Welcome to Kromek Group PLC
Kromek Group plc is a leading developer of radiation detection solutions based on high performance sensor materials, primarily cadmium zinc telluride (CZT), for applications within the medical, nuclear and security screening markets. Our solutions provide high resolution information on material composition and structure to enable the identification of cancerous tissues and hazardous materials (including explosives), and the analysis of radioactive materials.
With our vertically integrated technology offering and IP portfolio of over 247 patents, Kromek provides an end-to-end solution from the growth of CZT crystals to the design, development and manufacturing of finished products, including software, electronics and ASIC's.
Kromek News & Events
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eVance, a new family of CZT SPECT Cameras that OEMs can configure into virtually any SPECT imaging s
Kromek Launches New Family of SPECT Cameras
eVance, a new family of CZT SPECT Cameras that OEMs can configure into virtually any SPECT imaging system being sold
(Saxonburg, Pennsylvania; June 5, 2015) Kromek, the radiation detection technology company focusing on the medical, security and nuclear markets, is pleased to announce the launch of eVance, a new generation of CZT-based SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) cameras that forms a vital part of nuclear medical imaging systems used by clinicians today.
eVance combine Kromek's industry-leading eV-CZT® detectors, fully integrated with advanced ASICs and microelectronics technology. This enables OEMs to integrate turn-key CZT cameras into almost all nuclear medical imaging system being sold today, for the diagnosis of disease based on the detection of radiation emitting from within the body. Based on clinical data from thousands of patients, the improved efficiency and image quality of CZT-based SPECT cameras is delivering superior sensitivity and specificity compared with standard scintillator cameras. The impact to the patient is better diagnostic performance while reducing their overall radiation exposure.Kromek initiated a program to simplify the market adoption curve to CZT-based semiconductor sensor technology by offering the OEMs eVance cameras as an off-the-shelf solution. The company has begun shipping its Small Field of View cameras for a Thyroid Application and throughout this calendar year will introduce other camera sizes to address specific SPECT imaging applications. This universal platform is an easy option for both small and large companies to incorporate into their product offerings in a very short period of time without all the cost associated with new technology development.
Arnab Basu, Kromek's CEO, said: 'Kromek's ability to manufacture detector solutions at an economic cost will allow mainstream adoption over the next few years, which promises to enable a fundamental shift in the market allowing better images and more accurate detection, with lower energy doses and faster cycle times. The superior performance of our eVance cameras is compelling, and is sure to be a platform with a substantially long product lifecycle.'
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Kromek, a radiation detection technology company focusing on the medical, security and nuclear marke
Multiple contract wins with global OEMs
Kromek, a radiation detection technology company focusing on the medical, security and nuclear markets, is pleased to announce that it has signed multiple new contracts, worth a total of $982,000, with both existing and new clients across its key target segments.
In the nuclear detection and security markets, Kromek has secured two new customers, with orders worth a combined $452,000, from two global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Kromek will provide the US-based clients with a portfolio of patented nuclear detectors to enhance their radiation detection capabilities for security applications. The two new contracts will be delivered within the next 18 months with the majority of the orders expected to be completed and delivered in the current fiscal year.
In the medical market, Kromek has secured two new contracts, totalling $530,000, from existing customers. The first contract is a repeat order for the supply of its Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detectors to a long standing OEM customer in the Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) market. The second order is for the delivery of Kromekâ€â„¢s ASIC, based on unique intellectual property, to a global player in the medical imaging market. The Company expects to deliver both contracts over the next 24 months.
Arnab Basu, CEO of Kromek, said: "We are delighted to secure four new contracts and to add two leading OEMs in the nuclear detection field as new customers. The agreements are a clear indication of Kromekâ€â„¢s continued progress across its key target segments. The deals further diversify our customer base, strengthen existing relationships and demonstrate confidence in our patented CZT-based technology and products, which continue to gain traction worldwide."
Enquiries Kromek Group plc
01740 626 060
Arnab Basu, CEO
Derek Bulmer, CFO
Cenkos Securities plc
020 7397 8900
Bobbie Hilliam (NOMAD)
Julian Morse (Sales)
Luther Pendragon
0207 618 9100
Harry Chathli, Claire Norbury, Alexis Gore
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Kromek secures working capital facility with HSBC.
£3m bank facility to aid execution of growth straKromek secures working capital facility with HSBC
Kromek secures working capital facility with HSBC.
£3m bank facility to aid execution of growth strategy.Kromek, a radiation detection technology company focusing on the medical, security and nuclear markets, is pleased to announce that it has secured a £3m revolving credit facility (RCF) with HSBC Bank plc (HSBC).
The funds available through the facility will be used for working capital to support the growth of the business, and facilitate the Company in capitalising on the large and increasing opportunities that it continues to develop across its target markets.
