The company recently welcomed a senior NASA scientist from the US to Hemsworth for a 4-day visit. The meeting, with Dr Richard Juday, focussed on common areas of interest and explored future collaborative opportunities.  Dr Juday spent 35 years at NASA, working as a senior scientist and head of the Hybrid Vision Laboratory at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, where he managed multi-million dollar development projects for the US space program and it is hoped that his visit will create new opportunities for the CCL technology and the local area, whilst benefiting from the wealth of experience and knowledge he brings.

CCL was co-founded by Dr Nicholas New, who originates from Wakefield.  He established the company base at Cedars Business Centre in Hemsworth, after completing his doctorate at Cambridge University.  The company has benefited from the business planning and support offered by the Cedars team and Wakefield Council.  Furthermore, the WMDC involvement has lead to the introduction to local supply chains, establishing RDT Precision Optics, based in the Council’s South Elmsall workspace, as its manufacturing partner.  Dr New states:

“It is an exciting time for CCL as we look to increase our presence on the world stage and get our technology into high volume applications.  The recent visit from Dr Juday will hopefully open up new channels for us to promote our technology, which will in turn benefit the local area in the long term as the company grows.”

The company is currently engaged in evaluating its technology for use in military environments, with a large defence contractor, following a successful project funded by the Ministry of Defence.  It has also recently completed a successful proof of concept project funded by Yorkshire Forward to create the basis of an optical supercomputer.  CCL began selling academic demonstrator kits in 2008 and is now exporting to universities around the world, including India, the Middle East and the US.  To date the company has secured over £500,000 in private and public funding.

Cambridge Correlators is committed to the Wakefield area and its vision is to create a lasting legacy as it looks to strengthen the local supply chain and create high quality local jobs – in an industry that is new to the region.