GIBSON INDEX NEWSLETTER – NOVEMBER 2007

HEADLINE NEWS

Suppliers to Rolls-Royce and Airbus celebrate ‘largest-ever single-aircraft order’

The Emirates Airlines order for Airbus 350 plans, favoured over Boeing’s rival 787, in a purchase worth as much as £16.7 billion, has led to jubilation among the two companies’ galaxy of up to 8,000 SME suppliers.Although Rolls-Royce has not yet agreed its supplier base for the Trent XWB engines that will power the fleet of up to 70 mid-sized A350 XWB aircraft, and 11 A380 super jumbos, “between 25-40% of the revenue will be passed on to SMEs”, said one insider.The announcement, on the first day of the Dubai Air Show, left Boeing in the shadows. For Rolls-Royce the Emirates Airline order for Trent XWB engines is potentially worth up to $8.4 billion at list prices, if all options are exercised, including a long-term services agreement. The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB is currently the only engine available on the A350 XWB family. Clearly mindful of the recent success of its twin-engined Dreamliner model – Boeing has incorporated many of its interior features into the 747-8, such as improved lighting and windows that are equal to the 777 dimensions of 15” (39cm) tall and 10.8” (27cm) wide. In addition, the 747-8 new super jumbo will stretch 5.6m (18.3ft) from the 747-800 and provide 467 seats in a three-class configuration and with a 14,800km (8,000nmi) range. Singapore Airlines, which recently took delivery of the first A380 – will configure its ultra-large aircraft with 471 seats in a three-class layout, casting a possible shadow over Airbus’ hopes of large sales for the A380.The US manufacturer signed several deals of its own: a $3.2 billion order from Emirates for 12 of its 777-300s and a $6.1 billion deal with Qatar Airways for 30 787 Dreamliners and five 777 cargo aircraft. www.rolls-royce.com

QinetiQ and Ricardo unveil low cost, high performance batteries for hybrid vehicles

A two-year collaborative project part-funded by the Department for Transport aims to reduce the costs of Lithium-Ion batteries for hybrid vehicles. The specific objective of the Reduced cost Li-Ion (RED-LION) project is to demonstrate the application of new Li-Ion cell chemistry in a hybrid vehicle battery with an estimated production cost ‘one-third that of conventional battery technologies and around half the weight’. QinetiQ and Ricardo believe that lithium-ion (Li-Ion) battery technology shows sufficient promise for hybrid and electric vehicle applications in terms of its comparatively high power and energy density, and ability to retain charge for extended periods. If successful, this breakthrough technology could make hybrid and electric vehicles commercially more attractive. In June 2006 Ricardo, QinetiQ and PSA Peugeot-Citroën unveiled their 100g/km CO2 Efficient-C full hybrid diesel demonstrator vehicle based on a Citroën Berlingo

Multispace. While this vehicle provided an uncompromised package and superior performance compared with the equivalent current production turbo-diesel model, the project partners estimated that its incremental manufacturing cost needed to be reduced by around 50% (to approximately €2,000) for the technology to become viable, based on prevailing fuel prices and consumer fiscal incentives. Mel Brooks, MD of QinetiQ’s Energy and Materials business said: “This leading edge battery technology emanating from defence is now poised to make a significant difference to the viability of hybrid vehicles with the RED-LION project helping to ensure that cost does not stand in the way of more widespread commercial adoption.” Neville Jackson, Ricardo technology director said: “By incorporating the very latest high performance Li-Ion battery technology, which offers the potential for significant reductions in both manufacturing cost and weight, we aim to demonstrate that we have made significant progress in developing the commercial case for hybrid diesels. We have already demonstrated that acceptable package and superior performance is possible from a hybrid diesel powertrain and with this project, we aim to show that it can be made commercially viable too. This promising battery technology could deliver significant benefits to many vehicle types including electric and plug-in hybrid, as well as full diesel and gasoline hybrids.” www.qinetiq.com – www.ricardo.com

New round of Enterprise Capital Funds boosts investment in higher growth SMEs

Three new groups are to be awarded £60 million as part of the Government’s efforts to tackle the lack of financial backing available to fledgling businesses. The public funding will be combined with £30 million of private sector money as part of the latest round of Enterprise Capital Funds - designed to invest in small high growth companies. The three groups to receive Enterprise Capital Funds are: - MMC Ventures Limited - a £30 million fund which will be invested across the UK targeting businesses in the healthcare, technology and financial services sectors. - The Dawn Capital Fund - a £30 million fund which will invest in traditional sectors where there is scope to make improvements through the use of technology. - Oxford Technology ECF - a £30 million fund operated by an established fund management team which will operate out of Oxford targeting early stage companies in the science, engineering and technology sectors. David Quysner, Chair of the Capital for Enterprise Board that advised the Government during the assessment stage said: “These new funds will be positive additions to the ECF portfolio. They demonstrate that the model is attractive to good quality fund managers and, just as importantly, to the private investors willing to back them. A new entity, Capital for Enterprise Limited, will be started, and it will manage the funds from 1 April 2008. The new body will take charge of a number of current government programmes including the UK High Technology Fund, the Regional Venture Capital Funds, Early Growth Funds and the Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme.

This is the second round of funding in the successful Enterprise Capital Funds programme. Last year, £81.2m was allocated to five groups to fund high growth businesses in need of investment. Each of the three groups to receive Enterprise Capital Funds must raise £10 million in private funds before they begin investing in SMEs. Contact Points: - MMC Ventures Limited, Bruce Macfarlane, Tel: 020 7938 2005; bruce.macfarlane@mmcventure.com, - The Dawn Capital Fund, Norman Fiore, Tel: 020 7871 0594;norman@dawncapital.co.uk - Oxford Technology ECF, David Denny, Tel: 018 6578 4466, david@oxfordtechnology.com

Innovate 2007 event brings large audience to the Technology Strategy Board

The annual national event for innovation in the UK, organized by the DIUS and mainly featuring initiatives planned by the Technology Strategy Board attracted a significant number of visitors.The TSB’s activity in Emerging Technologies will initially be concentrated in three areas: Quantum Information Processing, Nanomedicine and Smart Optics. The activity in Quantum Information Processing is the most developed and work is concentrating on the building of a user forum and the identification of roadmaps to move coherent quantum-based technologies to market. The areas of atomic clocks and quantum-secured communications seem to be the closest to commercialisation and the Technology Strategy Board expects to hold stakeholder events in QIP in the near future. Secondly, there are ongoing discussions with the nanomedicine community to take forward an action plan, possibly basing activities around some form of technology showcasing in partnership with the Medical Research Council. Next, the plan for the Technology Strategy Board is to hold a similar Workshop in Smart Optics and to develop an action plan along similar lines to those in QIP and Nanomedicine. The appointment of Walter Gibson as ‘Lead Technologist for Emerging Technologies’ will allow the Technology Strategy Board Initiative ‘to move into a new phase’. Previous work in this area had concentrated on a few technologies developed in discussion with the Research Councils – a dedicated Technology Strategy Board post in this area will enable discussion with a extended range of stakeholders and interested parties.Contact: Walter Gibson: walter.gibson@tsb.gov.uk

New Innovation Platform launched:To gauge the impact of living longer, the quality and potentially increasing cost of care for those with chronic long term conditions, the TSB launched the Assisted Living Innovation Platform, which will bring together Government departments and engage with business and the research community to help identify appropriate technology, action and policies.

The Assisted Living Innovation Platform will look at how technology can be harnessed to help address these societal challenges, and will support the development of new technologies. The Innovation Platform’s work programme will range from conventional collaborative R&D, and single company support for small companies R&D, to work in standards, research fellowships in business models, specific projects in user centred design and a potentially ground breaking future care technology “test suite”. The work programme is supported by the Department of Health, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council. Initial funding of about £12m is being made available. Prof Sally Davies, director general of R&D at the Department of Health said “This excellent initiative fills a real need. It fits well with our existing research programmes under the National Institute for Health Research, and in particular the NIHR Invention for Innovation programme. We can follow up the links to Whole System Demonstrators for Long Term Conditions and the NHS can start to plan now for the future procurement of proven new technologies.” The Department of Health’s budget for health research for 2006-07 is £753m. Of this, £50m is allocated for capital funding; the rest is allocated to research through a portfolio of national research programmes. The TSB’s Innovation Platforms are a new way of working for government and business. Each focusing on a specific area of opportunity, innovation platforms are designed to address major policy and societal challenges. Innovation Platforms aim to deliver a step change in UK performance, in the quality of public services and the ability of UK businesses to provide solutions for the global marketplace. There are three other existing Innovation Platforms - Intelligent Transport Systems, Network Security and Low Carbon Vehicles. A fifth, Low Impact Buildings, is currently in preparation. www.nihr.ac.uk - www.technologyprogramme.org.uk

NorthWest Photonics Association formed - to stimulate growth in regional optics

The founders hope it will rank alongside other associations, such as the Welsh Opto-Electronic’s Forum (WOF) and the Scottish Optoelectronics Association.The Vice-President of the UKCPO (Prof Allan Boardman) and his liaison officer (Keith Dalby) have undertaken to create a regional association. The UKCPO is the lead partner and has backing from the Institute of Physics. The UKCPO will be responsible for network administration, including the operation of the UK Photonics Portal.The new Photonics KTN executive is the UKCPO (United Kingdom Consortium for Photonics and Optics) and the partners are UK ATC, Photonics Cluster UK, TWI, Centre for Integrated Photonics, Association of Industrial Laser Uses and University College London. In 2006, the UKCPO, SmartOptics, Sira and EPPIC submitted a bid for funding for the Photonics Knowledge Transfer Network (PKTN). The DTI awarded £3.3million to set up and run the network nationally for three years, starting from the 1st July 2006. The UK regions have been commissioned with the following general tasks - surveying companies and research institutes; identifying all photonics activity and creating a

database; roadmapping; input to portal from database, bring communities together and to collaborate on technology transfer. The first stage is the establishment of a membership database. If you would like to become a member of the NWPA, contact Keith Dalby.www.nwphotonicsassociation.org.uk

King Review mulls future of low carbon cars in 86 pages The first part of the King Review into low carbon vehicles states that “Within ten years we could be driving equivalent cars to those we choose today, but emitting 30 per cent less CO2 per kilometre. The technology is available. The urgent challenge for the short term is to develop a strong and rapidly growing market for low emissions cars. These signals will enable manufacturers to make the major investments required to deliver the technology in new ‘green’ models.”The interim review is led by Professor Julia King, VC of Aston University and a former senior executive with Rolls-Royce, with Greg Archer of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, Dr Ian Ritchey of Rolls-Royce plc and Dr Alan Begg of SKF named as key advisers.The report concedes that the fundamental problem with vehicle emissions output is of course the fact that ‘nearly all of the worst pollution and hyper-growth will be taking place a long way away from the UK’, in China, India and South America – the UK’s contribution to global CO2 emissions is 2%. But it concludes that cars that emit 50 per cent less CO2 per kilometre than the equivalent current models could be on the road by 2030, subject to advances in hybrid and battery technologies and industry overcoming cost barriers. Longer term, vehicle technologies to enable a 90% reduction in per kilometre emissions, most likely based on battery-electric propulsion systems, are feasible. In 2008, the King Review Part II will offer policy recommendations on what more can be done to meet this challenge.

Comment: Facts on total transport emissions from various transport modes are often bedeviled by assumptions. For example, while the CO2 emissions of rail is put down as a few per cent of the global emissions by transport mode – especially diesel-powered trains that predominate rail transport in the UK - the actual emissions produced by the essential track building, maintenance and electrical power required, etc, are often not included – making such comparisons useless. Secondly, most buses in urban areas carry an average of only 7 people outside of peak periods – making them far more polluting entities per passenger mile than two 4x4s. Figures such as these can make the Stern Review an unreliable starting point for transport analysis. The report is in PDF format. (As always, we advise against the use of the latest Adobe PDF software – that has brought millions of PCs to a crawl.)www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/9/5/pbr_csr07_king840.pdf

East Midlands winners in Connect Midlands Investment Challenge receive £4.35m

The Five East Midlands companies that won the Connect Midlands Investment Challenge are - Nottingham-based CellAura Technologies and Pacemaker UK, SAKS Electronics from Derby, SynchroPulse Ltd from Lincoln and Daventry-based Green Energy Options. The event, sponsored by BT Business, offers up to £5 million in equity funding for high-growth and technology businesses. It is backed by Catapult Venture Managers Ltd, East Midlands Early Growth Fund (managed by E-Synergy) and supported by the East Midlands Development Agency (emda), GINEM and Advantage Business Angels. • CellAura Technologies, which provides innovative screening products for the drug discovery industry, is seeking just over £500,000. • Pacemaker UK, which has developed a new material for pre-school toys, is seeking £1million. • SAKS Electronics, which has worked with some of the best known names in the industry to design the ultimate MP-3 player for visually impaired users – the VI-Player, is seeking £350,000. • SynchroPulse, which designs and develops high efficiency electronic motor and controller technology, is seeking circa. £1million. • Green Energy Options, which makes energy visible in homes and businesses helping customers reduce their carbon emissions, is seeking £1.5million. All five companies will now enter into formal negotiations with the backers and, where appropriate, complete the due diligence process. www.connectchallenge.org - www.connectmidlands.org - www.advantagebusinessangels.com

