ARES fills the vacuum

Ares Research Technology, a new start-up company which will design and assemble scientific equipment that works at ultra-high vacuum, was launched today at CCLRC Daresbury Laboratory. The company will supply advanced instruments for use on X-ray sources in laboratories and at synchrotron light sources around the world.

Company founder Dr Dave Teehan said, “There’s a rapidly expanding global market for vacuum instruments, which already play a key role in research into the development of better computer memories and more environmentally-friendly chemical processes for industry, and which in future will be the key to helping companies make the most of opportunities in nanotechnology. The instruments that Ares Research Technology is supplying will allow companies and university research groups to carry out cutting-edge experiments on these vital new materials at their home laboratories and at synchrotron light sources.”

The original idea behind the new company came while Dave Teehan was working at CCLRC Daresbury Laboratory’s Synchrotron Radiation Source. “I developed an idea for a new piece of ultra-high vacuum equipment which was later patented”, he said. “From there I worked with CLIK, CCLRC’s innovation and knowledge transfer unit, who encouraged me to develop the new company and they and the NWDA have given me a tremendous amount of support. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Paul Vernon from CLIK said “Ares Research Technology provides a great example of what can be done to develop an idea from a scientist working at a government laboratory and turn it into a company offering new products and, very soon, jobs and profits.”

Orders are already flooding in for the new company and Dave Teehan is optimistic. “The company started operating on 1 April and it already has orders for £30,000 of equipment with quotations for business worth a further £120,000 submitted, so it’s off to a flying start,” he said. “Of course, this has only come about because of the groundwork that’s been put in beforehand. But I’ll be looking for the company to achieve a turnover of £500,000 in its second year and go on to become the world’s leading supplier for research instruments working at ultra and extremely high vacuum.”