CPI - from bio to nanotechnology.

* Advanced Processes -CPI's open access facility for industrial biotechnology -including next generation biofuels and new energy innovations -has recently been awarded pounds 12m by the Government. The facility will be extended tenfold, putting it among the largest of its kind in Europe. * Low Carbon Energy - Scientists at CPI are working on novel ways of generating power from low-carbon and renewable sources to reduce the world's dependence on rapidly depleting fossil fuels. It has successfully demonstrated the use of hydrogen as an energy store and is developing state-of-the-art fuel cell and hydrogen technology for uses including the future green transport. It also powered the world's first hydrogen fuel cell lighthouse.

* Functional materials - This division develops new approaches to nanotechnology, developing new products and processes by working with tiny molecules. It brings together two initiatives NanoCentral and Nano KTN.

* Printable electronics - CPI is developing the wafer thin, pliable screens of tomorrow that could eventually make paper obsolete. PETEC, a division of CPI, helps to bring new printable electronics products to market quickly to reduce the client's level and risk of capital investment.

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IDEAS HOTSPOT: Nigel Perry, inset, chief executive of CPI, and its National Industrial Biotechnology Facility, above