Chemistry Innovation appoints new Commercial Director to build better SME links

Cambridge-based Dr Richard Philpott is an experienced biotechnology industrialist with a strong life science and technical management background spanning 20 years, including consultancy under his Progenta company to SMEs in the sector. Richard joins Chemistry Innovation (CITKN), the knowledge transfer network for chemists, at an important time in its development. He will lead a six-strong commercial team, tasked with increasing industry engagement.The new Commercial Director will promote the.development of strategic relationships with industrial members and other partner organisations. Richard says: “I am very interested to meet with chemistry-using companies in the region to discuss innovation leadership, and how we can help stimulate their business and aid technology transfer.”CITKN, an industry-led initiative backed by the DTI, was formed in 2006 to help drive the innovation agenda for UK chemistry-using industries by acting as a connector between companies, universities, funding bodies, and regional organisations. Its aim is to provide the focus and stimulus for product and process innovation to deliver significant economic growth for the UK and ensure sustainability for chemistry-using industries.http://ktn.globalwatchonline.com/epicentric_portal/site/innovation

Astron Clinica leads DTI Tech Programme project to help diagnose skin conditions

An invention by the University of West England (UWE) will assist doctors in not only diagnosing malignant or benign melanoma but other dermatological conditions as well, such as burn severity. The project, entitled ‘PhotoDerm’, has won £650,000 - in a collaboration between UWE, Frenchay Hospital and Astron Clinica Ltd. This new application developed by experts in photometric stereo imaging (or 3D imaging) at UWE’s Machine Vision Laboratory, part of the Centre for Innovative Manufacturing and Machine Vision Systems (CIMMS), could cut the time non-specialists spend on skin cancers that are ultimately diagnosed as non-malignant. Dr Melvyn Smith, Director of CIMMS at UWE said: “We are collaborating with Astron Clinica and specialists at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol to produce a new low cost hand held skin analyser tool that will improve the vision of the clinician. We aim to make explicit the characteristics of the appearance of the skin that are not obvious to the naked eye. This will make it easier for a non-specialist to make an early diagnosis. “The skin analyser tool will also be useful in burns units as the 3D imaging will enable specialists to assess severity of burns through enabling clearer observation of burn depth. The tool builds on previous research by academics in CIMMS who developed a rather cumbersome tool some years ago. We aim to refine the principles adopted in the earlier model so that the imaging available to the practitioners is easier to observe.” Looking much like a hairdryer that is positioned over the affected area of skin, the ‘Skin Analyser’ prototype using a high-res camera to shine a light at the skin irregularity from six different light sources surrounding the lens gives a 3D effect when the image is observed on a computer screen via a USB link. “This is called 6-light photometric stereo and we intend to develop this idea by fusing this information with a hand held spectrometer developed by Astron Clinica,” Dr Smith added. Skin cancer experts at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol have working with the UWE team to help ensure that the tool they develop fits the needs of practitioners. www.astronclinica.com

Universities and SME group to help form RFID security networks for airports

Researchers from the universities of Leeds, Cambridge and University College London have teamed up with 10 companies in The INtelligent Airport (TINA) project. This aims to create a network that can handle the huge data load and vast changes in traffic experienced every few minutes in a large, busy airport. The system will have to collect information from various systems and be able to disseminate information between them. Prof Jaafar Elmirghani, until recently at Swansea University and now at Leeds, is principal investigator of the project. “We are looking at how it can be done in an efficient way. A more efficient system will link a number of separate systems including wireless biometrics and RFID, which could be put into boarding passes and will soon be put in passports. Passengers can be processed a lot faster and tags could be used to track

luggage so it can be handled in a more efficient way — tracked from arrival to being put on a plane.” Another challenge for such as network will be sudden surges of information experienced in airports, followed by relative lulls. “One of the aims is to have an intelligent airport system that can learn about its environment and users and adapt to their needs,” added Elmirghani. “It will have to be self-organising. In airports you can have a high load of information as passengers go through a gate and then nothing. You have hot-spots of information and the infrastructure needs to adapt to that, for example by diverting the wireless network resources dynamically to hot spots.”Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) will soon track people and luggage. Such a system is set to be installed and trialled at Heathrow’s terminal five, where an ‘intelligent gate’ will demonstrate, among other things, accurate passenger position estimation through active and passive RFID and radio over fibre (RoF) where the RFID is part of the boarding pass and/or passport. Predictions suggest a terminal-wide network would have to support 10 million sources of information, from individual tracking units for passengers and staff to technology such as biometric gates. It is believed the system will have to deal with a peak data rate of 100Gbit/s as it tracks people, luggage, aircraft and all the information generated by those sources. Many high-profile companies are involved in the project, including Motorola, which is involved with the wireless technology, Ericsson, which will contribute complex communication design and BAA, which can provide expertise in airport operations. The other companies involved are: Laing O’Rourke, Red-M, Boeing, Tyco, Innovision, Zinwave, and Arup. Contact: Prof Jaafar Elmirghani - jmh.elmirghani@leeds.ac.uk

Leading UK firms spent almost £21 billion on R&D during 2006

The annual R&D Scoreboard, published in collaboration with the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), also shows that the 75 biggest R&D investors based in the UK have ‘increased their R&D spend by 12%’. Pharmaceuticals companies are now the top investors in R&D worldwide, with the report revealing that the UK is a global leader in this sector.Key findings from this year’s Scoreboard include: - British firms compared favourably with their global competitors, with the UK’s top 75 growing their R&D by 12% - faster than the global average (10%). This partly reflects the UK’s strengths in the R&D-intensive pharmaceuticals sector; - There is evidence that companies in some sectors are putting R&D investment before short-term gains, with the UK’s aerospace and software firms putting more money into R&D than they reported as operating profit; - Although the pharmaceuticals sector continues to be the UK’s largest R&D investor, the fastest R&D growth has been in fixed-line telecoms, where increased spending by BT is the main driver behind a 54% increase in the sector’s R&D; - World R&D spending continues to be dominated by companies registered in just five countries - the USA, Japan, Germany, France and the UK - which contributed 81% of the

R&D done by the top 1250 global firms. Firms from India and China have yet to establish themselves as significant players in the G1250, although other evidence suggests that both countries are increasingly important locations for R&D; www.innovation.gov.uk/rd_scoreboard.

The finalists in the 2007 Lord Stafford Award have been announced

The Advantage WM Festival of Innovation was not a success in terms of visitor numbers - Hall 12 at the NEC was largely devoid of the kind of startup venturers and business angels it was most hoping to attract, despite significant advance publicity of the event.However, it did offer a very useful showcase for a number of innovative University-SME projects, including those appointed as finalists in the 10th anniversary of the Lord Stafford Awards. Moves to extend this contest nationwide, or initially to the East Midlands and possibly EEDA regions, have been announced. The finalists are:

Impact Through Innovation: - Metallisation Ltd – Aston University - Malvern Medical Developments Ltd – University of Wolverhampton - Fire Protection Coatings Ltd – University of Wolverhampton - Intelligent Paving Systems Ltd – Coventry University

Achievement in Innovation: - Charlton and Jenrick Ltd – University of Wolverhampton - J Banks & Co Ltd – University of Wolverhampton - Morgan Motor Company Ltd – UCE Birmingham

Entrepreneurial Spirit: - Rachel Westwood – University of Wolverhampton - Jane-Louise Green – Staffordshire University - John Jostins – Coventry University

Knowledge Transfer Champion: - Robert Harris – University of Wolverhampton - Professor Stephen Roper – Aston University - Dr John Cassella – Staffordshire University www.the lordstaffordaward s.co.uk

October deadline passes for treatment of non-hazardous waste before disposal

Sustainable business firm Envirowise is warning SMEs that from the end of October ‘every business in the manufacturing sector will need to treat their non-hazardous waste before disposal to landfill’.While there are already regulations in place which compel firms to separate and treat hazardous waste, from October 30 businesses will also need to treat their non-hazardous

waste destined for landfill - which could include anything from food waste, paper and plastics, to bricks, wood and soil. The regulations represent the next step in the Europe-wide Landfill Directive2 and are likely to change the way businesses think about and handle waste on a daily basis, said Envirowise. Heather Cholerton, Envirowise Programme Delivery leader, said: “The main objective is to encourage companies to consider options for elimination, minimisation, re-use, recycling and recovery of their wastes. From 30th October, non hazardous wastes must be treated in some way before being sent to landfill. Treatment can be as simple as collecting wastes in separate streams and arranging for the recycling of one or more of the separated components.”She continued: ‘Other treatment options include physical treatment, such as breaking down waste brick into aggregate and thermal treatments such as incineration or mechanical biological treatment (MBT) which involves processes such as composting or anaerobic digestion. It will be the responsibility of landfill operators in England and Wales to ensure that non-hazardous waste has been treated before accepting it for disposal’. Cholerton added: “In the longer term we are hoping these new rules will encourage people not just to focus on the treatment stage, but to consider whether their waste needs to be generated at all.”Manufacturers could be eligible for a free ‘FastTrack’ visit from Envirowise. www.envirowise.gov.uk

National Skills Academy for the science-using process industries agreed

The UK government has given its approval for the establishment of an academy of skills for the fast-growing, highly complex sector of processing – which covers the preparation of all manner of materials such as polymers, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. A shadow board, consisting of the National Skills Academy, Cogent Sector Skills Council and supporting employers had won over the Government.The announcement was made at the Featherstone site of Linpac Plastics, which has signed the Skills Pledge in support of the academy. Linpac Plastics board director, Chris Horton, is chairman of the National Skills Academy board. He said: “The National Skills Academy will enable us to lead the way in addressing the short-fall of employees in vital areas of the workforce.”The academy, which will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Cogent, will act as a central hub that will develop training standards. Delivery of training will be done by existing training organisations once they have been accredited by the academy. The academy intends to create “centres of excellence” around these accredited centres, which it says will respond to specific skills gaps identified by employers. Cogent said that more than 50 employer organisations from all process industries have so far pledged financial support totalling £850,000 to establish the academy. Companies with a combined total of 50,000 employees have said they will use the academy’s products and services. Cogent said it expects these numbers to increase as the academy is rolled out around UK regions. It is anticipating at least 16,000 learners will undertake training and development via the academy over the next five years.

www.linpac-plastics.com

Defence Technology Plan (DTP) set out before MoD/RAO audience at Olympia

The MoD’s Science and Technology Director, Paul Stein, former director of the Siemens Roke Manor research centre, outlined the DTP on the 13th November to 700 UK SMEs and University researchers and technology suppliers. Although much of it seemed a little obvious and platitudinous, even by Government standards, the DTP “will be a clear plan starting with research goals based on capability requirements, showing how the goals will be met by R&D activity”, said ministers. They claim the “DTP will have a dynamic online format, allowing regular updates when necessary.” Their R&D Staff include; Science Innovation Technology (SIT) who manage approximately £500m of Research budget, Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) who manage some £2bn of project expenditure associated with Development, Equipment Capability Customer (ECC) the military ‘customer’ organisation for future equipment, and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). MoD published the Defence Technology Strategy in October 2006. It is available at www.science.mod.uk

HMRC hands back £150m to SMEs through R&D tax credits

HM Revenue and Custom’s specialist Research & Development units across the UK made cash payments totalling £150m to local innovative science and technology companies in the last year. The units, which are based in Cardiff, Southampton, Maidstone, Manchester, Cambridge, Leicester and Croydon, have dealt with almost 5,000 claims in the last 12 months. Some of the industries that have received support include: computer games, sports cars, artificial intelligence, manufacturing, cheese making, cell research, food testing, plant breeding and machine safety. HMRC’s Head of R&D Tax Credits Jeremy Sherwood said: “HMRC’s R&D Units are keen to help business and innovation to grow throughout the UK. Our R&D teams regularly visit companies at their premises and help them to ensure they do not miss out on R&D tax credits. Research and development (R&D) tax credits are a company tax relief which can either reduce a company’s tax bill or, for some small or medium sized companies, provide a cash sum. The R&D tax credit works by allowing companies to deduct up to 150% of qualifying expenditure on R&D activities when calculating their profit for tax purposes. Small or medium companies can, in certain circumstances, surrender this tax relief to claim payable tax credits in cash from HM Revenue & Customs. Information on the new R&D tax credit units is available online at: www.hmrc.gov.uk/randd/special-units

COMPANY OF THE MONTH

ByBox is one of those firms that has taken a simple idea – secure deliveries to unattended drop-off boxes – and is steadily making a fortune. A worldwide market also beckons for this firm: only last year did it start to expand into Europe.The drop-box operator passed the 14,000 secure boxes mark, just five years after the firm was founded. Its boxes are mainly used to hold parts and stock for mobile workers such as engineers and salespeople. With this system, customers travel to a central location to pick up deliveries, but typically boxes are available within 5km of home. Because its drivers deliver to the same boxes each night, the company claims it can meet pre-8am delivery targets 99.8% of the time. Best of all, the firm claims it has exceptional growth potential. Currently, the firm mainly delivers items for big companies such as Siemens, Coca-Cola, Fujitsu and the RAC - usually urgently needed spare parts. Automated alerts can be sent to customers via email and text when a delivery has been made. Much of the enormous B2B sector and home service market is untapped - not to mention the new generation of ultra-mobile, highly affluent individuals who require secure delivery point services at multiple homes. The firm grew by 15,272 per cent in the past year - with revenues growing from £119,235 in 2002 to £18.3m in 2006. The boxes are anchored to a heavy concrete base, making theft difficult, and can be accessed only by the customer, using a credit-card sized access card, and the delivery driver, who enters a PIN number into a handheld scanner. Inside the lid of each box is an electronic monitoring system that records every person who opened the box and when, allowing Business Post to track activity. The system has been in use in Canada for six years. Meanwhile, drop-box operator ByBox has passed the 14,000 secure boxes mark, just five years after the firm was founded. Its boxes are mainly used to hold parts and stock for mobile workers such as engineers and salespeople. With this system, customers travel to a central location to pick up deliveries, but typically boxes are available within 5km of home. Because its drivers deliver to the same boxes each night, the company claims it can meet pre-8am delivery targets 99.8% of the time. Best of all, the firm claims it has exceptional growth potential because the B2B sector and home service customers such as service engineers and party planners, not to mention the general public, could benefit from their ultra secure services. The latest boxes are modular and can be varied in size - if demand changes at any given location. www.bybox.com

SMALL COMPANY NEWS

Burnside Telecom launches first desktop mobile network phone for office use

David Robson, founder of Burnside Telecom and a long-time veteran of the UK telecoms scene, isn’t shy. “Our new Office Mobile Phone provides the ideal terminal for viable wireless office propositions from the mobile network operator and service provider. Every office desk should have one.”

