Technology transfer

Scotland’s flagship life sciences project, Edinburgh BioQuarter, has been awarded £12 million by the development agency Scottish Enterprise and Edinburgh University to set up a technology commercialisation fund.

The prospect of a sub-$1,000 human genome sequence moved closer as Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd agreed a marketing deal with Illumina Inc for its low-cost sequencing technology.

After a late start, Spain’s entrepreneurial culture has taken root. It remains modest compared to other major European countries, but the credit crisis does not yet seem to have stifled innovation.

Graham Spittle, Vice President Software for UK, Ireland and South Africa with IBM, has been re-appointed as Chair of the UK Technology Strategy Board (TSB), for a further three years.

ETH Zurich is celebrating a record year for spin-offs, creating 23 companies in 2008. Six companies were established in computer science and six in communication technologies and services; four in bio-technology/pharmaceuticals; four in electrical and electronics engineering; two in medical devices, and one in micro- and nanotechnology.