New facility to promote innovation opens at Imperial College London

BioIncubator provides physical centre to nurture new spin-out companies - <em>News Release</em>

For immediate release
Thursday 2 November 2006

A new facility custom-built to promote and develop technology transfer opens today at Imperial College London.

The Imperial BioIncubator, a collaboration between the College and technology commercialisation company Imperial Innovations, aims to accelerate the development of spin-out companies by providing a physical centre for their incubation.

Based at Imperial's South Kensington Campus, the BioIncubator will provide office and laboratory space for up to 15 early-stage companies.

Facilities include 12 wet laboratories, 16 private offices and a suite of meeting rooms, designed to provide occupants with a range of research resources, and business and support services. Imperial Innovations is responsible for the operation and management of the BioIncubator, and will continue to provide advice and mentoring.

Eight companies spun out of research at Imperial have now relocated to the BioIncubator. Martin Knight, the College's Chief Operating Officer, said:

"There is a great enthusiasm among many of our scientists, medics and engineers to bring their groundbreaking ideas to a wider audience, but often little knowledge of how to steer through the complexities of this process. The BioIncubator will ensure that our academics have all the support they need to turn their research into business ventures."

Susan Searle, CEO of Imperial Innovations, said: "I am delighted that the Imperial BioIncubator is now home to so many of our spin-out companies and to see them taking advantage of the purpose-built space and research resources. This excellent facility will not only make operations easier for our spin-out companies, but will also see them placed to benefit from day-to-day interaction with Imperial College academics. Coupled with our incubation and investment programmes, the BioIncubator will no doubt speed up the development of the spin-outs housed there."

The BioIncubator was funded by Imperial College London and the London Development Agency.

Companies currently housed there are Advanced Tissue Therapies Limited; Circassia Holdings Limited; deltaDOT Limited; Hydroventuri Limited; Midaz lasers Limited; Molecular Vision Limited; Nexeon Limited; Thiakis Limited.

For further information contact:

Abigail Smith
Imperial College London Press Office
Tel: 020 7594 6701
Email: abigail.smith@imperial.ac.uk

Lucy Ahfong
Imperial Innovations
Tel: 020 7594 6644
Email: l.ahfong@imperial.ac.uk

Notes to Editors:

About the companies

• Advanced Tissue Therapies Limited is a biomaterials company with proprietary technologies for the development of tissue engineering products aimed initially at orthopaedic and maxillofacial markets.
• Circassia Limited is developing a way of using peptides as a vaccine against allergies.
• deltaDOT Limited's core technology allows the direct monitoring of unlabelled bio-molecules in real time.
• Hydroventuri Limited is a renewable energy and hydro services company, which is developing technology to extract energy from tidal streams and rivers with no moving parts in water.
• Midaz Laser Limited is developing a new high power DPSS (diode-pumped solid state) laser, with advanced coupling and thermal management.
• Molecular Vision Limited has invented a novel method for optical detection that is fully compatible with microfluidic chip technology.
• Nexeon Limited is refining novel battery technology that it predicts will enable greater energy storage.
• Thiakis Limited is a privately owned biopharmaceutical company founded in 2004; focused on the development of novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of obesity and other metabolic diseases.

About Imperial Innovations

Imperial Innovations is one of the UK's leading technology transfer and commercialisation companies. The company was founded in 1986 and its ordinary shares admitted to trading on the AIM Market of London Stock Exchange plc in July 2006, raising £26 million. The company's integrated approach encompasses the identification of ideas, protection of intellectual property, development and licensing of technology and formation, incubation and investment in spin-out companies. A wide range of technologies are commercialised within the areas of healthcare, energy, environment and emerging technology trends.

Based at Imperial College London, the company has established equity holdings in 58 spin-out companies and has completed 90 commercial agreements. Imperial Innovations also commercialises technologies originating from outside Imperial College through incubation contracts with the Carbon Trust and WRAP and has relationships with a number of multinational corporations.

Imperial Innovations has invested in a range of spin-out companies including The Acrobot Company Limited, Cardiak Limited, deltaDOT Limited, Future Waves PTE Limited, HeliSwirl Technologies Limited, InforSense Limited, Lontra Limited, Midaz Lasers Limited, NanoBioDesign Limited, Nexeon Limited, NovaThera Limited, Photobiotics Limited, Thiakis Limited and Veryan Medical Limited.

Imperial Innovations currently holds shares in three spin-out companies now listed on AIM; fuel cell company, Ceres Power plc, and ParOS plc, a provider of energy-saving advanced control solutions, as well as Nanoscience plc, a developer of low power integrated circuits and silicon chips, following its acquisition of spin-out company Toumaz Technology Limited.

About Imperial College London

Consistently rated in the top three UK university institutions, Imperial College London is a world leading science-based university whose reputation for excellence in teaching and research attracts students (11,000) and staff (6,000) of the highest international quality.
Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and management and delivers practical solutions that enhance the quality of life and the environment - underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture.
Website: www.imperial.ac.uk