If you own an electric car, you can now charge it here at the Research Park! Please contact Reception at the BioHub to book a time slot.
Zogenix is committed to developing therapies that address specific clinical needs for people living with CNS and pain-related conditions who need innovative treatment alternatives to help them return to normal daily functioning.
Zogenix is committed to ensuring the safe and appropriate use of our products through industry-leading initiatives to educate patients, healthcare providers and pharmacists.
Innovation is key to our success. In 2010, we were honored to receive the Most Innovative Product Award in the Life Sciences category from CONNECT. We take pride in our approach to product development, commercialization strategy and delivering results.
Patients needing dental implants or joint replacements could have fewer post-operation infections, meaning fewer would require repeat surgery, as a result of new technology coming to Birmingham. NanoTi, a Hungarian start-up company specialising in surface treatment for titanium dental and orthopaedic implants to combat infection, has been announced as the first organisation to reserve space in The BioHub – a brand new biomedical facility under construction at Birmingham Research Park in Edgbaston.
In the past 10 years the incidence of bone implant related infections has increased rapidly, especially in the case of dental implants. At the same time, the prevailing treatment – antibiotics – has lost effectiveness due to the increasing resistance of bacteria. Using an innovative proprietary electrochemical process, the NanoTi technology enables implant manufacturers to change the surface of titanium implants in a way that reduces the risk of post-operative infection. Implant manufacturers can either retrofit NanoTi equipment to their production lines or buy the surface treatment services directly from NanoTi.
Having secured funding to expand their growing business, NanoTi founders Miklós Weszl and Krisztian Toth, set about looking for premises at which to locate their UK office, and initially took up a Virtual Tenancy at Birmingham Research Park. The new building then became the focus of their attention. “The location of The Biomedical Innovation Hub at Birmingham Research Park provides an extraordinary environment for the growth of life science start-ups, such as ours, by helping them to maximise their innovation potential” explained Miklós Weszl.
The BioHub, due to open in October this year, is a brand new, fully serviced biomedical laboratory, specifically designed to provide entrepreneurs and innovative start-ups, such as NanoTi, with access to affordable laboratory facilities and equipment. The £6.8m development is jointly funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City Council.
Helen Miller-Viney, Business Development Manager for The BioHub said “We are really looking forward to welcoming NanoTi as one of the first occupiers of this fantastic new facility for start-ups and small biomedical companies.”
The company will join the existing vibrant and diverse network of businesses, clinicians and the wider University of Birmingham research community based around the Birmingham Research Park site in Edgbaston.
Birmingham Research Park is a long-standing and successful joint venture between the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City Council. It is ideally placed in the heart of the Edgbaston Medical Quarter, a thriving cluster of medical and biomedical activity situated around the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the University of Birmingham’s College of Medical and Dental Sciences. The Edgbaston Medical Quarter is home to 64% of the city’s healthcare economy including 180 medical organisations, 44 GP clinics and routine care facilities and 80 hospitals and specialist care centres.
CEO of Birmingham Research Park, James Wilkie, added “As well as benefitting from the state of the art laboratory facilities, NanoTi will receive comprehensive business support from the team at BizzInn on the Research Park to help grow their operations in the UK and Europe. They will also be able to access the world-class cluster of researchers, clinicians and facilities at the University of Birmingham”.
For further information on The BioHub, please contact: Helen Miller-Viney, Business Development Manager, Birmingham Research Park +44 (0)121 414 9252, [email protected]
Notes to editors
For press enquiries, please contact Tim Yates on +44 (0)121 414 8635, [email protected]
More information on The BioHub is available at Birmingham Research Park
Learn more about The BioHub and BizzInn, in this interview with Helen Miller-Viney, Business Development Manager.
Small and medium-sized biomedical enterprises can benefit from the shared laboratory facilities and business support available on Birmingham Research Park. Grow-on space is also offered.
Doctoral Researchers and BizzInn Tenants, Blue Vine Consultants win the BQ West Midlands Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Two enterprising researchers from the University of Birmingham have been awarded the BQ Midlands Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year 2014. The event showcased some of the Midlands rising stars and recognises the most promising individuals likely to succeed in business.
