Bluestone Global Tech decided to open a new European graphene production plant at the University of Manchester. Bluestone will also partner with the University on several projects. Those projects (detailed below) and the pilot production facility are estimated at £5 million ($7.8 million) which will be funded wholly by BGT.
The National Graphene Center plan
This new deal signs the first strategic partnership of the £61 million National Graphene Institute (NGI) established at Manchester and Bluestone is the first company (except University Spin-Offs Graphene Industries and 2-D Tech) to work at the NGI. Specifically Bluestone will open a pre-production facility and will offer graphene material to the University of Manchester's 100+ scientists and engineers working on graphene and other 2D materials. Later on BGT will setup a larger headquarters and a pilot production line at the NGI and will also work towards partnership with other consumer companies.
Bluestone will participate in several projects, including the Plasmonic (rapid transmission of information using wires) research led by Professor Alexander Grigorenko, the Supercapacitors using graphene and other 2D materials research led by Professor Rob Dryfe and the Graphene oxide membranes research led by Dr Rahul Nair.
When we talked with Bluestone's CEO in April, he promised the first graphene-based touch panels by Q3 2013. In June Shanghai's Powerbooster Technology announced they are now producing graphene-based flexible touch-panels for mobile devices, based on Bluestone's graphene.