Arnab Basu, Chief Executive Officer of Kromek, said: 'We are pleased that HSBC has committed this credit facility to Kromek. Whilst we continue to make significant progress with our product portfolio approach, this financing will enable us to accelerate on executing our longer-term strategy to become the preferred component supplier to major OEMs in CT and SPECT and in the supply of network sensors in nuclear markets.'
Amanda Murphy, UK Head of Corporate Banking at HSBC, added: 'I am delighted that we have had this opportunity to support Kromek: an expanding UK business with a truly global customer base. We are very impressed by the Company's achievements to date, its prospects for growth, and I look forward to watching their progress.'
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Kromek awarded extension to nuclear detection contract with DARPA.
New award extends radiation netw
Kromek awarded extension to nuclear detection contract with DARPA
Kromek awarded extension to nuclear detection contract with DARPA.
New award extends radiation network detector programme with US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Kromek is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a modification to its existing contract with the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an agency of the US Department of Defense with responsibility for maintaining the technological superiority of the US military, for the development of radiation network detectors.
The programme with DARPA, which commenced in August 2014, is to develop an advanced portable detection system for gamma and neutron radiation that can be combined with other such systems to form large networks that can provide information on radiation signatures over an extended area.
The extension, worth up to $1.1m over 16 months, includes the supply of additional Kromek detector systems and further development of ASIC capabilities.
Arnab Basu, CEO of Kromek, said: 'We are delighted to receive this extension of the current contract from DARPA, which reflects the excellent progress the Kromek team has made with its existing programme obligations. That we were selected by an agency of the US government provides validation of our technological strength and capabilities, and demonstrates our leading position in the global markets.'
'In addition, this programme represents a milestone in our strategy of targeting opportunities for the development of network sensors for nuclear detection. We look forward to furthering our relationship with DARPA and continuing to develop cutting-edge radiation detection solutions to enable safer environments.'
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Netpark - the next 10 years
BUSINESS Editor Andy Richardson takes a detailed look at a 10 year mast
Kromek's home, NETPark, becoming global hub for materials integration
Netpark - the next 10 years
BUSINESS Editor Andy Richardson takes a detailed look at a 10 year master plan to create thousands of jobs at the Netpark science and technology hub.
WHAT is Netpark?
That was the question I put to shoppers in Sedgefield, County Durham last Thursday morning. I wanted to hear what, if anything, residents knew about the glass and chrome businesses park that has been steadily growing on the outskirts of their town for the past decade.
My question yielded blank looks, cheeky guesses (no, Mr Clarke, it's not where they make netties), and a handful of well-informed answers from parents whose children had attended open days at the site. My unscientific survey suggested that most locals were in the dark about a technology hub that will shortly bid for the attention of the world and bring thousands of new workers to this part of the North-East.
Tellingly, Netpark used its tenth anniversary celebrations at Durham Town Hall last week to talk more about its ambitions for the next decade rather than to revel in its past achievements -apt for a to revel in its past achievements -apt for a venture founded on the principle of innovation. A master plan has been drawn up to make the site, which was once home to the Durham County Asylum, a world class innovation hothouse that combines research with product development. It will bill itself as the Global Hub For Materials Integration.
If it succeeds, Netpark will become one of the biggest science and technology parks in Europe.
The scale of the proposed expansion is dramatic.
The park inhabits a verdant 15 acre site, comprising 23 companies employing a total of 400 people. It has two PLCs, and the same number of the government's elite 'catapult' innovation centres aimed at helping the UK compete with the best in the world. It is almost full, with seven occupants looking to expand and more keen to move in.
By 2025, the ambition is for it to occupy another 30 acres on council-owned land to the north of the existing site that will host 200 more companies, directly employ 3,500 people and support 7,500 local manufacturing and supplier jobs.
At its heart will be an integration centre to support the park's businesses - most of them small firms - with vital services, such as access to finance, export and marketing.
There are plans to train skilled technicians via its own apprenticeships and to open a UTC (University Technical College) on the site.
The park will forge strong links with bodies, including Innovate UK, universities and international experts, and have a permanent presence in local colleges as part of its outreach programme.
It wants to open offices in major innovation hubs around the world.
Netpark aims to become a regional innovation brand with a global reach.
The expanded park will be powered by sustainable energy sources and host an on-site hotel, restaurant, conference centre, creche, gym, shop etc'' in short, it will become a self-contained innovation village. It will be as if Google had shifted its headquarters from California to County Durham, well, not quite, but you get the idea.Netpark has made rapid progress over the past couple of years and it is really gaining momentum, so we are really confident that we can deliver this,†says Dr Simon Goon, managing director of Business Durham, as we look over the plans in offices adjacent to the Gala Theatre.
He draws confidence from a flurry of recent investments at the park, the continued support of Durham University, the local authority and CPI (Centre for Process Innovation), as well as recent headline-grabbing stories from Kromek and Polyphotonix.
