Building growth and innovation to support net zero, future telecoms and energy grids.
Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult is celebrating its five-year anniversary with the publication of an overview of its impact and achievements to date.
The document details the journey of CSA Catapult from 2018-2022, highlighting significant achievements that have included: delivering over £14m of collaborative research and development projects; leveraging over £177m of direct investment; and creating or safeguarding over 5000 jobs across the UK.
CSA Catapult plays a leading role in the UK’s compound semiconductor ecosystem, helping companies fully embrace the power of compound semiconductor technology and bring their innovations to market.
During the last five years, CSA Catapult has focussed on leveraging research, eliminating barriers, minimising risk, accelerating routes to market, and attracting investment for collaborators in industries ranging from vehicle electrification and future telecoms to smart energy grids.
In 2018 CSA Catapult set up a state-of-the-art Innovation Centre in Newport, South Wales, offering innovation as a service and providing world-leading knowledge and expertise across four areas: power electronics; photonics; RF (radio frequency) and microwave; and advanced packaging. This has led to 180 collaborations with industrial partners, including major names such as BMW and McLaren Applied.
In 2022, CSA Catapult entered a partnership with Siemens to deliver joint projects that will accelerate the development of leading-edge power electronics, machines and drives technology, capability, skills, and jobs across the UK.
The Siemens Power Electronics Innovation Hub is now permanently located in CSA Catapult’s Innovation Centre in Newport.
Throughout the first five years of its existence, CSA Catapult has also developed a wide-ranging skills programme, starting in schools, and extending right through to postgraduate-level and the workplace.
Through its dedicated Skills Academy, CSA Catapult is developing initiatives to help create the workforce of the future that will develop the next generation of compound semiconductor technologies.
Creating a skilled workforce is vital if the UK is to keep its position as a global leader in the compound semiconductor sector.
In the next five years, CSA Catapult will grow technology clusters and local supply chains across the UK, creating a network of regional support hubs in areas of significant national strength and importance, including quantum sensing, healthcare, defence and space.
CSA Catapult will lead the industry by creating more prototypes, building on experience in automotive power electronics technologies to address new market opportunities.
Rob Bryan, Interim Chair of CSA Catapult said: “I am very proud of CSA Catapult’s achievements in its first five years. It plays a central convening role in building growth of supply chains working with industry. The Catapult must continue to grow academic collaborations; create new opportunities to work with industry; accelerate commercial scale-up; safeguard intellectual property; identify new international partners to address new and emerging markets. Upskilling a new generation is critical and I am particularly proud of our Skills Academy.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank my predecessor, our first Chair, Kevin Crofton, for his inspirational leadership during the Catapult’s first years. He led us from start-up to become the leading neutral convener as well as the major commercial partner in the UK research and development ecosystem.”
Martin McHugh, Chief Executive Officer said: “CSA Catapult is at the heart of the flourishing UK compound semiconductor ecosystem. We work with academia and industry to accelerate increasing product development, testing and evaluation. We will identify significant new domestic and international markets and end-to-end supply chains. In the next five years, we will support industry and supply chains and clusters, extending our footprint and contributing to the UK Government’s levelling up agenda.”
Key achievements include:
Demonstrating impact
In Summer 2022, CSA Catapult surveyed its customers to understand its impact, with the following key findings:
93% said they would work with the CSA Catapult again.
56% would not have been able to progress on new developments, or it would have taken longer or cost more, if they have not worked with the CSA Catapult (according to those who answered the question).
100% have been able to develop new partnerships.
20% agreed they have stronger international links.
30% agreed they have been able to target new markets because of working with the CSA Catapult.
Analysis of public and private funding
In addition, our internal analysis shows that 44% of the companies who had worked with CSA Catapult have secured public sector funding because of their direct or indirect engagement with the company. Companies the Catapult has worked with are more than twice as likely to get private investment (36% vs 16%) and the average private investment raised by companies who work with us (per company per year) has also more than doubled.
