NEWS | IG’s Emanuele Scarabino Wins National KTP Award

Emanuele Scarabino, KTP associate with IG Masonry Support and Queens University Belfast was crowned winner of the ‘Engineering Excellence’ category at the National Knowledge Transfer Team (KTP) Awards, hosted by the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN).

Emanuele fought off stiff competition for this hotly contested category, to secure the top prize for his bespoke mathematical model that will deliver 9,000-man hours in just 60 seconds, while eliminating all human error.

This incredible accuracy pushed the project beyond any expectations set out in the original plan; the ability to predict physical behaviour with such precision has transformed product design with material savings and remarkable improvements in efficiency for the design of Masonry Support Systems.

Ken Frame, the Knowledge Transfer Advisor for this project said: “This is a fantastic example of KTP collaboration.  At KTN, through our network of Knowledge Transfer Advisers, we support over 800 KTP projects.  This one is an outstanding success, demonstrating how KTPs can deliver significant impact through open innovation”.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) aim to help businesses to improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills within the UK knowledge base.

Paul Graham, General Manager at Ireland of IG Masonry Support, said: “The KTP has been a revolutionary programme for IG Masonry Support, enabling the business to completely standardise the design process with the added luxury of achieving high accuracy at a high speed. The bespoke mathematical model designed by Emanuele Scarabino can indeed condensate thousands of men-hours of calculations in less than a minute while eliminating human error and opening the doors to data analysis.”

KTPs are funded by UKRI through Innovate UK with the support of co-funders, including the Scottish Funding Council, Welsh Government, Invest Northern Ireland, Defra and BEIS. Innovate UK manages the KTP programme and facilitates its delivery through a range of partners including the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), Knowledge Bases and Businesses. Each partner plays a specific role in the support and delivery of the programme.