The N8 Industry Innovation Forum was launched on 31 January 2012 by the Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts, together with Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board, Sir Alan Langlands, Chief Executive of HEFCE, and senior industry and academic leaders. The first Forum meeting was held on 1 February 2012, focusing on Advanced Materials Technologies, and brought together 120 leading industry and academic experts to generate new insights and opportunities for innovation. Significant progress was made in generating a pipeline of new ideas for collaborative research, and these will be taken forward using pump priming funds provided by HEFCE.
N8’s research themes have also been in the spotlight this month. METRC launched a new funding scheme at their ‘Nanotechnology: Delivering Innovation’ conference held in Sheffield on 6 February 2012, targeted at driving innovation in SMEs.
Our social sciences team has been developing a series of research programmes focused on key economic and social issues. A key feature of the programme is to involve users in the design and delivery of the research, providing more effective routes for knowledge exchange and policy influence.
N8 Parasitology lead, Mark Booth, was interviewed by the New Statesman about a global initiative that aims to control or eradicate 10 Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) within the decade.
And finally, Regener8 has officially launched details of its 2012 Annual Conference which is taking place on 27 September 2012 in Newcastle.
I hope you enjoy reading this e-bulletin and please get in touch with your comments and ideas.
Best regards,
Sarah Jackson
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