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Glyndwr University’s OpTIC Centre near St. Asaph in Denbighshire is an eye-catching building. From the outside it looks like a huge flowing wave of solar panels. Inside, it’s where science meets business. It’s a research hub for optoelectronics and other pioneering technologies. It also supports business start-ups to turn that research into successful companies. In this week’s programme, as the OpTIC Centre marks its tenth birthday, Adam Walton meets the scientists, engineers and companies shaping the future in their big glass wave.

Adam takes a stroll through the building with Mick Card, Glyndwr University’s Head of Business Development and Funding. He explains how the ethos of OpTIC allows a free exchange of ideas between everybody in the building – and that leads to new research and new businesses.

Adam meets Caroline Grey and John Mitchell who are working on the mirrors for the largest optical telescope ever built, the E-ELT which is being constructed in Chile. Caroline, John and their colleagues have developed techniques for measuring and polishing the mirrors down to tolerances a tiny fraction of the width of a human hair.

We also hear from Richard Hazelwood from the Engineering and Design Group and Gareth Humphreys-Jones from Acuity Products about exploiting commercial opportunities at OptIC. And Adam talks to Dan Lamb from the Centre for Solar Energy Research about the ultra-thin solar cells they’ve been developing, one of which will be launched into space next year for testing on a UK Space Agency CubeSat mission.

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