Founders, Scott Hardman and Amrit Chandan launched Blue Vine Consultants in October 2013. Specialising in bringing renewable energy products to market their business provides strategic marketing direction and advice to companies, backed by tailored market intelligence reports and technical audits.
Humble in their achievements, when accepting the award Scott and Amrit were quick to point out the support they had received from the University of Birmingham, including mentoring and training on the BSEEN Scheme.
BSEEN is a joint venture between Birmingham, Aston and Birmingham City universities. BSEEN provided Scott and Amrit with a 6 month support package of training, funding and mentoring, as well as regular workshops and events. The programme is ERDF funded and runs until June 2015.
Following BSEEN, a continuation of support has been received from accessing the facilities and business support at BizzInn (Birmingham Research Park), where their company is based. BizzInn, is the business incubator run by the University of Birmingham’s Enterprise Acceleration Team and established to nurture ideas and help transform innovation to enterprise.
In particular, Scott and Amrit received advice from several BizzInn Associate Advisors on various issues; including Intellectual Property from HGF, company structure and accounting from Mazars and Market Research guidance from Accelerate Associates, as well as in-house business development advice from Andrew Cruxton and Paul Field.
Amrit also completed the University’s flagship Medici Enterprise Training Programme in January 2013. The course is run by the Enterprise Acceleration team and is designed to enable researchers to realise the commercial potential of their research.
This award illustrates the tenacity of both Scott and Amrit but also the ecosystem of enterprise support and advice available at the University of Birmingham which provides start-ups with the best possible opportunities to thrive and grow.
Scott Hardman said, “It is a real honour to receive this award, we could not have done it without the support of everyone who has helped and mentored us, including everyone at BizzInn and Birmingham Research Park, the BSEEN programme, and the guidance of Sukhdev Gill and John McKenzie.”
Ten emerging entrepreneurs were given the opportunity to shine on the night, talking enthusiastically about their business and what, in their view, it takes to be a success in business. Scott and Amrit, who were one of two winners on the night, will go on to join 7 other finalists from around the country and are invited to attend the MADE 2014 Festival Gala Dinner on September 25 in Sheffield – part of a week long festival inspiring entrepreneurship and expected to attract 4,000 delegates from all over the UK.
One of the eight entrepreneurs will be recognised as the BQ Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year.
Visit BQ Magazine for to find out more information about the awards
Visit Blue Vine Consultants to learn more about the business
Visit www.bizzinn.org to find out more about the Enterprise Acceleration team and the BizzInn
Notes:
The BSEEN project is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund Programme 2007 to 2013. The Department for Communities and Local Government is the managing authority for the European Regional Development Programme, which is one of the funds established by the European Commission to help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support local businesses and create jobs. For more information, visit www.communities.gov.uk/erdf
The BizzInn is a key element of the new Birmingham Biomedical Innovation Hub being built on the Birmingham Research Park, and due for completion in 2014. The Birmingham Biomedical Innovation Hub is a £6.8m project (part-funded by the European Development Fund (ERDF), aimed at increasing the engagement of companies in the biomedical and related sectors with the University of Birmingham and encouraging access to affordable laboratory facilities.
United Kingdom Science Park Association News Release
Shortlist announced for UKSPA 30th Anniversary Awards
The United Kingdom Science Park Association has unveiled the shortlist for their 30th Anniversary Awards programme.
The six Awards cover the Most Successful:
- Innovation Location
- Innovative
- Company on an UKSPA site
- Innovation Partnership and Co-Operation
- Innovative Project on a Member site
- Technology Incubator/Innovation Centre and
- Design and Sustainability building or initiative.
The Winner of each award will be announced at UKSPA’s 30th Anniversary Summit
UKSPA Chief Executive Paul Wright said:
“The shortlist for the 30th Anniversary Awards celebrates the achievements of the sector, our partners, members and their tenant companies. The work undertaken on over 100 Member locations demonstrates world class innovation within the UK and shows how our members and their teams work together to create business success.”
UKSPA Chairman David Hardman commented that:
“Selecting the shortlist from such a high quality field was no easy task and I am particularly grateful to colleagues from across the United Kingdom for their contributions to this significant milestone for the Association.”
