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13 December 2011

We are pleased to announce our new initiative, the Industry innovation Forum, which will connect leading businesses with universities to create ideas, insights and innovation. Working with the Technology Strategy Board, the new Forum will create new collaborations between industry and the research base to drive innovation, competitive advantage and growth.

This new initiative demonstrates how the N8 is using the power of the 8 universities working together to support industry in the commercialisation of science and technology. This was recognised last week in the Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth, published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, where the N8 was highlighted as an exemplar model for creating innovation and research clusters.

2011 has been a successful year for the N8 Research Partnership and it's centres METRC and Regener8. Together the centres have worked with over 200 businesses so far, many of which are SME’s, and created 60 jobs since they were formed in 2008.

Thank you for your involvement and support this year. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

With warm regards,
Sarah Jackson
N8 Research Partnership

New Industry Innovation Forum Announced

We are delighted to announce the launch of the Industry Innovation Forum, a collaboration between the N8 Research Partnership and the Technology Strategy Board which aims to create new collaborations between industry and the N8 research base to drive innovation, competitive advantage and growth. It will maximise linkages and market pull between private sector R&D, industrial and consumer needs and the world class research base in the UK.

The initial partners of the Industry Innovation Forum will be the Northern research intensive universities and global firms involved with research and development, including AstraZeneca, Croda, National Nuclear Laboratory, Procter & Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser, Siemens, Smith & Nephew and Unilever. The N8 is working on the delivery plans for the Forum with the Technology Strategy Board.

Regener8 Members Successful in £8.5m Regenerative Medicine Funding

N8 centre for translating regenerative technologies, Regener8, has announced that 11 of its industry members have been successful in leading projects as part of the Technology Strategy Board's £8.5 million regenerative medicine fund, which was announced on the day that the Prime Minister detailed a range of measures to boost the UK’s life sciences industry.

Professor John Fisher CBE, Executive Director of Regener8 comments: “It is great to see this money being invested in creating a ‘regenerative medicine community’ in the UK. Regener8 is driving collaboration between industry and academia, and funding such as this makes it possible to speed up the lengthy process of taking RegenMed therapies from the lab to the clinic.”

Launch of METRC Innovation Awards

The N8 centre for molecular engineering translation, METRC, is launching new funding designed to support new research and innovation projects between companies and universities.

The funding will be launched at a conference being held in Sheffield in February 2012. Supported by the NanoKTN and the Materials KTN, the conference will showcase successful research and innovation partnerships between companies and universities in the field of molecular engineering.

Highlights of 2011

2011 has seen many key developments for the N8 Research Partnership. Some of the highlights include:

The Minister of State for Universities and Science, David Willetts, officially launched the next phase of the N8 Research Partnership, as well as launching the research on economic impacts and opportunities of demographic change.

It was announced that Professor Chris Brink, Vice-Chancellor of Newcastle University, will officially take up the position as Chair of the N8 Research Partnership Board on 23 February 2012.

There have been collaborations started across the N8 universities on new approaches to asset sharing with the research councils, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE).

A new Parasitology network was created to take advantage of the opportunities across the N8 partnership of universities and to address many key issues including the development of vaccines, diagnostic tools and drugs.

This month we announced the Industry Innovation Forum in partnership with the Technology Strategy Board which aims to connect leading businesses with universities to create ideas, insights and innovations.

The N8 Research Partnership featured as an exemplar model for creating innovation and research clusters, in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth 2011.

Plans for 2012

Here’s a snapshot of what to look forward to in 2012:

The first Industry Innovation Forum event and official launch of the Forum will be held in February 2012 and will focus on advanced materials. Industry challenges and ideas will be matched with new insights and solutions from the research base.

We will be working with industry and the Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) on our social sciences programme to include research on transformational infrastructure and the creative economies in the North of England.

The N8 Research Partnership will be publishing a report and recommendations on asset sharing in the Spring.

Visit our centre websites to find out more about the initiatives they are focussing on in 2012:

METRC
Regener8

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