Innovate UK and BBSRC are partnering to invest over £50 million in strategic innovation programmes to help UK businesses collaborate with the UK research base.
Boosting innovation
Innovate UK and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) are partnering to co-develop and jointly invest in a range of new strategic innovation programmes.
This will accelerate the translation of bioscience and biotechnology research into commercial products, processes and services that improve lives and livelihoods through helping to address national and global societal and environmental challenges.
Successful partnership history
A new series of joint programmes will be announced over the coming weeks and months. This builds on a highly successful partnership between BBSRC and Innovate UK.
This partnership has, for over 15 years, invested millions of pounds to support hundreds of businesses and academic researchers in collaborating with each other across diverse areas including:
- agri-tech
- industrial biotechnology
- engineering biology
- integrated omics
- biofilms
- regenerative medicine
The creation of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has strengthened this partnership and collaborative working, helping to build a thriving, inclusive research and innovation system.
Investing in collaborative research and development (R&D)
Innovate UK and BBSRC have set out these programme commitments in detail in the recently published strategic delivery plans. These programmes will help to support innovation in UK bioscience, build connections across the innovation ecosystem and stimulate private sector investment in R&D.
These programmes and activities will span research and innovation that will focus on a multitude of areas, including:
- biofilms and broader mircrobial communities
- bio-based manufacturing
- improved diet, nutrition and health
- more sustainable food production systems, including novel proteins
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Accelerating innovation
BBSRC Executive Chair, Professor Melanie Welham, said: "As set out in the BBSRC strategic delivery plan 2022 to 2025, our partnership with Innovate UK is an important part of delivering our ambition to drive and accelerate innovation. It supports researchers, innovators, and businesses in translating fundamental understanding of biological systems. This is a partnership with a long history of success in providing joint support for innovation and commercialisation, and I look forward to this continuing with a new series of strategic bioscience innovation programmes to be announced over the coming months."
A strong strategic partnership
Innovate UK CEO Indro Mukerjee said: "Innovate UK has been building a strong strategic partnership with BBSRC to support collaboration between business and the UK research base.This partnership consists of co-created programs across the biosciences and biomanufacturing. It is a good example of the active collaboration work with all the research councils and Research England across UKRI."
This article was first published on 15 November by Innovate UK.
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