London-based Process Systems Enterprise (PSE), provider of the
gPROMS advanced process simulation and modelling environment, was
today announced as this year's winner of the Royal Academy of
Engineering's GBP 50,000 MacRobert Award.
The award, the UK's most prestigious for engineering, recognises
the successful development of innovative engineering ideas. The PSE
team was presented with the MacRobert gold medal by HRH Prince Philip
after beating three other finalists, at an awards dinner in London
where Lord Browne of Madingley was the keynote speaker. The company
joins an impressive roster of previous winners, including IBM, Rolls
Royce and BP International.
PSE was selected for its innovative gPROMS(R) advanced
mathematical modelling software. gPROMS helps process industry
companies to maximise product quality, minimise production cost and
control environmental impact through the use of high-accuracy
predictive mathematical models of their processes. It also enables
them to innovate much faster, design more efficient processes, manage
risk closely and integrate R&D and engineering disciplines.
Prof. Costas Pantelides, PSE MD, says "the process industries are
going through a period of significant opportunities and challenges:
unprecedented demand for products, increasing customer expectations on
product performance, decreasing availability of primary raw materials,
and global concerns relating to energy consumption, safety and
environmental impact. We bring the means to make sound decisions while
minimising the risk inherent in innovation."
gPROMS' main innovation is that it allows engineers to build and
solve extremely complex models simply by describing the physical and
chemical phenomena that are taking place, without concerning
themselves with the details of the mathematical solution. This leads
to orders-of-magnitude decrease in the required effort and time for
modelling, and makes the benefits of modelling much more accessible
than in the past.
gPROMS in turn supports innovation in the design and operation of
processes and products across the whole range of the process
industries. It is the tool of choice for some of the most challenging
modelling applications worldwide - from the design of new
high-performance chemical reactor technology to determining the
optimal frying time for potato chips.
gPROMS has successfully entered the worldwide market, with 75% of
the company's revenues coming from exports. PSE's client base includes
more than 60 of the world's leading process industry companies, about
75% of which are Fortune 500 organisations. gPROMS is also being used
for teaching and research by more than 200 universities worldwide.
Prof. Pantelides adds "We are delighted and honoured to have won
the MacRobert Award. As a company that not only innovates but also
helps others to innovate, we value this recognition highly."
For more information and images, see
www.psenterprise.com/news/070601_macrobert.html.