NanoSight Wins a 2013 Queen's Award for Enterprise – Innovation

NanoSight was founded in 2004 by Dr Bob Carr and John Knowles after Carr discovered a technology which allows particles, so small they were below the resolution limit of normal optical microscopes, to be visualized, sized and counted in less than a minute for a fraction of the cost of an electron microscope.

Since 2005, NanoSight has grown sales by more than 60 per cent annually, year on year, and now employs 47 people worldwide. The firm sells its products all over the world, with around 90 per cent of its sales outside the UK. The most significant growth is in pharmaceuticals and life sciences, where budgets have remained largely unaffected by the global financial condition. There are now more than 600 NanoSight instruments in use worldwide and this number continues to grow as the firm's products are cited almost daily in fresh academic papers, a list which now totals well over 700.

Speaking about the importance of this award, Dr Carr said "Winning this award is further recognition of our Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) technique as an outstanding technology to meet the needs of the burgeoning nanomaterials sector. It is reward to our team at Salisbury who continue to innovate both hardware and software improvements to meet the challenging demands of our users."

Looking forward, the company sees sustained growth in the coming years. Their NTA technology has become increasingly important in the characterization of nanomaterials. With discussions continuing about a definition for nanomaterials in both Europe and the USA, it appears that many companies will be required to measure the number and size of the nano-scale particles in their products. Underscoring the importance of these activities, NanoSight CEO, Jeremy Warren, says "With NTA's ability to handle this challenge measuring particles in the 10nm to 1000nm range, NanoSight's future growth prospects are very positive."