Home Who We Are INNOVATION CONTACT US Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Print In this section Innovation is a vital part of today's knowledge driven economy and is often the factor that separates successful businesses from those that fail. Ideas influence business in different ways depending on their significance, whether they are incremental improvements on known techniques or step-change technologies that bring disruptive change. TWI has a rich and well-publicised history of innovation and invention dating back to the 1940s under the banner of the British Welding Research Association. Some notable highlights from the past include the CTOD method for measuring fracture toughness, the Wells wide plate test, high powered CO2 laser advances, friction stir welding, and many other innovations in the use of laser, friction, electron beam and other technologies related to joining and coating. Current inventions being actively exploited at TWI include Surfi-Sculpt (a power beam material modification technique), Vitonano (bespoke nano materials) and novel methods for welding using electron beam technologies. TWI supports the creation and development of ideas using a variety of different mechanisms and uses a stage gate process to manage exploitation effectively. Our track record in the protection and successful exploitation of our own ideas has enabled the creation of core competencies within TWI. These can be leveraged for the benefit of Members and include competencies such as: Mature and sophisticated handling of commercially sensitive confidential information Management of intellectual property rights Safeguarding Members’ intellectual property assets Technology licensing and exploitation View our innovation timeline Structural Integrity Research Foundation See how we help provide a platform for industrially-led strategic research and development initiatives. TWI Innovation Network Find out how the TWI Innovation Network helps meet the commercial and future staffing needs of industry. National Structural Integrity Research Centre Find out about our state-of-the-art postgraduate engineering facility. Open video Responding to the needs of industry and academia TWI For more information please email: contactus@twi.co.uk TWI Ltd (Head Office) Granta Park, Great Abington, Cambridge, CB21 6AL, UK +44(0)1223 899000 contactus@twi.co.uk Subscribe to our newsletters Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Copyright © 2021 TWI Ltd. All rights reserved. Terms Privacy Cookies Modern Slavery Statement Safeguarding Policy Covid-19 Risk Assessment Group Companies The Welding Institute Training and Examinations TWI Certification CSWIP TWI Software The Test House NSIRC TWI Innovation Network