Member News

Design Council and MedCity launch new ‘independent living’ medtech competition

MedCity and Design Council have today launched a competition to win a ten-week accelerator coaching course for medtech entrepreneurs to develop effective, usable and commercially successful health technologies that can support older people or those with debilitating medical conditions to lead more independent lives.

Smart protein to ease production of food and care formulations

A sustainable, natural surfactant that offers greater manufacturing stability compared with conventional materials could soon be available for use in food, home and personal care products.

Scientists have developed a protein-based product that can improve consistency and stability in emulsions, foams and coatings, among other products.

Their ingredient, an isolated and purified protein that occurs naturally in some foods, can be used to bind together normally immiscible substances.

Edinburgh sets new record for company creation on campus

A record number of 44 spin-out and start-up companies have been established through the University of Edinburgh's enterprise support network in the past 12 months.

The University supported the formation of three spin-out and 41 start-up companies in 2014/15 – a total that supersedes the previous best of 40 five years ago.

Investment in University-founded companies has also hit a record high, with a total backing of £237million invested in the past year. The development strengthens the University’s position as Scotland’s leading research institution.

Higher Education Guide And Toolkit On Export Controls and the ATAS Student Vetting Scheme

Some technology held and used by Universities, including for research collaborations and teaching, or licensed by University tech transfer companies, and some consultancy activity does have the potential to be misused. It is therefore subject to military non-proliferation export controls by the UK and EU and other countries, backed up by criminal law (involving fines, legal costs and prison sentences of up to 10 years).Compliance with Export Controls is a serious obligation but it is manageable.

Briefly, the UK regime takes a 2 pronged approach:

In Memoriam: Dr Allyson Reed

The PraxisUnico community was saddened to hear the news of the sudden death of Dr Allyson Reed, who passed away on Monday 19 January.

Allyson worked most recently at the University of Warwick as Director of Corporate Relations and had been a valued friend of PraxisUnico for many years, especially during her time at the Technology Strategy Board. Allyson was a great supporter of research commercialisation and a committed advocate of the Impact Awards, having been involved from their inauguration in 2009. 

UMIP: Researchers' Guides

These Guides were originally commissioned and created by Mr Clive Rowland, CEO, The University of Manchester Intellectual Property Limited (UMIP) and Ms Janet Knowles, Partner, Eversheds LLP. These Guides are intended to act as a researcher’s reference to help with key issues relating to Intellectual Property (IP) and its commercialisation. UMIP is happy for this resource to be shared for the benefit of those working to commercialise academic research.

Event Report: Intellectual property management workshop - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The workshop, delivered at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals was interactive and included a mix of elements to enhance and reinforce the learning experience (lecture, discussion and group work - case study).  Questions and discussions were lively and the course director enjoyed the opportunity to work with an enthusiastic and interested group of delegates.

University of Cambridge & Addenbrooke's Hospital - Taking control of medical imaging

A new controller device that greatly improves the ease of use of 3D medical imaging workstations has been developed at the University of Cambridge and Addenbrooke's Hospital.

The device will be presented at RSNA2010, the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, to be held later this month in Chicago. Additionally, a short film describing the controller will be available on the University's YouTube site, www.youtube.com/cambridgeuniversity, from Thursday, 4 November.