Portillo visit

Portillo visit

Keywords: Industrial Copolymers, Coatings, Environmentally friendly,Grants

The UK's Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Michael Portillo MP, recently visited Industrial Copolymers Limited (ICL), the Preston-based manufacturer of specialist resins and polymers for the coatings, adhesives and sealants industries, after he expressed an interest in visiting a successful firm during his visit to the north-west of England (Plate 12).

  Plate 12 Pictured from left to right: ICL's joint managing director, Dr Len Daniels,ICL's R&D manager, Dr Neil Carter and Shadow Chancellor, Michael Portillo MP

We understand that Mr Portillo chose to visit Industrial Copolymers as a result of the company's recent success in being awarded a Smart grant by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). Smart grants are only awarded to the UK's smartest and most innovative companies, to help get ground-breaking ideas off the ground. ICL's grant was awarded to help fund the research and development of technology designed to enable the production of a new generation of environmentally friendly coatings for the construction industry.

During the visit, Mr Portillo toured ICL's production plant and met key personnel involved in the Smart project. He commended the company's research and development team for developing the technology and said he was delighted to visit such a forward-thinking, thriving company.

ICL's joint managing director, Dr Len Daniels, said:

We are absolutely delighted that Mr Portillo came to see Industrial Copolymers. It gave us an excellent opportunity to explain our operations and the background behind the grant. Without Smart funding, development of the technology could have taken up to six years, but we are now able to develop the technology by the year 2002, with the resulting coatings available the year after.