Our specialist themes of Aerospace, Defence and Security, Energy and Sustainability, Environment and Agrifood, Manufacturing and Materials, Transport Systems and Water mean we can tackle global problems from initial prototyping to late stage research and development.

Our people are practitioners as well as academics, and passionate about knowledge transfer. Our expertise has been built up over 70 years of close integration with industry - a knowledge and expertise pool that is available for your organisation to use. We pride ourselves on being flexible and entrepreneurial and have the capability to take a project from concept through to practical delivery.

With our links with government departments and many of the largest and most successful global businesses, including Airbus, Jaguar Land Rover, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, the UK Civil Aviation Authority and Yorkshire Water amongst many others, we have the knowledge and experience to help you develop your business using our expertise.

Solutions to real-life problems

Our research is relevant and is informed by our leading thinking. We work in close collaboration with many organisations to turn ideas and innovation into reality. By doing just that, we transform people, organisations and the world. Here are just a few examples:

  • X-ray technology is central to maintaining security at airports - we are involved in a commercial programme, through a company called Halo, to revolutionise security, developing a technique to identify what a substance is made of when it’s being scanned;
  • We worked closely with Rolls-Royce to develop a ceramic lining on its turbine blades, reducing total CO2 emissions from fuel use by 8,000 tonnes/engine over its lifetime;
  • Our scientists proved that the shelf life of fruit could be extended without loss of nutrition or taste, leading to the commercial introduction of new packaging which halves supermarket waste;
  • We were instrumental in developing a reverse logistics toolkit to enable companies in the retail sector to better manage the flow of surplus or unwanted products returned by customers - Halfords, Britain’s biggest cycling and motoring retailer, was able to reduce its returns by 40% as a result.

We offer bespoke and customised options for your business, contact our Business Engagement Team to discuss your requirements.

Cranfield University staff are great people to work with as partners for industrial R&D projects. They’re business aware, they’re flexible in their approach and, most important of all, they deliver - on time and in full.

Mark Berry, Senior Research and Development Manager