The multi band magnetic base aerial can be positioned for optimum signal using the phone’s signal strength meter. Any possible risk to the user’s health from radiation from the aerial is also considerably reduced. Unlike a fixed line telephone, the Burnside Office Phone can be used anywhere within network coverage without the delay and expense of landline installation or connection charges or fixed monthly rentals when used on prepay tariffs. The new Burnside P350 combines the ease of use of an ordinary desktop office phone with the ‘use it anywhere’ flexibility of a mobile phone, he said. The insertion of a mobile phone SIM is all that is required for instant connection to public or private GSM wireless networks. Unlike a handheld mobile phone, the desktop form factor provides a fixed, permanent and accessible phone that anyone in the office can use. Mains power keeps the internal standby battery topped up so the phone is always on and working. If the network supports Explicit Call Transfer, the P350 can perform like a mobile extension on a network or PBX by being able to take a call, put it on hold and then transfer it to a third party leaving the P350 free to continue making and receiving calls. For call centres and frequent phone users, the Office Mobile Phone provides headset support and is compatible with corded and cordless Plantronics and Jabra GN headsets. Connection can also be made to external call recording devices for archival purposes. The phone incorporates a Microsoft-compatible telephone application programming interface [TAPI] so that an attached computer can automate dialling of outgoing calls using CRM applications like Goldmine, ACT, Maximizer or Microsoft CRM. SMS text messages can be composed, sent and received using the P350’s keyboard and screen. The P350 can also be used as an SMS Gateway to an attached PC and is able to receive text messages into or send text messages from Microsoft Outlook. The P350 is the first model in this new range of desktop mobile phones. Future models will be capable of working on EDGE and 3G UMTS/HSDPA networks. A wall-mounting bracket is available that also prevents theft of the phone and removal of the SIM. The P350 will be available from mobile network operators, distributors, B2B dealers and mobile and landline telephone retailers.www.burnsidetelecom.com

Naneum’s new nanoparticle detection company sold to the US

A company established in Kent only two years ago to commercialise innovative airborne nanoparticle detection technology has recorded a high-quality overseas sale.Naneum Ltd is supplying a Wide Range Aerosol Sampling System (WRASS) to the University of Massachusetts’ Nanotechnology Centre, one of the foremost institutions of its kind in the US for developing and producing nanomaterials. The instrument, costing around £20,000, will be used for investigating airborne health risks at research laboratories and production plants, monitoring air quality and exposure to particulates given off during industrial processes. Apart from a sale of instruments to NATO, this was the first export order for Naneum, into the world’s largest market for its products, and an indication of where its future success lies.

From the outset, the company - whose main facilities are at the Canterbury Enterprise Hub on the University of Kent’s Canterbury campus - had identified a global market for nanoparticle detection products in industrial, environmental and research applications. Particles of different sizes behave differently, and when breathed in are deposited in different parts of the respiratory system, causing differing degrees of damage. Naneum’s sampling instruments can collect ultra-fine particles, sort them according to their size and establish their structure and chemical composition. Previously, particulate identification instruments have been relatively bulky and confined to specialist laboratory use. By contrast, Naneum’s equipment is compact and portable, permitting in situ testing. This advantage, along with the products’ low cost, accuracy and ease of operation, supports Naneum’s ambition to be a bulk supplier of devices that allow routine monitoring of the air for nanoparticles (less than 0.1 micrometre/um diameter). www.naneum.com

Specialist oil and gas private equity fund Epi-V completes its first transaction

Aberdeen-based Brinker Technology, which uses a unique and patented particle-based technology to remotely locate and seal leaks in oil and gas production and pipeline infrastructure, has received a £3 million investment. Epi-V has invested £3 million for a 42 per cent stake in the business. Prior to the deal completing Francis Neill, who has 25 years of oilfield service industry experience with Schlumberger, Kvaerner and Expro, was appointed as Managing Director. Epi-V will be working closely with management to build a strategy to quickly develop the customer-focused, commercial orientation required to successfully globalise the business and to meet increased demand from existing markets. The business has seen steady sales with revenues more than quadrupling since 2004. The size of its addressable market is estimated to be in the region of £50 million per annum. Brinker’s customers include BP, Shell, Statoil, BG Group, CNR International, Dana Petroleum, and Norsk Hydro. The business is set to dramatically alter the oil and gas production and pipeline infrastructure market where repairs are currently based on costly emergency work requiring direct access to the location of the leak. With failures in hazardous or inaccessible locations this requires the hire of highly specialised equipment and often the interruption of production. The company was spun out of the University of Aberdeen during 2002. Nigel Leggett, Epi-V Partner, said: “Oil and gas pipelines are the arteries of the global economy and maintaining their integrity is vital to the success of financial systems all over the world. “Brinker has the technology to revolutionise how production infrastructure is maintained and repaired, but this potential needs to be realised.”Robert Preston: 0845 078 0308 - robertpreston@epi-v.com - www.epi-v.com - www.brinker-technology.com

Brainboxes come top at the NW Manufacturing Institutes’ business awards

The company, a leader in serial and Bluetooth connectivity, has won the new Champions of Best Practice category and also the Small Business of the Year. The Manufacturing Institute’s aim is to salute the ingenuity, productivity and commitment of the region’s manufacturers with these Business Awards. The Institute looks for companies that have travelled far on their continuous improvement journey and ‘seek serial business improvers who are wholly committed in their quest to be world class’. Each nominated company had to go through a half-day assessment visit by a representative from the Manufacturing Institute. Brainboxes’ Chairman Eamonn Walsh said “Our policy of recognising, adopting and championing industry best practice has sharpened our cutting edge and enabled us to manage and drive change. It is an acknowledged fact that small business can be far more dynamic and reactive to the market than larger enterprises. Brainboxes’ size has meant that we can keep moving forward and win more business.” Brainboxes supplies some of the world’s largest PC makers with UK-designed and manufactured PC add-in cards.Established in 1984, Brainboxes has a team of highly qualified software and hardware designers, matched by a world-class volume manufacturing facility. The company develops and owns all of its own core technologies, including USB, CompactFlash, PCMCIA, RS232 and PCI products. It is at the forefront of developments in serial card and wireless technology. Current customers include Acer, IBM, Lenovo, Fujitsu, HP, Reuters, Motorola, Agilent, and BT. www.brainboxes.com

Biocontrol changes tack and secures £500,000 with help from The Capital Fund

Scientists at Biocontrol, leading the world in developing new treatments to cure serious antibiotic-resistant infections, have secured a £250,000 investment from The Capital Fund. This is part of a funding round totalling £500,000, with the rest of the funding coming from existing Biocontrol shareholders. Established in 2002, The Capital Fund is a £50 million venture capital fund that backs fast growing small and medium-sized companies in the Greater London area, and is the largest of the nine UK regional venture capital funds. Biocontrol has already been recognised for its innovation and expertise, recently winning a GRD Award from the London Development Agency. Set up in 1997, Biocontrol has been developing the clinical use of bacteriophages - literally “eaters of bacteria” - that attack dangerous infection-causing bacteria, especially in hospitals. Bacteriophages, or phages, are naturally occurring viruses that attack and destroy harmful bacteria. They are highly specialised, usually attacking only specific strains of a single species of bacteria. Biocontrol’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr David Harper, said: “The emerging crisis of resistance to antibiotics has led to renewed interest in other methods of controlling bacterial infections. We already have a product to control one type of bacterial infection in clinical trials - phages have real potential to combat many different antibiotic-resistant infections.”

Chemical antibiotics have been one of the great medical successes of the past century. But high levels of inappropriate prescribing and over-use of antibiotics in agriculture has led to a rapid and widespread development of drug-resistant bacteria. The problems posed by “superbugs”, bacteria that are immune to many regular medical antibiotics, is one that is a major concern for patients, doctors and all health professionals. Such is the ability of the bacteria to develop drug immunity that new antibiotics are in many cases becoming ineffective far more rapidly than drugs can be developed. Biocontrol has already successfully completed veterinary trials of its first product - a topically applied phage treatment that controls the Pseudemonas aeruginosa bacteria. Clinical trials with human patients are well underway, with positive initial results. David Harper founded Biocontrol in 1997. Operating out of Southampton for a number of years, the company has now relocated to London. Contact: www.thecapitalfund.co.uk - www.biocontrol.ltd.uk

Biofusion plc signs Memorandum of Understanding with Finance Wales

Finance Wales and Sheffield-based Biofusion are to work closely together with a view to co-investing in suitable Cardiff University spin-out companies within the Biofusion portfolio. Finance Wales already manages funds of more than £100 million and has invested £75 million into SMEs in Wales. In addition, the AIM-listed Biofusion will invest an additional £200,000 into Abcellute Ltd, its cell preservation technology spinout company, thereby increasing its holding in Abcellute to 34%. The investment is the second such venture with Finance Wales, which is co-investing £200,000. Abcellute has developed an advanced cell preservation matrix that enables cells to stay fresh for up to seven days when they are transported to pharmaceutical companies for testing. The finance will provide development capital for new and existing contract work for the pharmaceutical and contract research industry and to fund new research and development into therapeutic applications, using their unique cell preservation technology. David Baynes, CEO of Biofusion, said: “The investment into Abcellute is our second co-investment deal with Finance Wales and will allow Abcellute to progress its business strategy in the exciting area of cell preservation technology. We have found Finance Wales excellent partners to work with and we look forward to working with them into the future.” Biofusion’s first agreement was a ten-year exclusive arrangement with the University of Sheffield for the commercialisation of IP owned by the University in the area of medical life sciences. Biofusion has shareholdings in a portfolio of 18 Sheffield University spinout companies including Asterion, Axordia, Celltran, Lifestyle Choices, Diurnal and Phase Focus. Biofusion has shareholdings in a portfolio of seven Cardiff University spin-out companies including Abcellute, Q-Chip and Cardiff Protides.Contact: Biofusion: 0114 275 5555 - Finance Wales, Owain Betts, Marketing Communications Manager 01686 613 118.

Fuel cell vehicle developer Auriga Energy receives a funding boost

A Bristol company that is working to provide key technology for the future of zero carbon-emission propulsion systems, including power boats and Tuk-Tuks - the three-wheeled transport that dominates Asia - has recently received a major funding boost. Auriga Energy Ltd, based at the University of Bristol’s SETsquared Business Acceleration Centre, has secured an R&D grant from DIUS, administered by SWRDA. The grant will enable the company to achieve their next major milestone, the demonstration of an integrated hydrogen fuel cell system for marine, urban transport and light industrial applications. The Auriga team is drawing on their experience from the space industry where the hydrogen fuel cell was developed for manned missions to define a balanced system controlled by the company’s proprietary algorithms. Auriga’s system utilises new super-capacitors, which offer faster power recharge cycles, are maintenance-free, have a longer life and are lower in weight and cost than standard batteries. The company has identified their initial target markets to be a fast rigid inflatable boat (RIB) for the police, fork lift trucks and motorised rickshaws. However, once commercially viable they hope to expand into other propelled vehicles including water taxis, canal boats, river barges, mopeds, motor cycles, airport/golf carts and lawn mowers. Auriga products offer a tangible and sustained means of producing real CO2 emission reductions without constraining the economic growth of the customer, be it the individual or industry. Jas Singh, Managing Director of Auriga Energy, said “This grant is a great boost to help us achieve our business targets in response to the growing market demand for zero-carbon products. If we can provide the fuel cell systems to the Tuc-Tuc taxi services now running in the UK, we could eventually re-export the technology back to Asia.” Contact: www.auriga-energy.com

‘Plug and go’ mapping and travel data on your mobile phone – from Augmentra Cambridge-based Augmentra Ltd, a specialist in developing location-based mapping solutions for the non-urban environment, develops and markets ViewRanger, a travel information service, part developed it in conjunction with AA Publishing. These are easily accessed via a Smart phone, say the founders.Utilising GPS in a new way, the Augmentra technology shows users where they are on a map with access to location-based information such as detailed street mapping, photos and ‘must see sites’, easy-to-follow walking tours and information and ratings on where to stay and eat. While existing location-based applications have focused on urban and street navigation, Augmentra’s solutions are specifically created to match the needs of the active outdoor enthusiast - whether tourist, walker, cyclist, or sailor.ViewRanger was recently named by Nokia as Best Location-Aware Service & Application in Nokia’s S60 Global Challenge 2006. In addition to ViewRanger, Augmentra develops smartphone applications for its partners in the international travel and leisure markets. Clients include AA Publishing and Ordnance Survey Ireland.