“The Conference, Awards Dinner and Exhibition in Birmingham next month will showcase the important work of the Science Park and Innovation Movement which over the last three decades has delivered significant economic growth to the national and local knowledge economies. The shortlist for the UKSPA 30th Anniversary Awards demonstrates the success of high-growth technology and knowledge based firms, their partnerships, initiatives as well as the innovation locations that support and nurture this success”.
The winners of the six awards will be announced at the UKSPA 3-0th Anniversary Summit Gala Dinner – sponsored by essensys – which takes place at the ICC, Birmingham on the evening of Thursday 10 July. The evening will be hosted by Dr Michael Mosley; writer and presenter of BBC2′s The Story of Science and the face of science and medicine on The One Show.
The shortlisted entrants are:
The UKSPA 30th Anniversary Award for Most Successful Innovation Environment.
- Bristol and Bath Science Park
- Kent Science Park
- Northern Ireland Science Park
- Sci-Tech Daresbury
- Surrey Research Park
The UKSPA 30th Anniversary Award for the Most Successful Company
- Ecologia – Kent Science Park
- Intelligent Energy – Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park
- Path XL – Northern Ireland Science Park
- PolyPhotonix – NetPark
- Smart Antennae Technologies – Birmingham Research Park
The UKSPA 30th Anniversary Award for Innovation Partnership
- Biorenewables Development Centre (York)
- essensys
- ra Information Systems – UKSPA CLARITY
The UKSPA 30th Anniversary Award for Design and Sustainability
- Liverpool Science Park
- SEaB Energy Ltd
- Sheppard
The UKSPA 30th Anniversary Award for the Most Innovative Project
- BEST Network
- Northern Ireland Science Park Trust
- Sci-Tech Daresbury
The UKSPA 30th Anniversary award for the incubation or innovation centre with the best track record of developing start-up and high growth business
- Imperial Incubator
- Innovations Technology Access Centre (I-TAC) Sci-Tech Daresbury
- Springboard – York Science Park
The pros and cons of taking early stage technology to the market
Dr Nicola Broughton’s experience of a University start-up Company
Speaker: Dr Nicola Broughton of TechTranIP
Nicola is a consultant specialising in the commercialisation of Intellectual Property, she has over 15 years’ experience in adding value to intellectual property for Universities and small companies, advising them on how to get Intellectual Property to the market and lecturing on the subject at Warwick Business School.
She has fulfilled a number of commercial roles. Her experience includes: sourcing and identifying commercial opportunities; IP protection; strategy and management (managing a patent portfolio to global protection); “freedom to operate”; licensing; cross licensing; due diligence; and raising finance in both the public and private sectors, as well as writing business plans. Nicola has experience of negotiating commercial deals with large and small corporations, universities and CROs.
Nicola has access to early stage funders and to a wide range of industry experts who can bring their experience to bear on early stage technology. She recently helped a small business start-up a high tech company and raise £400,000 seed finance.
Nicola will talk about her experience of starting up a company and particularly the things she wished she had known before she embarked on the project. She will look at raising finance, what to do when things go wrong and you have to change your strategy, how to resource the project using different models, the intellectual property challenge and life cycles and exit strategies.
Registration via Eventbrite essential: http://bit.ly/1piZU1L
Wednesday 25th June 2014, 12-2pm (Lunch provided)
BizzInn 2nd Floor, Institute of Research & Development
Birmingham Research Park
Spring Active founder, Peter Dines shares his experience of how BizzInn support has helped to develop his latest healthcare business
“I originally started to use the BizzInn facilities in October 2013 following a chance conversation with the CEO of Alta Innovations, James Wilkie. At the time I was working on my own and had just started my company, Spring Active, which is focused on alleviating back pain.
I was attracted to BizzInn because I am passionate about supporting Birmingham based entrepreneurs and benefits from the office space and advice. I had recently acquired the knowledge and assets of my business and needed to focus on business development. As any business owner would say, the chances of low fixed costs enabled me to focus more on business generation. BizzInn provided this opportunity and also opened up access to their network of contacts.
It was this access to their network which really helped to develop my business. I gained free advice and guidance on Intellectual Property and was introduced to specific people within the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Psychology Department, University of Birmingham Health Economics Department and healthcare sector.
BizzInn holds breakfast and business club meetings and it was through one of these meetings that I met a very important business contact who I have worked with ever since. Whilst based at BizzInn I completely re-launched the offering of my business so that it provides a full integrated pathway for back pain management which is a niche market to operate in.
