News

North Eastern Universities Purchasing Consortium Ltd (NEUPC) is one of six UK Higher Education purchasing consortia established to deliver and manage a wide range of collaborative framework agreements designed to maximise third party expenditure within the higher education sector. The NEUPC will be holding an event for its HE consortia members to meet with suppliers in the Professional Services category group. The NEUPC will be holding an event for its HE consortia members to meet with suppliers in the Professional Services category group.

A new and simple blood test has been found to efficiently and accurately detect the presence of aggressive prostate cancer, according to research by Queen Mary University of London. In combination with the current prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, the new test could help men avoid unnecessary and invasive biopsies, over-diagnosis and over-treatment.

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have created an antimicrobial coating for steel surfaces which has proven to rapidly kill bacteria that cause some of the most common hospital-acquired infections.  Developed by researchers at the University of Birmingham, patented by University of Birmingham Enterprise, and to be commercialised by a new company NitroPep, the coating – also called NitroPep - has been heralded as a new tool in the fight against the spread of infection.

Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in Wales have higher levels of confidence than their UK counterparts, despite challenging business conditions and increasing uncertainty of UK and global economic prospects, according to the first annual report published by Economic Intelligence Wales (EIW) today. The new research unit is a collaboration between Cardiff Business School, the Office for National Statistics and the Development Bank of Wales, created to monitor the activity of Welsh SMEs, factors affecting their development and the progress of the regional economy.

The SHAKE Climate Change programme is specifically designed to attract entrepreneurs or start-ups who have developed early stage science or tech-based ideas that can have a significant impact on climate change, as well as form the basis of a sustainable and socially responsible business within the sector. SHAKE Climate Change brings together experts from Rothamsted Research, Cranfield University, University College London, and the University of Hertfordshire with the financial backing of the Societe Generale UK Foundation to deliver world-class science, technology and business expertise to the programme.

A review of university-investor links has been published, commissioned by Research England from Mike Rees, former deputy group CEO of Standard Chartered, start-up commercialisation expert and angel investor.  Research England asked Mike Rees, former deputy group CEO of Standard Chartered, to review ways to strengthen university access to finance that supports spin-out company formation and university-investor relationships. The review focused on universities with large-scale investor links and those seeking support through schemes, such as the Research England Connecting Capability Fund (CCF). The Rees Review listened to advice from a broad range of stakeholders, through more than 90 interviews, and drew evidence from a data report by Tomas Coates Ulrichsen (Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI) Policy, University of Cambridge), also commissioned by Research England. 

The Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Services Framework is a national agreement available to members of NEUPC, LUPC, SUPC, APUC, NWUPC, HEPCW. The IPR Services framework agreement gives members of NEUPC, LUPC, SUPC, APUC, NWUPC, HEPCW access to suppliers who can provide legal advice and guidance, licensing and registration services on all matters relating to the creation, development and production of patents, trademarks, copyright, design rights, trade secrets and intellectual property rights. NEUPC will be holding supplier review meetings with all the approved suppliers on the intellectual property rights (IPR) services framework from Monday 29th to Wednesday 31st July and would appreciate feedback on the IPR framework via a short survey.  The survey allows you to rate suppliers on various aspects of framework activity, including communication, pricing and tender responses.  The survey will close on Friday 26th July.

WHERE SCIENCE MEETS BUSINESS Falling Walls Venture is a global platform for the most promising research-based start-ups nominated by academic institutions from across the world. We provide a stage for pioneering founders who have turned science into business, creating entrepreneurial solutions for today’s most pressing challenges. The fast-paced pitch event is part of the 2-day Falling Walls Conference.

In vitro platform for retinal toxicity assessment and disease modelling Newcells Biotech Ltd. has developed an in vitro model of the retinal pigmented epithelium, to assess the safety and efficacy of novel ocular compounds. This technology could better predict the outcome in the human eye and reduce the number of animals used to assess the toxicity of ocular drugs. An end-user pharmaceutical company, able to provide access to ocular compounds and data with known in vivo/in vitro toxicity profiles, is sought to validate the model.