Queen’s Award for Durham University academic

Queen's Award for Durham University academic. A Durham University academic has been awarded The Queen's Award For Enterprise Promotion, the UK's highest accolade for business success, for his work in promoting enterprise and business in the North East. The award to Professor Brian Tanner, Professor of Physics & Dean of Knowledge Transfer at Durham University, recognises his involvement in enterprise promotion over 30 years, nationally and internationally. Professor Tanner led the development of an enterprise culture at Durham which has been adopted by other Universities and has had a substantial impact on technology transfer and the development of spin-out companies and businesses, many of them with local bases, for example Durham's rapidly growing science park, the North East Technology Park (NETPark). Examples of Durham University spin-out companies include Kromek Ltd, a company which Professor Tanner co-founded and of which he is a Director, commercialising semiconductor materials into security screening, medical imaging and industrial inspection applications. The company is valued at about £70 million and employs over 50 staff at its headquarters at NETPark in Sedgefield, County Durham. Other success stories include Reinnervate, a biotechnology company specialising in enabling technologies for use in cell growth and function, and Surface Innovations Ltd, a company designing functional nanocoatings for surface properties.