Worried about losing your mobile phone? - i-migo

It’s bad enough losing all the phone numbers stored on your mobile, but if you’ve also got important emails, text messages or even photos and video clips as well, you can lose a lot more than just the value of the handset. A patented new device – the i-migo - is small enough to clip on to a keyring, will store all your data, alert you if you’re separated from your mobile phone and even block anybody else from using your handset or accessing its data. Read on...

Angle poised to shine among technology stocks - Angle Plc

From its international head office on Surrey University’s research park in Guildford, a team of 21st century prospectors are mining ideas and know-how from universities and companies around the world and polishing them up for successful commercial exploitation.  Read on...

Doctor’s patented tube grip saves money and could save lives - Braidlock

Like TV remote controls, Velcro and Post-it Notes, Dr Marc Spinoza’s invention is one of those ingenious ideas that can improve a routine action that people do many times a day. In his case, it’s a better way of securing all those tubes that take fluids in and out of hospital patients. Read on...

Revolutionary fuel cells set to provide uninterrupted power supplies for laptop computers - CMR Fuel Cells

Laptop computers could soon be powered by an ultra compact, highly efficient patented alternative to rechargeable batteries, developed by Cambridge-based CMR Fuel Cells plc. Instead of having to switch your laptop off and find somewhere to plug it into a power supply to recharge the battery, you’ll be able to carry on working. When the tiny cartridge of methanol fuel runs out, you’ll simply slot another one into the onboard fuel cell unit. Read on...

Wife’s back-breaking work with a shovel was an inspiration to lifting-device inventor - Grab-O-Saurus®

When retired engineer Graham Renny decided that his invention had international market potential, he succeeded in getting it pushed through the patent system in less than a year. It’s now selling well and, armed with his patents, he can see off any copycat products that may appear. Read on...

Former government scientist’s chance discovery has led to successful international business - Nanosight

Until Bob Carr’s patented technology was launched, laboratory scientists who wanted to individually view and analyse tiny nanoparticles needed a £250,000 electron microscope and the process took up to four hours. Nanosight’s equipment costs £15,000 and does as good a job in just 30 seconds. Read on...

First company to be owned by an NHS Trust targets £380m potential market worldwide for muscle stimulators that help stroke patients to walk - Odstock Medical

As a newly-independent spin-out company, Salisbury-based Odstock Medical now has the commercial flexibility to supply its patented disability aids to many more medical professionals and patients throughout the UK, Europe and North America. Read on...

Young son’s loss of sight in one eye prompted Scottish engineer to invent a better way of examining retinas - Optos

As an industrial designer and engineer, Douglas Anderson had designed many ingenious products for other people. But when his five-year old son suffered a detached retina and lost his sight in one eye, Douglas decided to take the initiative and develop a better device for detecting early stage eye problems. With help from his colleagues, he designed and patented a scanning laser ophthalmoscope that enabled eye care practitioners to capture a digital ultra wide-field image of the retina in a single capture. The devices are now used at some 3,500 customer locations throughout North America and Europe and have performed over 15 million eye examinations. Read on...

Southampton University spin-out produces novel parasitic energy harvester to power wireless devices - Perpetuum

When Steve Roberts joined Southampton University spin-out Perpetuum as technical manager in 2005, his challenge was to turn a ‘proof-of-concept’ demonstrator into a patentable and marketable product that would act as a reliable, safe and maintenance-free power source for wireless sensor nodes, for at least 20 years. Read on...

From planting crops to production plant on Suffolk farm - Poundfield

Faith in the marketability of his innovative ideas and investment in worldwide patents have helped rural businessman Mark Jardine to diversify, win international business and create manufacturing jobs for former farmworkers. Read on...

Patented technology attracts investment capital and helps bring down retail price of Korean-manufactured plasma TV screens by 30% - Powerlase

The retail price of TV plasma screens has dropped by up to 30% in a year, thanks, in part, to patented laser systems being made by Crawley-based Powerlase, a spin-out business from Imperial College, London. Read on...

Harry Ricardo’s early patent drawings ‘should be prized like priceless works of art’ - Ricardo Plc

The founder of Ricardo Plc filed his first patent a centruy ago. The company’s IP manager Stephen Morris unearths sketches of car engines that have earned millions for automotive manufacturers around the world. Read on...

Mobile technology development: TV and movies for your mobile phone - Rok Corporation

Who wants to watch pop music videos, movies or football games on a tiny mobile phone screen? Right now, about three million mobile phone users in the UK, according to Rok Corporation, and this number is set to rise to 200 million globally by 2008. Rok has the technology that is making it possible – and is fighting hard to stay ahead of the game. Read on...

Window fitter’s patent application sees off copycat product and boosts sales - Sashmate®

Edmonton-based window-fitter and inventor Daniel Cheddie realised the value of his patent – even before it had been granted.  When one of his customers returned a specialised window-fitting tool because it had parts missing, Daniel realised straight away that the product was an inferior copy of his Sashmate®  clamp-and-brace tool, for which he already had a registered trade mark and had recently applied for a patent. Read on...

Inventor set to reap rewards of revolutionary new plastic container designs - Squeezeopen

When inventor Mark Sheahan saw his mother struggling to open a tin of shoe polish with her arthritic fingers, it started him thinking. Several prototypes and £90,000 in patent fees later, he’s about to start earning serious money from his inventions. Read on...

University spin-out firm trials anti-acne gels in bid for a share of $2bn market - Syntopix

Long-term courses of antibiotics as a treatment for acne may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to specialist spin-out drug development business from Leeds University. Read on...

Former firefighter finds secret of turning old tyres into black gold - UTD Research

Ex-firefighter Paul Archer’s initial aim was to find a way of recycling the tens of millions of old tyres that are thrown away each year.  That idea proved to be unworkable.  Instead of producing recycled tyres, the ‘magic machine’ he has applied to patent takes shredded old tyres in at one end and pushes out valuable oil, steel and carbon black at the other. Read on...