The University of Manchester is planning to build a Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) at a cost of around £60 million. According to the university's press release, the facility will be critical in the development of commercial applications and will maintain the UK's global leadership in graphene and related 2D materials.

The GEIC is co-financed by various institutions. UKRPIF (UK Research Partnership Investment Fund) has a stake of £15 million, £5 million from the Technology Strategy Board and £30 million from Masdar, an Abu Dhabi-based energy company that supports the development, marketing and use of renewable, clean technology solutions.



Graphene consists of carbon with a two-dimensional structure, is flexible, thin, extremely hard and therefore ideally suited for various flexible applications in the touchscreen sector. It was first detected in a stable laboratory in 2004 by two scientists, Professor Andre Geim and Professor Kostya Novoselov. In 2010, the two were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work. Since then, there have been increasing attempts to produce graphene industrially and to invest a lot in research. The following video briefly shows what is so special about graphene.