Quinas Technology are dedicated to the development of ULTRARAM™, a revolutionary new type of computer memory that combines the non-volatility of the flash storage utilised in USB, smartphone, and solid-state drives with the fast performance of the active memory DRAM.

In setting up Quinas Technology as a spinout company, the founding members – academics Professor Manus Hayne and Dr Peter Hodgson and external CEO James Ashforth-Pook – were able to combine their respective knowledge bases of research experience, technical skill, and presence in the semiconductor industry.

The university-based founders recognised early on that their venture needed a non-academic CEO to help achieve their goals, an obstacle that start-ups without resources often find insurmountable. In partnering with James and receiving substantial support from Lancaster University, Quinas Technology were able to thrive, resulting in a finalist position within the ‘Commercialisation Activity of the Year’ category at the UK Praxis Auril Knowledge Exchange Awards.

Since then, Quinas Technology have gone on to achieve highly at international summits and awards ceremonies. This includes winning the ‘Most Innovative Startup’ award and the ‘Reader’s Choice Award: University Research Group of the Year’ at the Santa Clara Flash Memory Summit and UK Electra Awards respectively.

Additionally, the team have received £300k in Innovate UK funding and Innovate UK Sponsorship for a DBT (Department of Business and Trade) mission to Taiwan – they were visited in December 2023 by the DBT’s Chief Scientific Officer, and have recently completed the Octopus Ventures Springboard programme.

Looking to the future potential of Quinas technology, the team are advancing ULTRARAM™ up the technology readiness levels, which involves a shrinking of devices that requires extensive academic collaboration at both national and international levels, as well as industrial collaboration and investment. With this in mind, they are hoping to have innovative new technologies for market within a five-year span.

The ongoing success of Quinas Technology and their ability to see the market potential in a ground-breaking innovation is a testament to the importance of Research Commercialisation at Lancaster University. The Intellectual Property team have shown a willingness to take risks on exciting new ventures like ULTRARAM™, and given the innovative academics involved significant support.

As a highly collaborative organisation, Quinas Technology love to hear from potential research and commercial partners, investors, researchers (both established and aspiring) and customers. If you or your organisation would like to get in touch, please contact Quinas via their website or LinkedIn page.

The company was established in order to commercialise their portable diagnostic medical device (currently a tangible prototype in the validation stage), which can identify pathogens responsible for AMR (Antimicrobial Resistance) with over 90% accuracy in as little as 15 minutes. This innovative technology has the potential to provide certainty to doctors to prescribe the most appropriate treatment for infectious diseases, improving patient outcomes and reducing antimicrobial resistance recurrence.

The groundwork for the establishment of CCI Photonics was laid by Lancaster University’s Research and Enterprise Services, who provided support in securing a patent for the background technology of their in-vitro diagnostics device. The team were also provided a significant opportunity with the ICURe (Innovation to Commercialisation of University Research) programme, which they cite as having ‘settled the groundwork’ for founding the startup.

Since starting up, CCI Photonics have achieved a range of milestones, including building standardised AI models capable of detecting antibiotic resistance and being part of the first investment cohort of Praeseed, a startup support programme ran by Praetura Ventures. The team have subsequently been in contact with various pre-seed and pre-revenue investors to obtain follow up funding and have forged collaborations with institutions including the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and SRUC.

Going forward, the company hope to fully validate the last iteration of their prototype and commence clinical trials within the next three years, with the aim of completing trials and submitting regulatory approval to relevant authorities in five years. Following this, CCI Photonics will be commencing commercialisation of their device.

CCI Photonics welcome opportunities for collaboration and networking, particularly from primary healthcare staff who are important allies in tackling antimicrobial resistance – to get in touch, please contact Carlos at carlos_meza@cciphotonics.com or visit their website.