Kromek, which spun out of Durham University to become an AIM-listed transatlantic business, provides a blueprint for the kind of operator Dr Goon wants to attract. The firm, which was the first to move onto the park, found a way of producing high quality, commercial volumes of the mineral cadmium telluride and then integrated it into products that make the world a safer place. Kromek sensors can now be found in scanners that thwart terrorists, detect early stage breast cancer; and help security services to monitor radiation levels.
Award-winning Polyphotonix is led by former artist Richard Kirk who used his skill with organic light to develop a mask that could end up saving the NHS £1bn a year in treatments for diabetic blindness. Imagine if Damien Hirst had invented a treatment for the common cold and you get some idea of Mr Kirk's talent for melding modern art with medicine.
His firm and Kromek share a quality that eludes so many R&D-led companies: an ability to sync their discoveries with products people want to buy. There are plenty of firms that have set up at Netpark and fallen by the way side. Its 10 years have not been one unbroken line of runaway successes.
It is worth noting that neither Kromek nor Polyphotonix have so far reported a penny in profit. They both required hefty injections of taxpayers' money to fund their work. They are tipped for greatness, but it has taken a great deal of effort to get them to this stage. They are reminders that industrial research demands vast reserves of patience, skill, faith and cash.
Tapping into a reliable source of funding will be crucial to Netpark achieving its potential. The Government, and Durham County Council are very excited by the expansion plans that have been worked up with CPI and Durham University. Money has already been allocated to improve the park's infrastructure -drainage, utilities, roads, broadband and the like. A council meeting last month approved £12.9m funding, with £1.2m coming from the authority's capital programme and the remainder from self-financing borrowing.
Furthermore, Mr Goon and his team have produced a business case to help persuade ministers that Netpark is given wide-ranging tax breaks similar to an enterprise zone that will help it attract inward investment and create a relaxed tax and planning regime that gives business the freedom to grow.
Other benefactors such as charitable foundations and blue chip sponsors will be sought to help underpin ongoing phases of growth.
Facilities, such expensive labs and clean rooms, will also be vital for the type of firms that Netpark wants to attract. This is where CPI comes in. It already has a base at the site that has given the likes of Polyphotonix access to equipment that would otherwise be way beyond its grasp. Alongside its own research into revolutionary products, such as printable electronics and graphene, CPI gives small scale innovators access to a low risk environment where they can test and refine their inventions.
CPI's existing resources and future investments, alongside the development of the new integration centre, will help knit together the park's disparate businesses into a community with a shared purpose. That is the aspiration that Dr Goon and his team are hoping to make a reality. It is big groundbreaking stuff.
How the people of Sedgefield will feel about the project remains to be seen. It will bring high quality jobs to the area, but it will also but a strain on existing infrastructure. One things is certain. If this plan takes off it will be hard to ignore.
What is Netpark? Ask that question in 2025 and the blank looks you'll get will be because the answer is blindingly obvious.
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Reflections On The Atomic Nucleus
28th-30th July 2015
University of Liverpool
The meeting will t
Reflections On The Atomic Nucleus- 28th-30th July
Reflections On The Atomic Nucleus
28th-30th July 2015
University of Liverpool
The meeting will touch upon a few sub-topics of current interest in nuclear structure physics including shapes, shell evolution and super-heavy elements as well as sessions devoted to nuclear astrophysics, novel instrumentation and radioactive-ion beam projects. The topics of the conference will reflect not only the development of the field in recent years but also to look to the future when facilities on the horizon offer the promise of exciting new discoveries.
For more information, please click here
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EANM Congress 2015, 10th-14th October 2015, Hamburg, Germany, Kromek Booth: 107
The EANM 2015 meeti
EANM 10th-14th October
EANM Congress 2015, 10th-14th October 2015, Hamburg, Germany, Kromek Booth: 107
The EANM 2015 meeting will build on the traditions that are highly appreciated by EANM members and congress attendees, with the introduction of new features and the expansion of some established ones. The plenary lectures will address clinical molecular imaging and nuclear medicine therapy and – within the Molecule to Man track – the search for new targets and the development of new probes for these targets.
For more information, please click here
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2015 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference
31st October- 7th November 2015
2015 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference 31st Oct-7th Nov 2015
2015 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference
31st October- 7th November 2015
San Diego, California
Kromek Booth: 203-205
This conference is the premier meeting on the use of instrumentation in the Nuclear and Medical fields. The meeting has a very long history of providing an exciting venue for scientists to present their latest advances, exchange ideas, renew existing collaboration and form new ones. The NSS portion of the conference is an ideal forum for scientists and engineers in the field of Nuclear Science, radiation instrumentation, software engineering and data acquisition. The MIC is one of the most informative venues on the state-of-the art use of physics, engineering, and mathematics in Nuclear Medicine and related imaging modalities, such as CT and increasingly so MRI, through the development of hybrid devices. The RTSD is an ideal companion to both the NSS and MIC segments of the conference and impacts both interest areas.
For more information, please click here
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