University College London and Manchester University have become the first to win investments from a new scheme set up to develop commercial returns from early-stage scientific research.
The £2 million Collaboration Fund has been set up by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) to help university-based projects develop partnerships with private companies. In an unusual move for a research council, the EPSRC has awarded the fund management company Finance South East the contract to run the two-year pilot scheme.
The Collaboration Fund has awarded Paul Beard at UCL £100,000 to develop a prototype ultrasound imaging tool for use in industry and medicine. The scientific proof of concept has been demonstrated by the UCL team with their partners Precision Acoustics Ltd.
Meanwhile, Wuqiang Yang of Manchester University, who is working in collaboration with GEA Pharma Systems Ltd, has been awarded £100,000 to develop an online system for measuring the moisture in fluidised beds used in drug manufacture.
AstraZeneca has expressed an interest in collaborating on the next stage of development, with a view to becoming the first adopter of the technology.
Head of Knowledge Transfer at EPSRC, John Baird, said, “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 [...] collaborations under this pilot initiative and will be monitoring their future progress with interest.”
Sally Goodsell, CEO of Finance South East, said 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 Collaboration Fund is a £2 million fund to promote early-stage commercialisation of research outputs, providing grant funding of up to £100,000 for projects where UK academic institutions wish to commercialise research previously funded by EPSRC.
It enables researchers to work in collaboration with commercial partners in developing their research into industrial or business applications.
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