Edinburgh team scoop business plan top prize

Scientists from the Blackford Analysis – Real-Time MRI Team at the University of Edinburgh have won the £25,000 Research Councils UK Business Plan Competition.

The team, led by Dr Ben Panter, has developed a complex algorithm that will stabilise MRI images, ensuring scans deliver their life-changing results.

Presently, one scan in ten is useless because of distortion – the disruption of the image often caused by movement. This involves further hardship for the patient and a real cost to the hospital (for an average machine, around £120,000 per year). This major breakthrough will save millions for hospitals and ensure patients get the most from these essential scans.

Clive Rowland, head of the competition Judging Panel and Chief Executive Officer of UMIP, the University of Manchester Intellectual Property Limited, said:  “The competition is an important initiative as it not only increases the awareness of intellectual property issues and opportunities amongst the research community but it also provides professional business planning and related training as a core component of the competition. Indeed it is a perfect complement to the funds made available for knowledge transfer by the research councils."

The Research Councils UK Business Plan Competition provides support, mentoring and training to produce high-quality business plans to commercialise research carried out in UK universities and research institutions. Participants in the competition submitted business propositions from across the arts, biosciences, the environment, science and technology.

The runners-up for this year's competition are: Dr Leigh Cassidy for DRAM (a Device for Remediation & Attenuation of Multiple pollutants) at the University of Aberdeen; Dr Henry Bookey, Optoscribe Ltd at Heriot-Watt University; Dr Khaled MK Ismail, PRO Medical Innovations Ltd at Keele University Medical School; Dr A Pelah, MedTred Ltd at the University of York; and Professor Neil Stoker, Bloomsbury Antibiotic Discovery Company at the Royal Veterinary College.