14/10/2008
The N8 Research Partnership, a consortium of the eight research-intensive universities in the North of England, today set out strengthened arrangements for collaboration between the North's research-intensive universities and business, and announced a £4 million investment to boost cutting-edge technology in two key areas:
- the Molecular Engineering Translational Research Centre (METRC), led by Professor Tony Ryan OBE, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Pure Science at the University of Sheffield; and
- the Centre for Translational Regenerative Medicine (regeNer8), led by Professor John Fisher, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering at the University of Leeds.
These two ‘virtual' research centres will combine the research strength of the N8 group of universities to investigate the repair and replacement of human tissue and explore molecular engineering and nanotechnology to develop new products. The investment comes from a grant awarded to N8 from the Northern Way Growth Fund.
By combining world-class research expertise from the universities of Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York, N8 will create globally-competitive centres of excellence in their areas of research.
The centres will collaborate with businesses, in the North and internationally, to share knowledge to develop new products, processes and services to help them innovate faster and take a larger share of rapidly-changing global markets. Preliminary work carried out by regeNer8 has already attracted significant interest from major global companies such as Johnson and Johnson and sanofi-aventis, as well as the National Blood and Tissue Service.
Professor Keith Burnett, Vice Chancellor of the University of Sheffield and Chair of the Board of N8, said: "The N8 universities undertake more than £720m of research and employ over 8,200 academic staff. N8 is the largest ‘research pooling' partnership ever undertaken in the UK and represents a unique combination of complementary research strengths and capacity which is of proven world-leading quality. Our aim is to maximise the impact of our research capabilities on the reputational and economic standing of the North and the UK, and the development of these Research Centres with financial assistance from the Northern Way is a significant step towards achieving this."
Today's announcement coincides with a report by the OECD, which encourages the N8 to step up its activities and address long-run innovation opportunities. The OECD also provides a comparison between the N8 and the US's Georgia Research Alliance, and prompts the N8 to mobilise greater levels of funding and strengthen links with the private sector.
Commenting on the OECD review, Professor Keith Burnett said "The OECD is right to argue that the N8 has yet to achieve its transformational potential. In response to the OECD's recommendations, the N8 partnership is reviewing its future plans, and will carefully consider the proposals for enhanced collaboration set out by the OECD. For example, we will explore the potential for a combined approach to attract talented young entrepreneurial researchers, and look to expand our links to business. I am confident we can step up our work, to add considerable value to the excellent work already taking place within each N8 institution."
-ENDS-
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Notes to Editors:
The N8 Research Partnership (N8) was launched by the North's eight research-intensive universities (Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York) to enable business and industry to access world-class knowledge and gain a significant competitive advantage. The intellectual critical mass offered by N8 will drive up business performance in global growth markets and add extra cylinders to the UK economic engine.
Researchers from each of the universities will work on initiatives jointly developed from discussions with industry in the priority areas of energy, sustainable water use, ageing, regenerative medicine and molecular engineering.
The Northern Way awarded funding of £6m to N8 in March 2007. Under phase one of the funding, an initial £2m was allocated to set up ‘virtual collaborative research centres' in each of these five priority areas and produce business plans for their future activity and development.
The plans were assessed by an independent selection panel made up of representatives from the public and private sector, which judged the bids on the basis of alignment to Northern Way objectives. The bids from METRC and regeNer8 were chosen to receive phase two funding of £2m each to put their plans into practice. The other centres will continue to be supported through phase one and will identify additional funding from other sources.