Lord Henley, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), visited Lancaster University as part of the UK Government’s first ‘Green GB’ week.

During the visit on October 18th he met Dyson Award winning Lancaster University student inventor Yaseen Noorani.

Along with Nicolas Orellana, and with support from Lancaster’s Engineering Department, Energy Lancaster, and the Enterprise Team, he designed the O-Wind Turbine which can capture wind in city spaces and turn it into electricity, taking the UK's 2018 James Dyson Award. Lord Henley also met with Dr Sergio Campobasso and Dr Denes Csala from Lancaster’s Engineering Department who have expertise in renewable energy and energy storage.

He also heard about Lancaster University’s role in the region managing large projects such the China Catalyst Programme, which engaged with a total of 429 companies in the UK, and introduced 60 different companies to China, and the Centre for Global Eco-Innovation, which has supported almost 600 companies since 2012.

Lord Henley said: “It was fascinating to hear from Yaseen about his invention and the vote of confidence given to the O-wind turbine by the James Dyson Award.

“Britain is world-leading in developing clean technologies, which is why we are celebrating Green GB Week today.

“Universities like Lancaster inspire students to be innovative and play a key part in delivering our modern Industrial Strategy, making Britain the best place to come up with ideas to meet our country’s future challenges, such as clean growth.”

Pictured L-R: Professor Stephen Decent, Lord Henley, Jonathan Powell

Lancaster University Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise Professor Stephen Decent said: “Yesterday was an excellent opportunity to celebrate the world-class research happening here at Lancaster. High quality research of international standing is the bedrock that underpins so much of our work engaging with the region and far beyond, nurturing exciting innovations which can grow the economy and make a real difference to the planet.”

Professor Nigel Paul, Lancaster University’s Centre for Global Eco Innovation, said: “The recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change highlighted that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees needs rapid transition to new ways of working in energy, land, urban infrastructure and industrial systems. There is no single ‘magic bullet’ to achieve that, but the O-Wind Turbine is a great example of the sort of innovation that we need over the coming decades.”

Jonathan Powell, Lancaster University Head of Enterprise and Innovation Services, said: “At Lancaster University we are working hard to support businesses and communities across the North West and beyond to take full advantage of the opportunities available to support growth and develop talent.

“Through the 2014-2020 European Structural Investment Fund (ESIF) programme and Growth Deal we have 15 projects at a total value of £80m. Since 2007 we have received over £125m of funding enabling us to intensively support over 9,900 businesses which have created or safeguarded over 10,000 jobs.

“Lancaster University is rightfully recognised as one of the leading UK universities for regeneration and development activities.”