The Nonwovens Innnovation & Research Institute (NIRI) has invested significantly in a range of new equipment. The U.K.-based institute was able to expand following its move off of the University of Leeds campus to a new facility. The expansion will allow NIRI, which has already completed 450 projects for more than 200 clients, to expand its scope to better help develop better-performing products.

Using Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) to demonstrate the innovation process, each project undertaken by NIRI – whether consultancy for commercial clients or co-funded joint ventures – is evaluated against the parameters for each technology level and then assigned a TRL rating based on the project’s progress. NIRI’s expertise is evidenced in its focus on the ‘valley of death’ stage, the point of no return from which many novel technologies fail to progress and the point at which the Institute’s expertise in developing proof-of-concepts and prototypes into commercially viable products—can be seen. The investment in new facilities includes a range of equipment, which are already helping NIRI’s clients through the incr