Mike Brocklehurst and Craig Wareham, two long-time colleagues with substantial experience in the development, sales and marketing of successful software applications, founded the business in 2004. Prior to founding Augmentra Ltd, Mike and Craig were responsible for a number of innovations in visual computing and user interface design. Contact: Augmentra - www.viewranger.com

Advanced materials company Atraverda finalises €15m financing round

The syndicate that invested in the deal had a truly international character with new investors BankInvest New Energy Solutions (Denmark) and Espírito Santo Ventures (Portugal) leading the round. Existing backers Scottish Equity Partners, Chord Capital and Finance Wales (UK), and EnerTech Capital and OnPoint Technologies (US) also participated. Atraverda has developed a titanium sub-oxide material called Ebonex. The technology has a combination of metallic-like electrical conductivity along with the characteristic high corrosion resistance of ceramics. Its primary application is a bi-polar battery which targets the hybrid electric vehicles sector, and the personal mobility, standby power, defense and telecom markets. Other applications are water and effluent treatment and the cathodic protection of concrete. The company claims its green tech credentials by the fact that its technology allows for bi-polar batteries that employ less lead than conventional batteries and is assembled with simpler and fewer manufacturing processes. www.atraverda.com

Wigan-based water purifying company makes a splash in America

A company specialising in environmentally friendly water purifying systems has doubled overall turnover, increasing from £1.5 million to £3 million, thanks to their burgeoning international business. ATG Willand has received considerable help from UK Trade & Investment, starting in 2005, when Sales Director Tony Leigh joined the latter’s Passport to Export programme. Tony worked closely with International Trade Adviser Charles Jacobson and commissioned Overseas Market Introduction Service (OMIS) reports in order to develop contacts with Poland and Italy, where the company now has excellent trade links thanks to a distributor found for them by the British Embassy. The company’s ultra violet water disinfection systems are used for a range of applications including municipal water, food, pharmaceutical and industrial projects - but their biggest success is in the leisure sector, where UV treatment is more effective and less environmentally harmful in swimming pools than traditional methods such as chlorination. Market research confirmed major potential in the USA, where the relative affluence of the country enables the hotel and water park trade to invest in ATG’s sophisticated systems. However, US business quickly began to dominate the company’s exports to the extent that they were no longer comfortable just supplying their US distributors, and high

shipping costs also meant that it would make more sense to manufacture goods in the US. It was at this point that ATG enlisted the help of UKTI’s Strategic Alliance Service (SAS) to determine a way forward. ATG Willand with advice on negotiations with their prospective US partners and referred them to another UKTI adviser Fred Willan to resolve IP, tax efficency and legal issues. By January this year ATG had successfully concluded a JV agreement with existing distributor Engineered Treatment Systems, and a commonly owned company ATG USA was formed, with all parties contributing a financial investment, ATG offering continuous access to IP and the US shareholders bringing their market knowledge to the table. The company now has 22 American distributors, and US turnover is expected to be $3 million this year. ATG USA already have more than 50% of the American market in their sector, and are planning to expand into Canada next year with the recent appointment of 2 Canadian distributors. Julian Birchett, Strategic Alliance Service Adviser for UKTI Northwest says, “Despite being a small company with less than 20 employees, ATG Willand are the market leader in international UV water treatment for a range of uses - from water parks in America to drinking water in South Africa. UK Trade & Investment services, contact the North West International Trade Team Tel: 0845 603 7053 E-mail: info@uktinorthwest.co.uk

AWS ocean energy secures Carbon Trust support

Scotland’s AWS Ocean Energy is to receive significant further support from the Carbon Trust in the development of the company’s Archimedes Wave Swing (AWS), the world’s first submerged wave energy system. The support is part of the Marine Energy Accelerator Programme, the Carbon Trust initiative to accelerate the commercialisation of the marine energy sector in the UK. Simon Grey, Chief Executive of AWS Ocean Energy said: “The support of the Carbon Trust is very welcome as we take forward our wave technology for commercial deployment within the next 5 years and by doing so we can take full advantage of the huge energy potential that exists in British waters as well as in waters overseas. “We will use the Marine Energy Accelerator funding to ensure that our technology is cost-competitive with other forms of renewable energy by focusing the MEA on the installation, operation and maintenance of our AWS sub-merged wave system.” Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust, said: “We are leading the world in the development of marine energy and the UK is a hotbed of innovation for these key technologies. We have the potential to deliver up to 20% of the UK’s electricity needs from marine energy and there are already a number of exciting technologies in development. To make this potential a commercial reality, marine needs sustained additional funding to accelerate its breakthrough into the mainstream of energy generation sources and the Marine Energy Accelerator is integral to this.” The firm was established in 2004 and is based in Alness, near Inverness (Scotland). Following a successful pilot project in Portugal in 2004, AWS Ocean Energy will deploy its demonstration 250KW pre-commercial prototype at Orkney’s European Marine

Energy Centre in 2009 and plans to construct a 500KW mini-wave farm in 2010 which will expand to 100 AWS units within three years. In February 2007, the company was awarded grant funding from the Scottish Executive to support its commercial development. Contact: AWS Ocean Energy Ltd: www.awsocean.com - www.carbontrust.co.uk

Bristol-based aTempo leads the way to lowest cost, next generation serial links

aTempo was founded in April this year ‘in response to the new technology barriers created by wide ranging industry moves to next-generation data rates for serial links within, and external to, PCs’. These include USB 3.0 at 4.8 Gbps; PCI Express 3.0 at 8 Gbps; FireWire 3200 at 4 Gbps and both SAS and SATA moves to 6 Gbps. aTempo’s patent-pending technology makes these data rates practical using lowest cost cables, lowest cost circuit boards, lowest cost connectors and low cost, low power silicon. This is achieved using the combination of the company’s novel signal processing IP and detailed CMOS circuit implementation IP, which together offer a new level of performance for multi-gigabit per second serial links. The combination is key. At the data rates involved, CMOS implementation non-idealities can easily dominate the performance of multi-gigabit per second signal processing circuits, which then falls very short of that anticipated by naïve analysis. aTempo was founded Nick Weiner who has been in the industry for more than two decades. Weiner was co-founder of Phyworks, known for their leading optical interface ICs, including their equalizing receiver developed for 10 Gigabit per second Ethernet standard, 10GBASE-LRM. The company, based at the University of Bristol’s SETsquared Business Acceleration Centre, has been accepted on to a new programme for high growth-potential semiconductor start-ups in the South West of England, called FASTtrack. This initiative is run by Silicon South West in conjunction with SETsquared and is supported by UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and the South West Regional Development Agency. Contact: info@atempo-io.com - Nick Weiner on 07887 932 456.

Anaxsys, ex-Asthma Alert, raises £1.6m from private and institutional investors

This month Anaxsys Technology secured further private equity investment to enable it to complete commercialisation of its lead asthma diagnostic and disease management tool. The company raised £1.6m of investment from a syndicate of investors, led by the South East Growth Fund. Joining the syndicate were incoming investors Advantage Enterprise and Innovation Fund (AEIF) and The Mercia Technology Seed Fund, together with a number of private investors, introduced by James Cowper Corporate Finance. Anaxsys is developing two lead devices for the identification and management of asthma. The first product is targeted at the GP and specialist markets and early feedback indicates that GPs and specialists believe that it will improve diagnosis rates and reduce the time for patients to receive appropriate treatment.

The second device is a disease management tool, intended to be used by patients on a regular basis within the home. The device is simple to use and will enable the patient to adjust their medication according to an agreed management plan provided by their GP.Dr Deryk Williams, said “Existing technologies on the market, such as the peak flow meter and spirometry, require the patient to breath as hard as possible; this often exacerbates asthma and also makes it unsuitable for use by children under 8 years old and many elderly people. The Anaxsys device requires normal tidal (no effort) breathing and so crucially can be used by these two key groups of patients for the first time. The high morbidity and mortality associated with asthma are avoidable, since there are good drugs available that will control the condition if taken correctly. However diagnosis is often poor; up to 50% of asthmatics are not diagnosed and, of those patients who are correctly diagnosed, up to 50% are incorrectly treated. Our devices address these issues.” www.segrowthfund.co.uk/Anaxsys

Liverpool firm Aerogistics Holdings launches successful joint venture in India

Aerogistics has been a successful supply chain integrator to the aerospace industry - buying a range of components from multiple manufacturers to provide a convenient one-stop shop for large aerospace companies such as Airbus, BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce, and the new company will be based in Bangalore and named King & Fowler India. Aerogistics is parent company to the surface treatment firm King & Fowler, which is soon to move into a purpose-built £2.4m facility in Merseyside. This enables them to provide fully treated and finished components, which have been crack tested, electroplated, anodised and painted in line with aerospace regulations. Despite only being established since 2003, Aerogistics already represents a global cluster of multi-commodity manufacturers, and also owns King & Fowler Polska, allowing them to provide their world-class metal finishing services to western and eastern Europe from a base in central Poland. But it was a tip-off from their existing customers that inspired MD Tom Dawes to look into setting up a Joint Venture (JV) in Bangalore. He said “India has no surface treatment capacity there, and many of our end customers want low cost sourcing from manufacturers in China and India.” Sue Dale, an International Trade Adviser for UK Trade & Investment working at North West Aerospace Alliance (NWAA) introduced Tom to Julian Birchett, UKTI’s Strategic Alliance Service Adviser. The Strategic Alliance Service was piloted in 2005 by Chamberlink to cover the Greater Manchester area, and has recently been expanded to cover the whole North West, providing significant assistance to any business needing help with Joint Ventures (JV), Manufacture Under Licence (MUL) or Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Contact: UKTI and North West International Trade Team Tel: 0845 603 7053 E-mail: info@uktinorthwest.co.uk – www.aerogistics.co.uk

London nano-prototyping foundry opts for Arrayjet’s Sprint microarrayer

Arrayjet’s first Sprint microarrayer to be sold in the UK will be installed at the Bio Nano Centre (BNC), a joint venture of University College London and Imperial College London. Sprint’s non-contact inkjet technology will support rapid prototyping for protein microarraying and precision deposition in flexible formats. Furthermore, the versatility of the Arrayjet Sprint will enable the BNC to develop multi-scale fabrication technology combining micron scale patterning with nanolithography techniques. Professor Tony Cass of Imperial College said “The rapid prototyping facility in the BNC requires flexible, high precision and low volume liquid dispensing. The Arrayjet Sprint was chosen as it offers these capabilities and complements our existing micro and nanofabrication capabilities.” Arrayjet Product Manager, Karen Allison said “Sprint is already establishing itself as the instrument of choice for production of high quality microarrays in research and development environments. This installation at BNC also demonstrates the much wider range of applications addressed by Arrayjet’s innovative inkjet technology.” Arrayjet Ltd was founded in August 2000 by physicist Dr Howard Manning (University of Cambridge), and molecular biologists Prof Peter Ghazal and Dr Douglas Roy (University of Edinburgh), to develop biological microarrays robotics using inkjet print-heads. In February 2001 Arrayjet secured two-stage funding from the Scotland based investor group Archangels and won a Scottish Enterprise Smart award. Dr Manning is Arrayjet’s Technical Director and Keith Howell, an Edinburgh-based director and consultant, is chairman. Duncan Hall, previously with Agilent Technologies, joined in early 2005 and is currently Commercial Director. www.arrayjet.co.uk - www.bio-nano-centre.com

ACG develops a revolutionary carbon fibre composite to benefit the medical sector

Hospital equipment makers have been seeking a high performance composite that offers enhanced clarity, which is required for X-ray tables and plates. Advanced Composites Group has produced the MTM59, a 120°C curing matrix system. Jon Mabbitt, MD of ACG said: “We are constantly exploring new avenues for our innovative products. Until now there has never been a product like MTM59, and we believe it will prove vital to medical equipment manufacturers the world over.” The carbon fibre composite has high strength, stiffness and low weight, but also the essential clear surface lustre required by the medical world. It is their transparency to X-rays that makes these materials so attractive. Surface clarity can, through innovative resin chemistry, translate into through thickness clarity and high definition X-ray images. Currently under trial with a number of European manufacturers, MTM59 will set the standards for the construction of future medical imaging equipment. In a second major deal, ACG will supply materials for the manufacture of at least 25 ground-based antennas destined for a location high in the Chilean Andes. After several years of collaborative development and testing with Thales Alenia Space, the three year contract is valued at £5m.

ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, is one of the largest ever ground-based astronomy projects. It will provide scientists with exceptionally detailed images of objects right out to the very edge of the Universe, where galaxies will be observed as they were some 10 billion years ago, right at the point of their formation. The ALMA project is an international collaboration between Europe and North America, in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. A key factor for Thales Alenia Space in choosing ACG as their materials supplier for the ALMA project is the Group’s ability to manufacture large structures ‘out-of-autoclave’; several critical antenna will be produced using this technique. ACG will be supplying a range of MTM prepreg and ZPREG product formats to Thales Alenia Space’ chosen sub-contractors. These products have been developed to provide consistent, low void levels, even in extremely thick composite laminates. Contact: John Nixon - Technical Marketing Manager - 01773 766 200 – www.advanced-composites.com

Carbon Trust joins as new investor as CamSemi secures $26 million funding

Cambridge-based CamSemi is developing sophisticated ICs that will allow manufacturers to introduce highly cost-efficient mains-connected converters and battery chargers that are smaller, cheaper and more power efficient. They have the potential to deliver a 10-fold improvement in standby energy efficiency and reduce operating mode losses ‘by a factor of three’. Recently, CamSemi obtained one of the largest VC funding rounds for a European fabless semiconductor company in 2007 by raising $26 million (£13 million). The funding, led by 3i and existing shareholders Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) and TTP Ventures, includes the Carbon Trust as a new investor. Carbon Trust Investments is taking a $4 million equity stake in CamSemi – its first investment in a company focused on improving the energy efficiency of consumer electronics products. The new funding will support CamSemi’s commercialisation of products that can cut the energy consumption of electronic equipment in operating and standby modes. Energy lost as heat through inefficient power conversion or when products are in standby is a serious problem that urgently needs to be addressed.The UK’s 25m mobile telephone chargers alone consumes enough energy to match the annual electricity needs of 16,000 homes. Other research suggests that consumer electronic equipment will be responsible for 45% of household energy consumption by 2020, equivalent to the output of 14 power stations.Laurence Garrett, partner at 3i and CamSemi board member said: “CamSemi is probably one of Europe’s top three emerging fabless semiconductor companies. In our view, the company has all the right ingredients, the enthusiasm and the drive to become a future leader in the power management IC market.” David Baillie, CEO at CamSemi said: “Our first products are already available to the worldwide market and shipping in volume. The C2470 family of controllers allows manufacturers for the first time to replace bulky, low cost and power-hungry linear supplies with a simple, cost competitive and much more energy efficient approach.”www.camsemi.com - www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/aboutest/news/ampere

Wind Technologies’ technology improves the reliability of wind turbines

The world’s first commercial Brushless Doubly-Fed Generator (BDFG) is to be installed on a 20kW turbine at or close to the Department’s Electrical Engineering Division Building on the West Cambridge site by early 2008. This will help the University meet its obligations under new legislation, which requires a new building to obtain 10% of its electricity from renewable sources. Wind Technologies Ltd has recently been founded to exploit the technology. Dr Ehsan Abdi, MD of Wind Technologies, said “This will be the first time BDFG is to be used commercially. The benefits to the wind power industry are clear: higher reliability, lower maintenance and lower production costs.” A contemporary Brushless Doubly-Fed Machine (BDFM) is a single frame induction machine with two 3-phase stator windings of different pole numbers, and a special rotor design. Typically one stator winding is connected to the mains or grid, and hence has a fixed frequency, and the other is supplied with variable voltage at variable frequency from a converter. In the majority (more than 90%) of newly-installed wind turbines in the world, generation is from a slip-ring generator. There are drawbacks to the use of slip-ring generators, particularly the additional cost and bulk of a machine which incorporates slip-rings and the need to maintain brush-gears including replacement of the brushes on a regular basis. Studies have shown that problems with brush-gear are a significant issue in wind turbine operation and reliability, and that the problem will be more severe in machines deployed offshore where there are stronger winds and accessibility is impaired. The project received the Scientific Instrument Makers Award and the Cambridge University Entrepreneurs Business Idea Award in 2004. In 2005, the Institution of Electrical Engineers, now the Institution of Engineering and Technology, added its Innovation in Engineering Award. The research team based at the department, led by Dr Richard McMahon, have developed a new generator technology for the wind turbine industry to the point of commercial exploitation. This type of generator can be used in a wide spectrum of wind turbines ranging from multi-megawatt systems for wind farms down to micro turbines used for domestic power generation. Research in Cambridge on this type of generator was started by Professor Williamson in the 1990s and, since 1999, is now being undertaken by Richard and his team. The team is collaborating with Durham’s Head of Engineering, Professor Peter Tavner. The research has recently matured, enabling practical and complete designs to be made with confidence. On a larger scale, a 600kW generator built by Wind Technologies is to be tested on a DeWind turbine in Germany, starting next spring. Gehan Amaratunga is Chairman, and Head of Electronics, Power and Energy Conversion at the University of Cambridge. www.windtechnologies.co.uk

In autumn 2007 WFS held its first full underground Radio Modem trial

Research undertaken by WFS during the development of its underwater radio technology indicated that the same radio equipment would penetrate rock and soil. This opened up the possibility of extending its use in applications associated with underground communications with potential in mine safety and homeland security. The Birkhill Fireclay Mine near Bo’ness in Scotland opened during the Industrial Revolution to source alumina clay ideal for the manufacturing of fire bricks for use in lining furnaces, kilns and fireplaces etc. In 1980, after some six miles of tunnels were completed, the mine ceased production. It eventually reopened to the public and provided WFS a safe and convenient location for its first underground trials. The S1510 Radio Modem Version 2.1 was used for each end of the communication link, both being connected to a 1 m diameter loop antenna. Text messages were generated at one of the links and transmitted to the other. This initial trial was highly successful and demonstrated the effectiveness of radio modem data transmission underground. A data rate of 100 bits/s spread spectrum was used. The furthest distance available was 70m and clear, two way transmission was consistently achieved. The work is expected to lead to the fielding of high resilience wireless underground communication systems. The absence of vulnerable cabling should allow greater freedom of communication to staff underground and preserve contact in the event of catastrophic rock fall. Applications in underground services and transport infrastructure are also envisaged. Contact: WFS Ltd - 01506 407 865 www.wirelessfibre.co.uk

Merseyside Special Investment Fund puts £200,000 in online security software firm

The business, So Protect Me Ltd, has designed a product called the So Protect Me Payment Blocker, which uses advanced sensing technology to provide security features for users for the retail price of £14.99. MSIF has appointed ex-Sema man Victor Kaminski as chairman. With one in five people finding themselves or someone they know a victim of domestic fraud it is clear that we need to raise awareness of the simple steps that can be taken to prevent this type of cyber crime,” said Raj Curwen, CEO of So Protect Me. The company’s first product, the ‘Payment Blocker’ provides a simple and effective way to block credit/debit card use on computers in the home, in a business (on and off the corporate network), and wherever computers are used by multiple users such as shared accommodation, libraries, schools or University sites. “Tools like the Payment Blocker can go a long way towards reducing the risk of being defrauded by a co-habitee, and can be set up in minutes. It can also protect children, who often do not understand the ramifications, from making online purchases by blocking all attempts to purchase online on a child’s PC.” www.protect-me.com

Polymer Vision buys Innos business to integrate manufacturing of rollable displays

Innos is the manufacturing subcontractor of Polymer Vision’s rollable displays. The acquisition comes at a time when demand for larger mobile displays is accelerating as telecom players push mobile content, mobile marketing and mobile applications to accelerate growth in data revenues. With its pioneering rollable display solutions, Polymer Vision will ‘triple mobile displays over the coming years’. Karl McGoldrick, CEO of Polymer Vision, said “Growth in mobile content has us looking at our mobile phones even more than we listen to them. Although the replacing of glass-based displays as the dominant display option for mobile devices is no simple challenge.”The acquisition comes within one year of Polymer Vision’s spinout from Royal Philips Electronics. The Innos business activities will be integrated into Polymer Vision Ltd, with the manufacturing facility remaining in its current location at the Millbrook Technology Campus in Southampton. Polymer Vision will bring to market the world’s first rollable display enabled mobile device through a partnership with Telecom Italia (TI). This pocket sized device combines a large 5” rollable display with 3G/UMTS High Speed and DVB-H IP data-casting connectivity for true mobility and instant access to personalized news and information, addressing the growing interest and trend towards data services on mobile devices. www.polymervision.com

Oxford Catalysts Group wins US gong for its ‘instant steam’ technology

In November 2007 OCG received an innovation award at the 39th biennial Kirkpatrick Chemical Engineering Achievement Awards for its work on Instant Steam technology, which generates steam immediately on demand using a compact, simple and portable device. This involves passing a liquid fuel - consisting mainly of water with a mixture of methanol and hydrogen peroxide - over a proprietary catalyst. This triggers a spontaneous and highly exothermic reaction and releases product gases as a high temperature steam. The catalyst makes it possible to initiate the methanol/hydrogen peroxide reaction at room temperature. For example, the fuel can be contained in a plastic spray bottle and the catalyst incorporated into the nozzle spray mechanism. When the trigger is squeezed, the fuel passes over the catalyst and steam is produced instantly. The Kirkpatrick Chemical Engineering Achievement Awards are organised by the New York-based magazine Chemical Engineering. The awards recognised the most noteworthy chemical engineering technology commercialised anywhere in the world during 2005 or 2006. Other award winners included Axens (IFP), APSI and Eastman Chemical Company. In addition to winning the award, a leading multinational recently agreed to work with the company to explore uses for the technology in the fast moving consumer goods market. Their patent-pending intellectual property and technology is the result of 19 years of research at the University of Oxford’s Wolfson Catalysis Centre, headed by company co-founder Professor Malcolm Green, one of the world's most respected inorganic chemists.

In April 2006 Oxford Catalysts announced its admission to AIM having raised £15 million in a private placing. www.oxfordcatalysts.com

Paraytec develops world’s first miniature capillary UV area imaging detector

The ActiPix D100 is designed for online monitoring at a single UV wavelength, particularly for use with separation methods such as liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis. The 6.5- x 5.5- x 11-cm device consists of a control box and a small remote sensor head which contains a capillary cartridge containing one to eight capillaries. This allows high throughput and increased productivity in a miniature format. The remote sensor head is designed for positioning exactly at the required detection point and can be used to monitor any capillary-sized analysis stream. The ActiPix D100 can also be used for ion analysis using indirect UV detection, rapid throughput method development, such as optimization of chiral separations, and in pharmaceutical analysis - with quantification of impurities to 0.01%. Contact: Paraytec Ltd - www.paraytec.com

Hutchison Telecoms to bring the UK firm Omnifone’s music service to Asia-Pacific

Omnifone says the announcement is significant because Apple ‘is not expected to bring the iPhone to Asia until 2008.’ Some observers see MusicStation as being the telecoms market’s answer to iPhone, as it enables consumers to have unlimited access to music downloads direct to their handset, on a service which is backed by all the major labels, works on industry standard handsets and uses operator data networks and billing. Asia-Pacific is one of the world’s fastest growing digital music markets, and MusicStation offers subscribers unlimited music direct to mobiles on the 3 Hong Kong network for €1.20 per week.This announcement follows Vodafone’s decision to rollout MusicStation in the UK last month. All major and local labels are participating in the 3 MusicStation rollout including: Universal Music Group (a wholly owned subsidiary of Vivendi, VIV.PA), Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Music and Warner Music Group (NYSE:WMG). Rob Lewis, CEO of Omnifone, said “Partnering with 3 Hong Kong, one of the most innovative mobile network operators in the world, enables us to make the first step in bringing MusicStation to what will be the world’s most important digital music market.” www.omnifone.com

Michelson Diagnostics secures £600,000 of early stage funding

Michelson Diagnostics has the potential to significantly impact a growing market for diagnosis, treatment and post-operative monitoring of early stage cancers. Within a

clinical setting the company’s technology allows surgeons to see the size and location of a tumour in real-time. This allows them to assess tumour margin and spread giving better surgical outcomes and less chance of readmission. Ex-vivo clinical testing at University College Hospital, London and Gloucestershire Royal Hospital has already demonstrated the huge potential of this new technology. Robert Desborough, Investment Manager at London Seed Capital, said “Medical Device technologies have the ability to significantly impact and extend the lives of patients worldwide. We are delighted to be involved with Jon Holmes and his team at Michelson Diagnostics as they address a major clinical problem with truly innovative technology, enabling the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives globally.” CEO Jon Holmes said “This funding will enable the company to continue the development of our Optical Coherence Tomography technology and demonstrate its potential to solve significant unmet medical needs in multi-billion pound markets worldwide. We are tremendously excited by the confidence shown in Michelson Diagnostics by our new investors, London Seed Capital (LSC), London Business Angels and Catapult Venture Managers.” It is pioneering an innovative, next generation imaging technology addresses the key need for clinicians to see, during an operation and in real time, the location and extent of a tumour, for a range of cancer types. This enables faster, more accurate cancer surgery, with the associated benefits for the patient and clinician, when compared with the slow, painstaking process of taking multiple samples of tissue for analysis. The investment round was led by investment fund London Seed Capital in conjunction with the London Business Angels and Catapult Venture Managers. It follows the company’s success in September 2007, in which a new collaboration, led by Michelson Diagnostics (MDL), was awarded a £325,000 grant from the UK’s Technology Strategy Board, to support the development of a groundbreaking ‘OCT’ imaging technology that hopes to revolutionise cancer diagnosis and treatment. www.md-ltd.co.uk

Metryx named as ‘StartUp of the Year’ by EuroAsia Semiconductor magazine

This supplier of mass-metrology equipment to the semiconductor manufacturing industry has grown 1,000% in just three years and taken significant new steps in Japan. The award follows recent accolades for “Product of the Year” from Semiconductor International magazine, as well as a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the UK. Dr Adrian Kiermasz, CEO of Metryx said “This latest recognition serves as another acknowledgement of what Metryx brings to the semiconductor manufacturing industry, both in terms of a novel technology as well as the success of our business model.”The firm recently signed an MoU with Canon in Japan to market and promote Metryx’ Mentor mass-metrology products co-operatively to leading Japanese semiconductor manufacturers. Metryx’ Mentor technology offers a unique measurement technology known as mass metrology. This approach uses innovative mass-measurement technology, meaning it uses a series of very accurate force measurements; the mass change encountered during the process is measured to atomic level accuracy.

