Royce is delighted to announce that Dr Arnab Basu will join us as the Headline speaker at the Royce Introduction to Advanced Materials Commercialisation and Entrepreneurship virtual event on 28 April. He will tell us about his journey from academia into entrepreneurship and the challenges and opportunities he faced along the way.
Dr Arnab Basu completed his PhD in Physics at Durham University and in April 2003, Kromek Group plc was formed out of the physics department. Dr Basu became CEO, steering commercialisation of technology related to the development and manufacture of cadmium zinc telluride (CZT), an advanced material with a unique combination of properties.
From Kromek’s beginnings at Durham University, the company now provides medical imaging, nuclear radiation detection and security screening solutions worldwide. Its radiation detection solutions are based on high-performance sensor materials, which are about making people’s lives safer and better.
Arnab successfully led Kromek through five rounds of private equity financing of over $40 million, including its first institutional Venture Capital funding in 2005. More recently, he led the successful acquisition and integration of California based NOVA R&D Inc. in 2010; eV Products Inc., in Pennsylvania, US, in 2013 and a successful listing on AIM, at the London Stock Exchange, in October 2013, raising over $65m in the market. The company now is exporting its products in more than 20 countries and has over 100 employees in the UK and USA.
In 2009, Arnab was awarded Ernst and Young UK Entrepreneur of the Year, in January 2014 he received an MBE in the New Year’s Honours for services to regional development and international trade and in July 2016, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science by Northumbria University.
The agenda for the event has also been announced, and you can find further details on the event’s registration page.
We do hope you can join us for what promises to be a real insight into the journey from academic research to entrepreneurial success, and to hear presentations from a range of entrepreneurship and commercialisation programme providers.
