Two of Scotland’s leading scientific research Institutes have received a major funding boost after a consortium of which they are part was awarded £2.5 million by the UK Government’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to help commercialise their research findings.

The Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen and the Scottish Crop Research Institute in Invergowrie are part of the six member consortium of UK public-sector research centres that have been awarded the money to exploit promising technologies.

Dr Iain Wright, Head of Business Development at the Macaulay Institute, welcomed the announcement of the award from the Office of Science and Technology’s Public Sector Research Exploitation fund.

He said: “Access to this new source of investment funding will allow The Macaulay to commercialise some of the environmental technologies that we are developing at the Institute. Environmental monitoring technologies, for example, are becoming crucial to the management of our environment. It is not sufficient just to develop these techniques for use only as research tools, but we need to progress them to the stage of being commercially viable so that they can be applied in the field.”

The new funding will allow The Macaulay Institute, Scottish Crop Research Institute and four other world-leading public sector research institutions (Central Science Laboratory (CSL), Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Health Protection Agency, and National Physical Laboratory) to become partners in the well-established Rainbow Seed Fund which provides early stage finance for the exploitation of intellectual property.

Peter Gregory, Director, Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) said: “This award will allow us to develop new plant-based products and services and to participate fully in wealth creation in the Tayside region and throughout Scotland. We are delighted that we shall be able to extend our outstanding record of delivering novel foods and services that people want to buy.”

Between them, the six institutions have already identified over 100 novel development projects to bring to market in areas such as animal vaccines, disease identification and food safety. Laboratories in the consortium have a focus on life sciences and the measurement sciences, and the majority of the IP they plan to exploit is related to detection of biological materials and advances in biotechnology.

Jonathan Snape, Commercial Director, Mylnefield Research Services, the commercialisation arm of SCRI, said: “The future growth of SCRI is dependent on developing innovative products and meeting end-user needs. Being a member of the Rainbow Seed Fund will permit us to access early stage seed funding essential for the effective commercialisation of our research. We are delighted, therefore, to be playing an active role in this prestigious scheme.”

The Rainbow Seed Fund was established with an initial ?6million, and this further ?2.5million takes the total number of partners involved to 12. Decisions about which projects to invest in and the type of investment are made by an Advisory Board. The consortium expects that the funding could lead to the creation of up to 80 jobs associated with development, manufacture and marketing of new products and technologies.

“This funding will greatly increase the development opportunities available to our consortium members, and enable our laboratories to gain maximum benefit from our public sector research”, says Dr Robert Bolton, Commercial Director at CSL. “Agencies such as CSL, and other public sector laboratories, are encouraged to exploit their intellectual property, and this award from the DTI is a major step forwards.”

The Rainbow Seed Fund is managed by the Birmingham-based venture capital fund manager, Midven Ltd. Terry Swainbank, its Investment Director, who is responsible for the fund expressed his delight that the fund will expand. “From a £4m fund with five partners three years ago we will have an ?8.5m fund with 12 partners spread throughout Great Britain. In those three years we have committed over ££2.5m to spin-out companies and projects that we hope will lead to licence income. The new partners will accelerate our investment activity.”

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1.The Public Sector Research Exploitation (PSRE) fund was set up By the Office of Science and Technology within the UK Department for Trade and Industry to enable public sector organisations including research council institutes, government laboratories, NHS Trusts and major museums and galleries to market their research.

The products and services developed with the support of the PSRE fund help both increase UK productivity and improve quality of life. Public Sector Research Establishments are developing a capacity to commercialise their research and in 2003/04 generated £105m in income from licences and links with businesses.

The Public Sector Research Exploitation fund was set up four years ago, and the first round of funding of £10m was allocated in October 2001. The second round of funding of £15m was announced in January 2004. Bids for this third round with £25m in funding were invited from July to November 2005. This project of £2.5million is the largest award made in the third round.

2. Further information on PSRE, HEIF and other knowledge transfer initiatives can be found at the Office of Science and Technology.

3. The Rainbow Seed Fund makes venture capital investments in the outcomes of scientific research undertaken by the organisations that are partners in the Fund. Midven Ltd, which is authorised by the FSA is responsible for the investment activity of the Fund. Further information about the Rainbow Seed Fund can be found at www.rainbowseedfund.com or contact Terry Swainbank: 07710 491589, terry.swainbank@btinternet.com.

The Macaulay Institute is the premier land use research institute in the UK. Two hundred and seventy staff are based at the Macaulay Institute at Craigiebuckler in Aberdeen. The Macaulay Institute aims to be an international leader in research on the use of rural land resources for the benefit of people and the environment and is involved in research across the globe; from Scotland to Chile and China. More about the Macaulay Institute can be found at www.macaulay.ac.uk

The Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) is the leading institute in the UK for research on plants and their interactions with the environment particularly in managed ecosystems. SCRI is a centre of excellence, employing around 400 people at its site in Invergowrie. Its research and product development is internationally recognised. More about the Scottish Crop Research Institute can be found at http://www.scri.ac.uk/

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