Metryx was founded by Rob Wilby and Dr Adrian Kiermasz in 2000 after winning two honours for innovation from the DTI’s Smart Awards programme. Following two years of development, sales activity began in summer 2002. Metryx is privately owned and its growth and expansion has been backed by a group of investors, many of whom have semiconductor industry knowledge and experience. Contact: Dr Adrian Kiermasz, CEO - 0127 586 6260 - adrian.kiermasz@metryx.net

MMI snaps up shares in Viratis, its own pioneering subsidiary company

Viratis Ltd was established as a joint venture between MMI, KCL, QMUL and the core inventor scientists. In exchange for an equity stake, the universities assigned to Viratis the worldwide patents for the anti-HIV technology on a royalty-free basis. MMI’s shareholding in Viratis has increased from 50% to 72% as it funded the development programme. The new agreement will enable MMI to continue investing in Viratis out of its existing cash reserves to enable further development work to be undertaken and this is currently expected to result in MMI owning 75% of Viratis by the end of 2007. The company then has an option to acquire the remaining shares in Viratis at a fixed price in exchange for new MMI shares. The number of MMI shares to be issued will be dependent upon MMI’s share price at the time the option is exercised but at the closing mid price on 13 November 2007 of £1.05 it would result in the issue of 279,762 new shares representing 0.48% of MMI’s issued share capital with a value of £293,750. Gene silencing represents a breakthrough in the control of genes and hence presents a completely new approach to the discovery and development of potential treatments in areas of unmet medical need. In particular, Viratis has focused on the use of ribozymes to silence the genes for CCR5 and CXCR4, the key cellular receptors that allow the entry of HIV into cells. MMI recently announced that a single administration of its anti-HIV ribozymes significantly suppressed the CCR5 and CXCR4 receptors for a period of approximately three months. This result suggests that infrequent dosing of the ribozyme therapy may be possible compared to other approaches that also target cellular receptors for HIV but require twice daily administration. KCL has been actively involved in the development of MMI’s gene silencing approach to treat AIDS and it is intended that the new agreement will enable this work to continue. www.mmiltd.co.uk

ip.access signs deal to market its picocell and femtocell technologies

The firm has signed a new contract with Orascom Telecom, a leading telecoms firm operating GSM networks in seven markets in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. Orascom, which has over 56m subscribers, will deploy ip.access’ 2G picocell and 3G femtocell technologies in its own networks and those of its sister companies.

Ip.access, whose ‘nanoGSM’ solution helps mobile network operators improve coverage and capacity for businesses and in public spaces, has launched the Oyster 3G femtocell, extending its technological benefits into the home. The innovative Oyster product received a GSM Association award. Overall, ip.access’ picocells are now deployed by 28 mobile network operators around the world improving mobile phone signal coverage and increasing network capacity. www.ipaccess.com

Harman Technologies, ex-Ilford Imaging, makes first acquisition, ‘and wants more’

The company has bought the Kendal-based Kentmere Photographic, a £5m turnover business specialising in wide format injet media products, which is complementary to the company’s own injet business. Phil Harris, Harman’s chairman, said: “It is good to be in a position of growth and we are looking for other acquisitions, in a selective way. The photographic industry is getting smaller and we intend to be at the centre of it.” Mr Harris, who led a buyout from the receivership of Ilford Imaging in 2004, rescuing hundreds of jobs in Mobberley, said the Kentmere brand would benefit from Harman’s expertise, investment capability and access to international markets. Kentmere’s remaining business in the print and packaging market are not subject to the deal with Harman. As a major exporter - more than 85 per cent of the company’s products are sold overseas, Harman has been hit three-fold. “The US is by far our No.1 export market and the weak dollar has not done us many favours, nor has the rise in the price of silver - which we use in our manufacturing process. Energy costs have risen significantly too, but we are coping with these issues. “Without these added costs we would be doing fantastically well.” He said turnover this year would be slightly below the £29m achieved last year, as a result of some changes in the supply chain in the US. The company employs around 370 people at its Cheshire headquarters. As part of the buyout of 2004, Harman acquired the rights to Ilford Photo, the black and white photographic paper arm of Ilford Imaging. Ilford Photo, was founded in 1879 by photographic pioneer Alfred Harman, in whose honour Mr Harris and his fellow directors, named their new company. www.ilfordphoto.com

GPS monitors will track performance of racehorses, says design firm

Gmax Ltd, a new spinout company from technology and product development consultancy Cambridge Design Partnership (CDP) was launched in July 2007. It has developed a novel GPS product that will send essential physical, physiological and environmental information about a training workout from horse to trainer, via the internet. Having immediate access to information detailing the work the horse is doing, its gait, temperature, breathing and the environmental conditions means that trainers and vets will be able to optimise training regimes while at the same time ensuring it’s welfare.

The monitoring electronics to achieve this are built in to a sleeve that slides over the girth. Real time information is transmitted wirelessly to a trainer’s mobile, PDA or laptop anywhere in the world. Information to help control the workout can also be sent to the jockey via a specially designed wristwatch. Mike Cane, a director of CDP who has led the development of Gmax said: “Often the difference between first and second in a race is fractions of a second, just as it is in human athletics. Gmax has an important role to play in bringing the principles of sports medicine to thoroughbred racing to maximise a horse’s chances of winning.“Using detailed information provided by the Gmax system, trainers will be able to implement training schedules that bring a horse progressively to the peak of fitness. “Current training methods rely heavily on visual assessments coupled with years of experience. While Gmax will never replace good horsemanship, it will provide trainers with objective measurements of training workload and response; replacing guesswork with scientific evidence and making elite training methods accessible to all.” At a launch event at CDP offices two of the UK’s leading equine exercise physiologists who were present agreed that ‘the technology had an exciting future’. www.cambridge-design.co.uk - Contact Mike Cane, Cambridge Design Partnership 01223 246 628.

dotmatics expands into new premises as clients line up for its data software

Stephen Gallagher, CEO of dotmatics said, “Moving the company to new premises allows us to continue to expand our support and development capability.” The company was formed in 2005 as a result of a spin-off from the research informatics department from Merck Sharp & Dohme at Terlings Park. Dotmatics is privately owned, already profitable and rapidly growing in size. By enabling discovery organizations to share and use their research information more efficiently, the company’s aims are to facilitate the generation of strategic knowledge, making the right information available to the right person, at the right time and to boost customers’ productivity by maximizing their information and knowledge awareness across the spectrum of their discovery activities. The product, for example, has a web-based tool for querying and browsing small and large biological and chemical datasets. The browser integrates with document management systems (including gateway) and in-house tools to extend its retrieval capabilities to both structured and unstructured information. Secondly, pinpoint is a powerful Oracle chemical cartridge for querying and integrating chemical databases. Pinpoint represents world-class indexing and search performance at a cost-effective price. www.dotmatics.com - Jean Mercier, sales director - 01489 795 375 - jm@dotmatics.com

CSR cuts cost of developing an internet radio with its RadioPro unit

Cambridge Silicon Radio has launched RadioPro, a WiFi internet radio example design based on the company’s UniFi single-chip WiFi technology. RadioPro provides wireless

streaming of internet radio via WiFi, without the need for a PC and can support over 10,000 radio stations through a dedicated internet radio portal. With a bill of materials (BOM) of less than $15, CSR’s RadioPro is the lowest cost internet radio solution available today, and comes with the added advantage of being software upgradeable. Already in use by a number of lead customers, radios using CSR’s RadioPro will be available in shops in time for Christmas. Most internet radios on the market today retail for more $200. This is a big leap forward for the internet radio market and is set to really bring the technology to the masses. Figures published by RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) show that almost a quarter of the UK population listened to radio via the internet in March 2007 alone. www.csr.com

Serentis acquires dermatitis company Surface Therapeutics

Serentis, a UK-based biopharmaceutical company innovating, acquiring and developing dermatological and wound care products, has completed the acquisition of Surface Therapeutics Ltd. Surface has pioneered research into discovering novel, patented treatments for dermatological diseases. Serentis has purchased the entire share capital of Surface in consideration for the issue of shares in Serentis. Financial details were not disclosed. Tim Sharpington, CEO of Serentis said “This acquisition supports our goal of establishing a robust, clinical-stage product pipeline. The lead compounds identified by Surface target new mechanisms for the treatment of atopic dermatitis. We will invest in the development of these novel therapies for this debilitating condition where more effective treatment options are required.” David Laskow-Pooley, chief executive of Surface, said “combining the two companies achieves the critical mass required to progress our products quickly to clinical proof-of-concept testing. It also establishes Serentis as a dermatology company with the Surface assets complementing and adding to the strong Serentis portfolio”. Surface was founded in 2004 as a spinout company from the University of Oxford based on the research undertaken by its two academic founders, Professor William Cookson and Dr Miriam Moffatt. Atopic Dermatitis (AD), which is synonymous with atopic or allergic eczema, is a chronic, relapsing skin disease which is characterised by intense itching, dry skin, redness and exudation. Their collaboration with Professor John Harper at the Institute of Child Health at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London has identified several important genes which predispose an individual to atopic dermatitis and asthma. Surface was established to commercialise this research and to focus on developing new treatments for these major diseases. The company’s lead product, a novel treatment for atopic dermatitis, is in late-stage pre-clinical evaluation. The founders and management of Surface will remain as active participants in the continued development of Serentis by either joining or advising the company. Contact: Tim Sharpington, CEO - 01223 437 028 - www.serentis-pharma.com

EUROPEAN NEWS

Speech by EU Commissioner sets out key promises in store for SMEs

Charlie McCreevy, who is responsible at the Commission for Internal Market and Services, has outlined the opportunities for SMEs in an important speech at the 2007 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Day in Brussels, in early November 2007. The Commission already presented a mid-term review of Modern SME policy last month. It sets out what has been achieved in the two years since the launch of the modernised SME. It touches on the key areas, such as taking important steps to create a more friendly regulatory environment for SMEs. It also highlights other tangible benefits, such as: The revision of the Community State Aid Rules to increase the de minimis threshold under which aid need not be reported to €200,000. A proposal for a Council Directive to allow member states to exempt from VAT those businesses with an annual turnover of less than €100,000. And further, to introduce a VAT one-stop-shop system to simplify VAT obligations. This, apparently, is to be adopted by the end of the year. A Better Regulation Agenda which sets a target of reducing by 25% the administrative burden arising from Community legislation in a number of priority areas by the year 2012. In promoting entrepreneurship and skills, a one -stop-shop or equivalent arrangement for setting up a company has been introduced. Registration times have improved and in many member states and regions it is now possible to register a company within one week. Under the Services Directive, member states will be banned from certain particularly restrictive and discriminatory requirements imposed on businesses such as - “economic needs tests” - where the provider is obliged to prove an economic need of market demand for his service in order to obtain authorisation or nationality or residence requirements are imposed on the provider or his staff. The Services Directive applies to a large number of services - including most regulated professions, craftsmen, distributive trades, tourism services, construction services and many others. While it excludes, for example, financial services, transport services or electronic communication services - all companies will be covered by it, either as service providers or (if their services are not included in the Services Directive), as recipients of services. In essence, it requires member states to simplify and modernise administrative procedures by introducing Points of single contact by the end of 2009. These will ensure that service providers can easily complete all procedures and formalities through a single interlocutor, without having to contact several different authorities. The points of single contact are a concrete, maybe the most concrete and most “visible”, example of the practical benefits brought by the Services Directive to the main “users” of the internal market. They will be open to all service providers including those resident or established in other member states. Furthermore, service providers will have to be able to complete all procedures and formalities by electronic means at a distance.

Public Procurement was another area of difficulty for smaller companies. One of the most common problems of SMEs when participating in public procurement procedures, is that the size of the contract is perceived to be too large in relation to the company size. The public procurement directives allow the contracting authority to sub-divide the contract into lots. These smaller units correspond better to production capacity and specialised SMEs are in a better position to bid for the lot which corresponds to their specific activity. The new Public Procurement Directives also introduce the possibility of using electronic means of communication. It is expected that it will lead to many new business opportunities for SMEs and that the government purchases on the whole will become more transparent, more competitive and have shorter procedures and less red tape. The aim is to make public purchasing easier for both public buyers and private suppliers. In addition to replacing paper transactions, electronic means open up possibilities for new innovative purchasing techniques such as e-auctions or e-catalogues. In order to counter ‘e-barriers’ and to encourage use of the new opportunities, the Commission adopted an Action Plan for e-procurement in December 2004. It makes clear recommendations on how best to use electronic procedures in a secure and non-discriminatory way and how to give businesses the confidence to participate in these. My services are currently evaluating the results of the Action Plan, and what more can be done. Meanwhile, a number of initiatives are being carried out to improve SMEs’ access to public procurement markets. A new Directive, which is ‘about to be adopted by Council and Parliament’, will enable companies that think their rights have been violated to have public procurement procedures reviewed more efficiently Cross-border payments are often a problem for SMEs but the Commissioner said that a Single Euro Payments Area, or SEPA, will change all that. “It will make all electronic payments in the euro area as easy as cash payments are now,” he said. It will mean that you can make fast and secure transfers between bank accounts anywhere in the euroarea. It will also make possible for the first time, certain cross-border payment transactions such as direct debits, which do not currently exist and which are an efficient way of collecting money for businesses. Banks will start to upgrade their systems to make this happen in January next and are aiming to make SEPA a reality ‘by the end of 2010’. If SMEs face problems or feel they are being treated unfairly when trying to set up business in another EU member state, SOLVIT is a network, created by the Commission, with the aim of solving problems that arise for individual citizens and businesses from the misapplication of internal market law. All EU member states as well as Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, have created a SOLVIT centre, in most cases within their ministry of foreign or economic affairs. These centres co-operate directly via an online database to solve problems rapidly and pragmatically. Businesses submit fewer cases to SOLVIT than citizens. Just like in previous years, in 2006 citizens at 69% have submitted more cases to SOLVIT than businesses at 31%. It is not clear why businesses submit fewer cases than citizens. It may be that business users have other established channels through which they address problems caused by incorrect application of EU law. Other suggestions are that when larger sums of money are

involved, businesses prefer to seek paid legal aid or work around the problem - for example, by accepting to submit a product to further national tests even though this is not in line with EU law - rather than complain to a governmental body. Some SOLVIT centres have reported that enterprises are reluctant to complain about authorities in other member states because they fear negative consequences for their business. Yet, the network solved 75% of all business problems submitted - only slightly less than the SOLVIT average of 82%. It is a practical tool at your disposal and I would urge you to use it.

