Durham University and Coltraco Create R&D Institute

Dr Carl Stephen Patrick Hunter OBE, Chairman of successful exporters Coltraco Ultrasonics, has worked with Durham University to establish the new Durham Institute of Research Development and Invention (DIRDI).

It took 3 years work and needed the approval of all 100 members of the University's Senate, but DIRDI (Durham University's 11th scientific institute) has been given the go-ahead, with Durham's Vice Chancellor Professor Stuart Corbridge becoming a Founding Fellow. Within DIRDI will be a Centre for Underwater Acoustic Analysis (CUAA), which Dr Hunter says "is my gift for the nation, and specifically to the Royal Navy". A new laboratory has also been opened, co-located at the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation (CFAI), Department of Physics.

Dr Hunter says that DIRDI will be an 'Ideas Factory' that "aims to break away from the research grant system which constraints brilliance by its focus on others' specific interests. We aim to combine ;Newtonian Discovery' with 'Edisonian Commercialisation' so that our scientists can undertake unfettered scientific research along the Newton model – to understand and further understanding of the fundamental physical laws of the universe – which to me God created – and generate scholarship for humankind."

A government adviser, DIT Export Champion and Queen's Award for Export holder, Dr Hunter has also been given the University's Dunelmensis Award, only previously awarded to 15 other people, to honour the many ways he has benefited the University. He is a Professor-in-Practice at Durham Business School, and Coltraco leads a "rolling undergraduate internship programme" at Durham which includes work in R&D and market research, producing graduates with First Class degrees who achieve their first career choices on graduation – the internship programme will reactivate in October 2021.

Chris Roberts of Durham Business School invited Dr Hunter onto his 'Lemonade Principle' podcast to discuss how Coltraco Ultrasonics became such an award-winning high-exporting manufacturer. Hear it at https://coltraco.com/carl-hunters-podcast/

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