HORIBA opens new Analytical Solution Plaza to support UK science and research
HORIBA has expanded its worldwide network of Analytical Solution Plazas with the opening in the UK of its latest advanced technology centre. Sited in the centre of the country on MIRA Tech Park, the HORIBA Group’s new customer and scientific collaboration site was opened by HORIBA Group CEO, Mr. Atsushi Horiba, and British Ambassador to Japan, Her Excellency Ms Julia Longbottom CMG. The Plaza will be a resource for all of HORIBA’s business fields in the UK, giving their customers and the wider UK scientific community ready access to the company’s breadth of advanced technological capabilities and scientific expertise.
The new 290 m2 Analytical Solution Plaza United Kingdom will house a broad range of HORIBA’s cutting-edge technologies which can support an extensive array of analytical applications from biopharmaceuticals, cell and gene therapy, and clinical diagnostics, through to Net Zero and clean energy, the environment and climate change, plus advanced manufacturing and materials. Scientists from all fields will be welcome to collaborate on demonstrations, feasibility studies, educational seminars and training, with access to technology displays and working products. These activities will be facilitated by the Plaza’s open-plan demonstration area zoned by technology capability, its chemistry lab and access to stunning event space.
The UK’s new Plaza will expand on HORIBA’s current customer collaboration sites, including its UK locations with over 800 employees nationwide, as well as its Analytical Solution Plazas worldwide. Like other Plazas, the new UK-based facility will offer analytical testing services to support scientists, with quality data available on a contract analysis basis. In addition to broadening resources for HORIBA customers in the UK, the new Plaza will also offer an ideal location for on-site STEM outreach programmes to interact with and inspire visiting school children and university students.
Opening the new site with a plaque unveiling and traditional Japanese ‘kagami biraki’ ceremony – breaking open a sake barrel – to celebrate new beginnings and good fortune, Mr. Atsushi Horiba, Chairman & Group CEO, HORIBA Group, said, “I am very proud to open in the UK this latest addition to our global network of Analytical Solution Plazas, demonstrating HORIBA’s commitment to ongoing investment so we can best support our customers, UK science and technology, as well as the next generation of UK scientists. Our Plazas embody HORIBA’s innovation culture which is deeply rooted in the spirit of ‘HONMAMON’ (authentic excellence). This represents our pursuit of solutions and offerings that are not only technically excellent, but created with heartfelt dedication to solving real-world problems.”
“Our new UK-based Plaza aims to enable our customers to really ‘see inside’ HORIBA; it will demonstrate our full breadth of technological capabilities and expertise across all of our fields of business. We aim to build trusted partnerships, exploring how the wealth of HORIBA’s technology can deliver incredible science,” added Dr Simon FitzGerald FRSC, HORIBA UK’s Head of Science and Technology, and Director of Analytical Solution Plaza United Kingdom. “Being part of a worldwide network of Plazas that talk and work together means that our UK customers can readily see and access all of HORIBA’s technologies and expertise both locally and, via remote link up, globally.”
HORIBA’s technology capabilities encompass many areas of expertise. Those to be showcased at the new Plaza include: microscopic and nanoscopic chemical imaging; molecular fingerprinting with optical spectroscopy; fuel cell and battery materials testing; particle characterisation; water quality testing; medical and veterinary diagnostics; and gas analysis for industrial and environmental applications. As it is sited at MIRA Tech Park, where over 1,500 personnel from HORIBA and science-focused tenant companies are involved in tech developments from clean energy and cybersecurity to autonomous vehicles and AI, this offers visitors to the UK-based Analytical Solution Plaza even wider scientific insights.
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