Here are a couple of examples of SOLVIT at work:A Polish citizen wanted to set up a company in Germany but was refused by the competent German authority based on the argument that the entrepreneur did not speak German. Regarding the company he wanted to establish, this language requirement was considered disproportionate and therefore a restriction of the freedom of establishment and infringement of EC law. After SOLVIT Germany contacted the German competent authority, they promised to admit the client. The client contacted the authority once again and received his business registration within the same day. The problem was solved in a day. Another example is where a British hairdresser with over 10 years of experience running a salon in the UK wanted to open a similar business in Germany. The German authorities rejected his application for a permit because his certificate of experience had allegedly not been issued by the correct UK authority. SOLVIT Germany intervened to argue that, in accordance with EU rules, the Chamber of Commerce had to accept the certificate. As a result, the hairdresser received his permit to start a business. It took just one week to solve the problem. http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/07/686&format=HTML&aged=0&language=en

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Manchester’s Syngenta University Innovation Centre opens its doors

A new innovation centre at the University of Manchester’s engineering faculty hopes to tap into Manchester’s expertise to investigate how today’s breakthrough technologies in sensor science could benefit the agriculture industry. The Syngenta University Innovation Centre (UIC) is likely to play a major role is in the struggle to develop drought-resistant crops. The UIC director Dr Bruce Grieve believes that the latest advances in sensors, telemetry systems and wireless communications could help define the way the world of agribusiness reacts to these problems. Grieve said in order to gain an understanding of a particular crop’s resistance to drought, firms such as Syngenta employ thousands of people to walk up and down the fields and look for different phenotypes: things like an extra ear of corn that could be associated with how quickly a crop is growing.

Using modern sensing techniques based on process tomography body-scanning technology borrowed from the healthcare industry, Grieve and his group hope to detect these tell-tale signs far more quickly and at an earlier stage in a plant’s development. He said: “We can stick these systems in the subsoil and look at early effects. We can pick up indicators way before anyone can see them and pick up features people haven’t been able to find before without digging the plant out of the ground and cutting it up.” Another high potential application and, according to Grieve, the area of research that is likely to produce the first commercial product, addresses a big issue in the biofuels business. Syngenta is heavily involved in breeding grain that will release more ethanol. However, the bio-refineries that buy the grain have no quick and easy way of telling how much additional ethanol they will get from these new batches. Using lab-on-a-chip microfluidics technology borrowed from the pharmaceutical industry, Grieve hopes to develop a system that will do this on the spot. www.eee.manchester.ac.uk/research/groups/sisp/research/ syngenta

Loughborough offers grants to develop novel sporting goods concepts

Loughborough University’s Sports Technology Institute has launched a nation-wide competition to accelerate the development of novel concepts and technologies in the sporting goods and leisure sector. Inventors and SMEs can apply for Innovation Awards of up to £50,000, enabling them to access specialist technical, managerial and marketing expertise. The initiative is funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and is led by Loughborough University’s Sports Technology Institute. The Institute is home to Loughborough’s Sports Technology Research Group which has an international reputation for its work with global brands including adidas, Callaway Golf, Canterbury of New Zealand, Head, Umbro, New Balance, Nike, Reebok and Sports World International (Dunlop Slazenger) on the design, simulation, testing and manufacture of sports equipment. Institute Director, Professor Mike Caine said “The Gatsby funding means we can extend our successful track record of helping them to develop novel technologies for commercial exploitation and this includes securing public sector grants and private equity funding.” The first call for applications closes on Friday 18 January 2008. www.sports-technology.co.uk - The Gatsby Charitable Foundation - www.gatsby.org.uk

‘Wound check’ sensor pioneered by Strathclyde Institute for Medical Devices

Bioengineers at Strathclyde University have developed a system that allows doctors and nurses to check the conditions under a dressing without having to remove it. In its place, a tiny sensor attached to the gauze monitors whether the wound is moist - the optimum environment for healing - or too dry or wet to heal properly. “The system is designed to take the guess work out of wound care. Currently, if a doctor or nurse wants to check the progress of a wound, they have to remove the dressing - a process which can disturb the wound and be detrimental to the healing process. It can

also lead to unnecessary pain or discomfort for the patient,” said Prof Patricia Connolly, director of the Institute. “The monitor means dressings aren’t changed unless they need to be, allowing wounds to heal as quickly as possible and enabling the patient to get on with life. The system also leads to less pressure on valuable resources - both in terms of time and material,” she added. The system is currently under clinical trial on patients with chronic leg ulcers with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. The research was supported by Proof of Concept funding, worth nearly £200,000, from Scottish Enterprise. Chronic leg ulcers affect 10 out of every 1,000 adults in the western world at some time in their lives. If successful, the monitor could be ready for use in hospitals as early as next year. www.strath.ac.uk

‘Cathedral’ sounds celebrate £2.5m acoustic laboratories in Salford

It may sound like they’re singing in a vast cathedral but, at the official opening of Salford University’s £2.5m acoustic facilities, the choristers’ dulcet tones will actually be emanating from a surprisingly small room. To officially mark the opening of the new laboratories, a mere 11 members of the Salford Cathedral Choir will be singing from the University’s Reverberation Room – a place capable of transforming the quality of music so it sounds like the acoustics of a church. The laboratories have been used to test parts of world famous buildings such as the Royal Albert Hall and Portcullis House. Research work in the facilities has led to international standards on rain noise measurement and the testing of theatre seating. Dr Andy Bower, BBC Portfolio Manager, Digital TV, will be one of 100 guests at the event including many past graduates who have gone on to work in the acoustics industry. Also present are Jamie Angus, Professor of Acoustic Technology, and Paul Sermon, Professor of Creative Technology, www.salford.ac.uk

Zero-emission hydrogen hybrid canal boat developed by Birmingham University

The boat, called ‘Ross Barlow’, is fully operational and demonstrates how a combination of magnet and fuel cell technologies could be used to power inland waterways craft.’Ross Barlow’ has been created by converting a standard maintenance boat which was donated to the University by British Waterways. The diesel engine has been removed and replaced by a zero emission propulsion system and the central part of the boat has been converted into a covered demonstration area.The hydrogen is stored on board in a large scale metal hydride storage system which was developed by the Birmingham group with Swiss collaborators at EMPA Laboratories in Zurich. This provides an effective means of storing large amounts of hydrogen at room temperature and at a modest pressure (around 10 bar). The hydrogen is released from the

hydride by decreasing the pressure, providing the fuel cell with an ultra pure source of hydrogen. The metal hydride power weighs 130kgs and is thought to be the only store of its kind in the UK.  A hybrid system consists of a permanent magnet motor, battery, metal hydride store, fuel cell combination.  The fuel cell used on the boat is a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell.  Rare earth magnets are used in the highly efficient motor system and rudder system.  There is a synergy between the magnets and hydrogen as they are manufactured by a hydrogen based process invented by the Birmingham research group. Professor Rex Harris, project leader from the School of Engineering's Department of Metallurgy and Materials Science at the University, said “It is widely recognised that the world has no more than twenty years to meet the urgent challenges of climate change and oil depletion.  Much can be gained from the operation of hydrogen-based demonstrators and the canal boat project represents one step in the journey towards a hydrogen society.”Beacon Energy Ltd based in Loughborough, Leicestershire, are a source of green hydrogen for the boat. No fossil fuels are used in the generation of green hydrogen - it is generated by electrolysis using wind turbines. www.beaconenergy.co.uk

NMR researchers unlock hydrogen’s secrets to spot polymorphism in pharma

Researchers at the University of Warwick and Astra Zeneca have found a new way to use solid-state NMR equipment to crack the secrets of hydrogen atoms and thus spot unwanted polymorphs in pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceuticals companies are constantly battling the problem of polymorphism in which an active drug can actually exist in more than one form or crystal structure which can cause the drug to act in very different ways. Researchers at the University of Warwick and Astra Zeneca have devised a new method of using solid-state NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) equipment to spot unwanted polymorphs that should be adopted as a routine tool by pharmaceutical companies. Researchers have long wished to be able to couple this carbon based solid–state NMR technique with one that looks at hydrogen nuclei. It has been possible to look at hydrogen when the sample is a solution (solution-state NMR) but this is not as easy in solid-state NMR as the extensive network of coupled together 1H nuclei leads to broad lines in the spectrum that are hard to tell apart. This makes it almost useless when you are examining a tablet. Tablets are also particularly difficult to examine as the active drug within the tablet is combined with a mixture of other filler compounds (excipients). The research team led by Dr Steven Brown from the University of Warwick’s Department of Physics have exploited recent developments in NMR hardware and pulse sequence design allowing them to gain high-resolution 1H solid-state NMR spectra by a method called CRAMPS (combined rotation and multiple-pulse spectroscopy). By using this high-resolution two-dimensional 1H CRAMPS solid-state NMR they obtained a spectrum for a tablet formulation in less than 2 hours, which is equivalent to the time required for a good 13C CP MAS one dimensional spectrum.

Dr Steven Brown said: “This Hydrogen 1H solid-state NMR method gives powerful new insight that complements established Carbon 13C-based techniques - this new approach should be adopted as a routine tool in pharmaceutical characterisation.” Contact: Dr Steven Brown, Department of Physics - 024 7657 4359 - S.P.Brown@warwick.ac.uk.

Special coating for wiring insulation developed at the University of Teesside

The covering round the wires in any cable, circuit, plug, component or appliance is the difference between success and disaster, particularly when it comes to aviation. If there’s a short circuit machines stop and systems break down. When the wiring is inside a jet engine, generating power for all the electrics in an aircraft, this thin coating becomes a life-support system for all on board. This is why careful research goes into every aircraft component. The Teesside team, led by Professor Hodgson is developing a coating that will work in such extreme conditions. The DTI is funding a major technology research project with 16 companies, including Rolls-Royce plc and Goodrich Power Systems, and academic teams from several universities. The overall research programme called Advanced Electric Machines through Materials sets out six key challenges, all concerned with the two principal requirements for motors and generators – magnets and coils of wire. Wiring insulation is one of the key concerns and scientists and engineers at the University of Teesside are working on the solution - a new nanocomposite material, part-plastic, part-ceramic, to replace traditional coatings, says Professor Simon Hodgson, of the University s School of Science & Technology and head of its IDEAS Institute.Future aircraft, such as the Boeing 787, will carry a much greater range of electrical and electronic systems, for example, in place of the heavy hydraulics that operate flaps on the wings. “To meet the extreme demands of this application we have devised a new material, known as a ‘ceramer’, incorporating characteristics of ceramics and polymers,” says Professor Hodgson. The coating needs to be thin but strong, and stable both at high temperatures and under the high forces produced in a rapidly-rotating generator.” Professor Hodgson likens the properties of the ceramer to ‘a soft pencil-lead’ that covers the core copper wire to micrometer-scale thickness - a fraction of a hair’s breadth. It is being developed in a high-precision chemical engineering operation. This is Teesside’s speciality and is known as a sol-gel process. It takes individual molecules of polymer and ceramic and constructs them chemically in solution, where they react together. Initially the product of the reaction is flexible like a polymer, and is suitable for coating the copper and allowing the completed wire to be coiled. In the high temperatures inside the engine, it undergoes a chemical change, ‘a controlled decomposition’, and the hard ceramic-like qualities take over.www. sst.tees.ac.uk

St Andrews unveil another innovation in their traditional field of photonics

Physicists Professor Wilson Sibbett and Dr Tom Brown at the University of St Andrews in Scotland have been awarded £3.5m by the EPSRC to work on the next generation of ultrafast laser technology. They believe they are one step closer to creating a new generation of remotely controllable lasers that will extend their use into many new areas of application. Using pulses of light lasting as little as a few billionths of a millionth of a second, ultrafast lasers could offer benefits in applications that range widely from eye surgery to high-speed communications. They believe their research has the potential to affect every industry and field that uses lasers. The St Andrews researchers will work alongside the universities of Cambridge and Strathclyde on the project. “These new lasers will be smaller and more easy to control for non-optics experts,” explained Dr Brown. “We will work with major international companies and the eventual end users of the lasers to ensure that, when completed, they can be rapidly deployed in ‘real world’ applications.” The basic concepts of lasers have been understood for nearly 40 years but it was not possible to design practical ultrafast lasers until the St Andrews Laser Group demonstrated a breakthrough technique in 1989. The ultrafast laser is a special type that can produce pulses fewer than 100 picoseconds (a picosecond is 10-12 second - a trillionth of a second). Such devices already have important applications in medicine, micro-machining, optical communications, spectroscopy and many other civilities that involve studying physical processes over extremely short time-scales or at extremely high powers. What the universities’ scientists aim to achieve in their new approach is to put into practice various modular designs and construction techniques that will enable lasers built for one application to be easily transferred to another use that also requires ultrafast light pulses. One new application already predicted will be in gene therapy. The new lasers’ pulses should be intense and fast enough to pierce a hole in the surface of a cell in order to introduce drugs or therapeutic DNA. “We intend to show that new lasers, which are often though of as research toys, can be deployed rapidly across many different sectors extending from advanced techniques in photomedicine (the use of light in diagnosis and/or treatment of disease) to powering the data transmission for the next generations of the internet.” This latest phase of research builds on numerous earlier successes of Professor Sibbett and his St Andrews colleagues. In 1989 they developed a novel technique known as Kerr-lens mode-locking. This breakthrough in the production of ultrashort pulses led ultimately to the demonstration of 4.5 femtosecond pulses from a titanium+1:sapphire laser which, in 1991, were the shortest pulses generated directly from a laser oscillator. A femtosecond is 10-15 second (a quadrillionth). In 2002 Professor Sibbett was awarded one of the most prestigious science prizes in Europe for his outstanding contributions to the field of laser science and technology. The Quantum Electronics Prize of the European Physical Society (EPS) recognised his ‘excellence and enduring impact’ in his field. www.st-andrews.ac.uk

