absolutely critical.”
[Rob speaks to camera and clips of the Auxetec team working in the laboratory are also shown.]
[Rob says:] “I think the key thing is to understand what you’ve invented as an entrepreneur. Have the courage and conviction to say, ‘this discovery can make a difference’. You might be at the leading edge of something really special. Surround yourself with good people and have that courage because you can make a difference.”
[The film ends with clips of the University of Leeds campus and the Northern Gritstone and Auxetec logo.]