It is a nice environment to work in at BizzInn and through my experiences and knowledge I have been able to help other tenants as they develop their businesses.
With the help of BizzInn, my business has grown significantly in a short period of time. I have employed two full time and one part time members of staff. As I grew I needed more office space and in March 2014 I graduated to larger offices within Birmingham Research Park. I wanted to remain part of the environment as the Parks location within the Edgbaston Medical Quarter is the natural place to locate my business. As part of this move I re-located another of my businesses, Diagnostic Health, as for me it is the perfect location to develop healthcare business in Birmingham.
My future plans for Spring Active are to achieve its social purpose of solving back pain whilst achieving commercial success. On a personal level I want to continue developing high quality health care companies in Birmingham.
I would definitely recommend BizzInn to any business that is looking to develop.”
Spring Active are an experienced team of clinicians whose passion is to treat and resolve back pain, they have developed and provide a number of programmes aimed at successfully treating back pain. To find out more, visit their website: http://spring-active.com/
For further information on how you can access business support at the BizzInn, contact Andrew Cruxton on 0121 414 6132 or email [email protected] for further information.
Monday 19th May 2014 12pm
Birmingham Research Park
Have you ever thought about the commercial potential of your research?
We would like to invite you to our recruitment event being held on Monday 19th May 12-1pm at Birmingham Research Park.
Medici is an intensive training programme designed for research staff wanting to become involved in the commercial development of research or who are already involved in a project and want to improve their business related skills and knowledge in order to engage more professionally in this arena.
The aim of the course to introduce you to some key business concepts and terminology to help you to understand how business operates and makes decisions. The areas we cover include building relationships with business, finance, market analysis, writing a business plan (including raising finance), protection of intellectual property, networking, negotiation, sales and pitching skills. The course runs over 3 two day modules (from October to December) and a final day in January. The training is delivered by a number of external providers and involves lots of interaction and group work.
The Medici Programme provides an excellent opportunity to network with like minded people, we can take up to 40 delegates on the course each year, some of whom will be from other universities.
Application forms for Medici 2014/15 are available from Sofia Hansrod, [email protected]. Places on the course are allocated on a first come first served basis.
This session will be an opportunity to find about the Medici programme and how it can benefit your research career, you’ll hear from previous Medici fellows; Professor Andrew Peet from the School of Cancer Sciences and Professor Ed Rainger from the School of Clinical and Experimental Medicine about how the course has developed the scope and applications of their research.
Register now!
New Funding Will Accelerate Access to Clinical Value, Says CEO
Cytox Ltd, a leading developer of assays for risk assessment and prediction of dementia, has announced the successful completion of a second round of funding, closing at £1.5M.
New shareholders include Seneca Partners Ltd. and the round was led by existing shareholder, SPARK, Northwest Fund for Biomedical with strong support from other existing shareholders including Wren Capital and The Rainbow Seed Fund (Midven), as well as private investors.
This round brings the total raised by Cytox in the last 15 months in excess of £5M, following the close of the previous round of £3.5 in May 2013.
“We started an extensive evaluation programme for our mTOR pathway biomarker technology last month,” commented Dr. Richard Pither, CEO of Cytox, “This new money will allow us to extend the clinical research programme and more rapidly access potentially valuable utility claims.” Dr. Pither explained further that, “With two clinical programmes in both the European Union and North America, state of the art laboratory capabilities in Manchester UK and a partnership with a US-based laboratory, Selah Genomics, Cytox has progressed its plans rapidly in 2014.”
Dr. Pither also commented that the laboratory facilities and partnership would allow the company to partner with academia and industry in Europe and North America in the development of new Alzheimer’s disease therapies and biomarkers.
Richard Manley for Seneca commented: “We like the technology and the Cytox team and believe they have the ability to deliver significant value in a field with substantial unmet need. A simple blood-based biomarker of risk for Alzheimer’s would be a perfect complement to existing technology and could provide unique insight in very early disease where there are few symptoms or disease pathology to guide treatment.”
“We were pleased to be able to lead this new round and be joined by so many existing shareholders” said Dr. Penny Attridge of SPARK Impact. “The Cytox management have executed well against plan and continue to identify new opportunities for value with this exciting new technology.”