New £2m university research fund awards first grants
16 March 2010
The University of Manchester and University College London (UCL) today announced they’ve won the first investments from a new scheme to develop commercial returns from early-stage scientific research.
The Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) created the £2m Collaboration Fund to help university-based projects develop lucrative partnerships with private companies. In an unusual move to harness expertise in early stage investment, EPSRC has contracted established fund management company Finance South East (FSE) to run the two-year pilot.
At the University of Manchester Professor Wuqiang Yang in collaboration with GEA Pharma Systems Ltd has been awarded £100k to develop an online system for measuring the moisture in fluidised beds used in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical products. International pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has already expressed an interest in collaborating on the next stage of development with a view to becoming the first adopter of the technology.
The Collaboration Fund has also backed Dr Paul Beard at UCL, awarding £100k to develop a prototype ultrasound imaging tool for industry and medicine. Having demonstrated scientific proof of concept the UCL team and their partners at Precision Acoustics Ltd believe the technology is ripe for commercial exploitation.
Head of Knowledge Transfer at EPSRC, Dr John Baird had this to say:
“We are delighted that the University of Manchester and UCL will be the first to benefit from the Collaboration Fund. This initiative extends our support to projects where close engagement with a commercial partner will significantly enhance the prospects of take-up by industry. We look forward to supporting more exciting collaborations under this pilot initiative and will be monitoring their future progress with interest.”
CEO of Finance South East, Sally Goodsell added:
“The UK is full of scientific innovation and entrepreneurial talent but too often ambitious projects fall by the wayside due to insufficient funding at crucial points in their development. At Finance South East we manage a range of funds to address this gap in early stage finance and we are delighted to have made these first two investments on behalf of EPSRC. The teams involved will face some challenging times in turning their inventions into commercial success, but their Finance South East fund manager will equip them to achieve this alongside an external business mentor.”
For more information about the Collaboration Fund, or to apply, contact Dr Samantha Decombel (samantha.decombel@financesoutheast.com) on 01276 608510. Alternatively you can visit the Finance South East website for further information: http://www.financesoutheast.com/ourfunds/index.aspx?id=1312
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