Scientific equipment manufacturer Grant Instruments, established for 60 years in Cambridge UK, plans to substantially grow its technology reach in China and India, MD Ludo Chapman has revealed.

The business started life in 1952 making water baths for laboratories in a building at the bottom of the garden of the Old Vicarage in Grantchester.

Chapman said: “The market is changing rapidly and our over reliance on the UK and European markets has led us to look further east for our future growth and prosperity.

“We now have operations in Shanghai and Bangalore and will be looking to find further agile partners to grow our business in these regions in particular.”

Chapman, whose father Cecil co-founded the business with Peter Ward, says it is crucial to focus on the future and not be distracted by the 60th anniversary.

He said: “It’s a remarkable achievement to have traded successfully for 60 years but it is not the time to look back now. We need to continue to leverage our unrivalled expertise in heating and cooling technology and temperature control to maintain our leadership position in the scientific instrumentation market.”

For the last six decades, Grant has been designing, manufacturing and distributing scientific products including water baths, block heaters and coolers, baths/circulators and re-circulating chillers, thermoshakers, rockers, rotators and shakers, centrifuges and vortex mixers.

Grant has also developed a successful data acquisition business and more recently diversified its offering by applying its scientific expertise to the development of sous vide cooking baths for the catering industry – a rapidly growing market that will play an important role for the company going forward.

The company has operations in three continents and an extensive network of dealers and distributors servicing Europe, the Americas, and Asia Pacific.