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MR Solutions receives Queen’s Award from Lord Lieutenant of Surrey

Following an audience with the Queen on July 14, 2016 at Buckingham Palace, MR Solutions officially received the Queens Award for Innovation during the visit of the Queens representative, the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey Micheal More Molyneux with his assistants.

DavidTaylorQueensAward

MR Solutions has received the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise from the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey at their Guildford headquarters in July to mark their achievement for innovation. MR Solutions received the accolade for the development and commercial success of its preclinical cryogen-free MRI scanning technology and new multi-modality innovations where two or more imaging modalities are combined within the same system.

Michael More-Molyneux, Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant presented the award on behalf of The Queen to David Taylor, Chief Executive Officer, at MR Solutions, with Sir Adrian White, Deputy Lieutenant who read the citation. The award was formally conferred with a Grant of Appointment and presentation of a crystal bowl. There was a great sense of employee pride at MR Solutions who were happy to participate in the award win by sharing a celebratory cake and a glass of champagne.

Dr David Taylor, CEO & Chairman, MR Solutions said: “We are delighted to be presented with the Queen’s Award for Innovation. It is an incredibly prestigious award and there was an overwhelming sense of pride at our offices when the Lord Lieutenant presented us with the Award. Our business is built on innovation; the fact that we are still the only company to have installed a range of cryogen free scanners is testament to that. However, it is very satisfying to have our efforts endorsed by an award which is only presented for the highest levels of business excellence.”

MR Solutions also attended a winner’s reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh on 14 July, 2016. Representing MR Solutions was the director, Nicky Doughty, and finance director, Ben Withinshaw, who stood in the receiving line ready to receive the Queen’s congratulations.

MR Solutions is the only company in the world to offer a range of commercially available scanners from 3T to 9.4T (T is for Tesla – the power of the magnet) which does not require liquid helium. MR Solutions’ scanners, which are the size of a desk, can be wheeled into a lab compared to the helium cooled models which usually need their own room and substantial building modifications.

The Queen’s Award for Enterprise is valid for five years and is the most prestigious business award in the UK which is presented to a select group of businesses having been recognised for outstanding business achievement. Now in its 50th year, the awards are made annually by HM The Queen and are only given for the highest levels of business excellence.

MR Solutions Ltd won an Innovation Award for the development of a preclinical MRI scanner which no longer requires liquid helium cooling. In order for high powered MRI scanners to operate properly part of the mechanism, the magnet, needs to be held at a very low temperature (minus 269 degrees centigrade). Normally this is achieved by keeping the magnet in liquid helium. This approach is heavy, expensive and can pose a safety risk. MR Solutions has changed the magnet design and can cool it using a readily available cryocooler unit. This results in the incorporation of a very light weight magnet (350Kg as opposed to several tonnes) which can simply be wheeled through the door, rather than involving expensive building modifications and the stray magnetic field has been reduced from metres to centimetres. The scanners are used in research laboratories and can be installed alongside other equipment. MR Solutions was founded in 2004 and this is its first Queen’s Award.