05 June 2003

Filtronic's Chairman is presented with top Academy Award

Professor David Rhodes, Executive Chairman of Filtronic plc, has received the Royal Academy of Engineering's highest award - the Prince Philip Medal - in recognition of his exceptional contribution to engineering. Professor Rhodes founded Filtronic plc more than twenty years ago, which with nine subsidiary companies has annual sales of £250 million, mainly in mobile communications and defence electronic equipment, and 3000 employees in seventeen facilities on four continents. HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, as The Academy's Senior Fellow, presented Professor Rhodes with the solid gold medal at The Academy Awards Dinner on 5 June. The award is unique - it is not made every year, but only to honour the greatest engineering advances and is regarded as a shining example of a true researcher who has turned his skills to the successful exploitation of his work on the world stage, without losing touch with his technological base.

Filtronic's phenomenal growth rate began in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The company began to reap large-scale commercial rewards from its technology, by redirecting its microwave ideas to mobile telephone systems, one of the fastest-growing global businesses of the past decade.

Identifying aircraft by their radar signals and communicating with space probes may seem far removed from sorting out signals sent to and from mobile telephones. However, all three areas are the preserve of Filtronic plc, and can be considered a shining example of today's scientific entrepreneurism. Filtronic's technique was built around the identification of extremely weak signals, or filtering to screen out "noise" associated with unwanted radio messages. This could help the phone companies cram more signals into a given amount of radio space, without leaving wasteful gaps of unused frequencies between adjacent signals to prevent interference. Significant current investments have been made to enable the manufacture of Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits at the largest compound semiconductor facility in the world at Newton Aycliffe.

Headquartered in Shipley, Yorkshire Professor Rhodes' company is a world leader in the design and manufacture of a broad range of customised radio frequency (RF), microwave and millimetre wave cellular and broadband components and subsystems. Asked what is the secret to its phenomenal growth, Professor Rhodes very succinctly stated, "The secret to the success of Filtronic has been the ability to attract and retain a significant number of very talented engineers!"

The company's products are used in wireless communication infrastructure equipment, cellular handsets and electronic defence systems. Future systems will employ the new 'Microwave Systems on a Chip' supplied from Newton Aycliffe with applications for high power transmitters in base stations, mobile handsets, phased array radars and many other wireless systems. These products, along with the wide-scale use of real-time digital signal processing will be the key products for all future electronic systems.

ends

Notes for editors

1. The Prince Philip Medal, instigated in 1989, is awarded periodically to an engineer of any nationality "who has made an exceptional contribution to engineering as a whole through practice, management or education." The list of previous winners is short but very eminent: the late Sir Frank Whittle OM CBE FREng FRS in 1991 for the development of the jet engine; Sir Denis Rooke CBE FRS FREng in 1992 for changing the face of the UK gas industry; Professor Charles Kao CBE FREng FRS in 1996 for the invention of optical fibres; Professor John Argyris FREng FRS jointly with Professor Ray Clough in 1997 for developing the technique of finite element analysis; Sir John Browne FREng, Chief Executive of BP Amoco plc, in 1999 for his engineering and managerial achievements in creating Britain's biggest company; the Academy's President Sir Alec Broers FREng FRS, Vice Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, in 2000 both for pioneering miniature electronic circuits on silicon chips and for building the university's links with industry; and Philip Ruffles CBE RDI FREng FRS for his key role behind Rolls-Royce's award-winning Trent family of engines, which have captured over half the global market.
   
2. The Royal Academy of Engineering aims to pursue, encourage and maintain excellence across the whole field of engineering in order to promote the advancement of the science, art and practice of engineering for the benefit of the public. The Academy comprises the UK's most eminent engineers and is able to use their combined wealth of knowledge and experience to meet its objectives.

For more information please contact:

Lize King at the Royal Academy of Engineering

or

Paul McManus for Filtronic plc
Peter Binns and Co. Public Relations Ltd tel: 0207 786 9600; email: paul.mcmanus@binnspr.co.uk

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