Agilent Technologies Opens Spectroscopy Facility in UK

Agilent Technologies has opened a state-of-the-art facility for spectroscopy research and development at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire, England.

The new site will serve as a research and development hub for laser spectroscopy and will also incorporate Agilent’s Raman spectroscopy business, formerly known as Cobalt Light Systems, acquired in 2017, as well as the company’s Laser Spectroscopy Center of Excellence, which focuses on research and development in the field of vibrational spectroscopy.

Agilent Technologies’ new facility in Oxfordshire, England. Courtesy of Agilent Technologies.

The Harwell Campus spans 710 acres south of Oxford, England, and is home to over 200 organizations, 6000 people, and £2 billion of large-scale national science infrastructure. It is also where Agilent’s proprietary Raman technologies were originally developed by professor Pavel Matousek and his colleagues at the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

“The growth in Agilent’s molecular spectroscopy business created the need for a larger facility,” said Phil Binns, vice president, and general manager of Agilent’s Spectroscopy division. “Our new flagship site will enable us to develop a truly unified approach to vibrational spectroscopy. The location will also facilitate greater collaboration with internationally acclaimed academic and scientific thought leaders based at this premier U.K. hub of scientific innovation.”

The company’s U.K. branch has more than 480 employees and two manufacturing sites in Shropshire.