Norwich’s new centre to tackle £20 billion cost of diet-related diseases

A new Centre for Preventive Medicine has been launched in Norwich to tackle diet related diseases that are costing the NHS up to a quarter of its budget. The centre brings together basic research from two internationally renowned research institutes, medical research by university scientists and clinical research conducted in a hospital environment. “People are living longer but many of these increasingly suffer from chronic diseases”, said Professor Peter Kopelman of the University of East Anglia. “By closely linking laboratory science with patient centred research, and population findings, we aim to reduce this suffering through the prevention of diseases associated with unhealthy lifestyle that include obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease”. For example, the Institute of Food Research and UEA scientists, in collaboration with clinicians from the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, are developing new ways to screen for changes in the mucus lining the colon that could over decades lead to colorectal cancer. If such early markers for the disease could be detected, nutrition and lifestyle changes could prevent it from actually developing, and this is another focus of the research. Colorectal cancer is responsible for the second highest number of cancer-related deaths in the UK. In another innovation, a technique for ‘cooking’ cancers, developed by consultants at Norfolk and Norwich University NHS Trust, highlights the problems the NHS has in commercialising its innovation. Consultant radiologist Dr John Cockburn and consultant surgeon Simon Wemyss-Holden won the Weigao Group Corporation Award for Medical Technology and a cheque for £3,000 in Health Enterprise East’s 2007 Innovation Competition, for their Bimodal Electric Tissue Ablation (BETA) device - a new technique for the destruction of inaccessible soft tissue tumours. The BETA technique uses an intriguing development of the current practice of radio frequency (RF) ablation.www.uea.ac.uk - hee@papworth.nhs.org.uk - www.hee.org.uk

Wellcome Trust awards £6m in grants to Dundee’s biotech winners

The University will establish a major new research centre in the College of Life Sciences and add new infrastructure for the Drug Discovery Unit. The bulk of the funding is a £5 million award to Professor Angus Lamond to establish the Wellcome Trust Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression at the University. The award covers a five-year period, and includes funding for 10 posts and for the purchase of new equipment. This award builds on the outstanding work which has been carried out by Professor Lamond and colleagues in the Division of Gene Regulation and Expression, which was established in 1997 after the opening of the Wellcome Trust Biocentre (WTB). Many human diseases - including cancers and inherited genetic disorders such as Down’s Syndrome - are characterised by abnormal gene expression. Gene expression is the process by which the DNA sequence information in a gene is used

by cells to make a functional product, which is usually a protein. By examining these gene expression processes and studying how they can go wrong, researchers can build a molecular understanding of human diseases and the basic biological processes involved in cell growth and development. The work to be carried out in the new Wellcome Centre will help to build the detailed molecular understanding of these processes that is needed to develop new treatments. www.wellcome.ac.uk

Aberdeen signs deal to progress new potential drug for rheumatoid arthritis

The University of Aberdeen agreed a deal with a drug development company to progress a new therapy which could potentially revolutionise the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases. Modern Biosciences plc has signed an exclusive worldwide licence agreement with the institution to further develop completely new treatments for this debilitating disease which causes painful inflammation of the joints and affects 165 million people or 1% of the worldwide population. The drugs - which were initially discovered and developed by scientists at the University of Aberdeen - have still to be tested on patients although clinical trials are now expected to start within two years. The researchers who developed the drugs have found that they work in a novel way to suppress the inflammatory process that is responsible for the development of bone and joint damage in patients with arthritis. The researchers believe that the new drugs could provide an important alternative to anti-TNF therapy which is the most effective treatment currently available for rheumatoid arthritis, but is expensive and not available to all. Initial tests have shown that one advantage of the new drugs over existing anti-TNF therapy is that they can be taken in tablet form, rather than by injection. The scientists – two of whom are now based at the University of Edinburgh – also say the new drugs appear to be able to prevent osteoporosis, which is a common complication of arthritis, at the same time as reducing joint inflammation and joint damage. Dr Iain Greig, Medicinal Chemist at the University of Aberdeen - a world leading centre for bone research and translational medicine - said: “It is an amazing achievement for us to have discovered and developed a new drug candidate with such a small team of people. We were quite stunned when we first tested our compounds and realised their potential for rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases. We are delighted to be teaming up with Modern Biosciences, they have an astonishing amount of expertise and the future development of our findings could not be in better hands.” Cell biologist, Dr Rob van’t Hof, now Senior Lecturer in Rheumatology at Edinburgh and supported by the Arthritis Research Campaign (ARC) said: “We had strong backing from the University of Aberdeen and Scottish Enterprise’s Proof of Concept Fund. After we identified the initial series of compounds, further studies in experimental models of arthritis provided strong evidence that the drugs we had developed were likely to be useful in patients with arthritis.” Contact: Modern Biosciences - Dr Sam Williams 020 7002 1529.

www.modernbiosciences.com

Manchester University aerospace research institute cleared for take-off

The University of Manchester is launching a major new Aerospace Research Institute (UMARI) to tackle the many challenges facing the growing aviation industry. The Institute – which is aiming to become the leading aerospace research facility in the world – is set to play a crucial role in the development of quieter, more efficient and more durable aircraft. Director of UMARI, Professor Phil Withers, said: “We are now better equipped than ever to play a lead role in working with UK companies to maintain and enhance their position as major players in the full gamut of aviation-related fields. “Whether it is finding better-performing composite materials or testing new manufacturing methods, modelling the environmental impact of air travel or combating the civil aviation terrorist threat, Manchester is set to make a major contribution to all areas of aerospace research and development.” Its interdisciplinary approach will also see key issues such as environmental, health and economic impacts addressed and considered. More than one hundred researchers at Manchester from across a range of traditional disciplines are already working on an array of projects within the Institute. UMARI offers industrial access to world-class research and facilities, plus the expertise of 120 academic staff members in 12 industrially themed research areas, which map capability directly onto the National Aerospace Strategy (NATS). The Institute has secured at least one £1 million project each year, by landing a £2.2 million funding package from EPSRC to develop work a new 3D x-ray tomographic imaging facility capable of producing detailed cross-sections of structures. This new resource will be available to researchers across the country, and will represent a major leap forward in their ability to study high-resolution 3D imagery of real-time aerospace problems such as cracking or corrosion without the need for hugely expensive and cumbersome synchrotron equipment. Contact: Tracy Amass, Research Manager - 0161 306 5061 - research-umari@manchester.ac.uk - www. umari .manchester.ac.uk

LATE DATES FOR NOVEMBER 2007

19-20 November 2007 - The Outsourcing Summit, The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London. The National Outsourcing Association’s 5th Annual Conference is the place to meet with outsourcing professionals who have done it themselves and can relate real life tales of their experiences. Many sectors are covered across public and private industries. It isn’t just about off shore, near shore, on shore debates but there is information on this for those that need it. The outsourcing market is maturing, with companies re-examining their sourcing strategies, starting to outsource more complex operations, and moving into the next generation of contracts. This makes it an ideal time

to examine what has been learnt from previous experiences, and how this can be applied to build successful partnerships and reap the maximum benefits from outsourcing. www.marketforce.eu.com/outsourcing

19 November 2007 - EPSRC’s 2007 Knowledge Transfer Challenge Awards, Hotel Russell, London WC1B 5BE. 6.45pm -10.00 pm (winner announced at 8.00pm). The five finalists in EPSRC’s Knowledge Transfer Challenge Awards all have a strong track record in turning their research into benefits for UK society. The five finalists and their track record in Knowledge Transfer: Aston University, Innovative ways of sending information by light; University of Nottingham, Technology that monitors the heartbeat of unborn children; University of Reading, Cutting-edge polymer packaging to protect delicate electronics; University of Sheffield, Efficient new ways to manufacture vital parts of jet engines; University of Surrey, Saving lives in developing countries with new water technologies. The winning university will receive a £500,000 award and a £60,000 CASE studentship*. The four runners-up will receive awards of £100,000. Last year’s winning idea was from the University of Manchester, which came up with software that led to major advances in getting different computer systems to talk to each other. The Panel of Judges - John Armitt – Chair, EPSRC - Dr David Clarke - Head of Technology Strategy at Rolls-Royce and shortly moving to Chief Executive of the Energy Technologies Institute; - Dr Catherine Beech - Chief Executive, Aitua Ltd; - Don McLaverty - Investment Networks Director, Oxford Innovation www.epsrc.ac.uk/ResearchFunding/Opportunities/KT/KTChallenge 20 November 2007 - MAE 2007 - Military and Aerospace Electronics, Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon, West Midlands. What’s next for military, defence and aerospace electronic systems? Vetronics expert Dr Elias Stipidis will chair MAE2007, and leading MoD Scientific Officer – Colin Newell – confirmed as speaker at MAE2007. It covers the design, integration, test or analysis of electronic components and systems for the European military, defence and aerospace industries. The intricacies of vetronics, avionics, vehicle managements, user/crew station, wireless communications and platform are explored. www.mae-show.com

21-22 November 2007 – Virtual Careers Fair, hosted by the Institute of Physics, London. Companies seeking to attract high quality graduates for jobs in science, technology and engineering can use the careers fair. It is a cost effective way of promoting the company. Students will visit your website and contact you in the manner in which you deem appropriate. In addition to publicising your company you could deliver an on-line presentation from the comfort of your office. Participating in the Institute’s virtual will enable you to: - display job vacancies to graduates and postgraduates; - participate in chat events, on-line presentations and the message board; - search CVs submitted by attendees;

- initiate virtual interviews with suitable candidates. The event will be marketed through Prospects.ac.uk to 7,000 students. It will also be advertised to the IOP student members. The cost for the event is £50. Contact vishanti.fox@iop.org if you are interested in exhibiting or if require any other information. 21-22 November 2007 – Virtual Careers Fair, hosted by the Institute of Physics, London. Companies seeking to attract high quality graduates for jobs in science, technology and engineering can use the careers fair. It is a cost effective way of promoting the company. Students will visit your website and contact you in the manner in which you deem appropriate. In addition to publicising your company you could deliver an on-line presentation from the comfort of your office. Participating in the Institute’s virtual will enable you to: - display job vacancies to graduates and postgraduates; - participate in chat events, on-line presentations and the message board; - search CVs submitted by attendees; - initiate virtual interviews with suitable candidates. The event will be marketed through Prospects.ac.uk to 7,000 students. It will also be advertised to the IOP student members. The cost for the event is £50. Contact vishanti.fox@iop.org if you are interested in exhibiting or if require any other information. 21 November 2007 - BusinessWeek’s 7th annual European Leadership Forum, Claridge’s, London. The European Leadership Forum features executives from the BusinessWeek European 50 is a group of global champions. The Forum is an opportunity to hear directly from CEOs of Europe’s top performers participating in interactive panel discussions, and keynotes from thought leaders on performance, innovation and leadership. Contact Sarah Longland on +44 20 7960 2830 - sarah@bwevents.com

21 November 2007 - Medilink Yorkshire and Humber’s event, Chinese delegation, Yorkshire. This is the largest Chinese healthcare delegation to visit Yorkshire. The event is backed by The White Rose Health Innovation Partnership, UKTI, and the Health Technologies Knowledge Transfer Network and Yorkshire Forward. China is forecast to emerge as the world’s largest economy in three decades and its medical device industry is currently estimated to be worth $9.5billion with an expected rise of 15% per annum. The delegation will see around 40 Chinese delegates, comprising of high ranking officials and senior representatives of companies from the country. Contact: David Howarth on 0114 222 7458 or d.howarth@medilink.co.uk

21 November 2007 - Midlands Aerospace Alliance Event, Oaktree Conference Centre, Coventry. ‘Exploiting aerospace technologies in other sectors - and vice versa’, is the theme. The event will explain a new approach to how aerospace companies can exploit technology innovations in new markets. Conversely, current and future technological opportunities and needs in aerospace and defence will be outlined for the benefit of all regional supply chain companies. This includes participants from other sectors who are

warmly invited to learn how technology is developed and exploited in aerospace and how they can potentially contribute. There will be case studies from companies who have successfully moved into aerospace, information on funding opportunities and on how to access university technological expertise. The MAA will also report on the progress of the five supply chain technology exploitation projects and on the road-mapping of three technologies key to the sector, funded by AWM through the ATEP programme. This event is co-sponsored by IXC UK, the InnovationXchange. www.midlandsaerospace.org.uk

26-27 November 2007 - Carbon Footprint IT Summit, Holiday Inn, Kensington Forum, London. An summit to address minimising the energy consumption & carbon footprints of data centres and IT infrastructures to deliver measurable cost savings & reduce business risks. An expert line up of CTOs, CIO’s and Heads of Data Centres will present over 20 best industry examples of carbon reduction and energy management. www.carbonfootprint-it.com

27/28 November 2007 - Inbox/Outbox 2007, New Connaught Rooms, London. Europe’s leading forum for Email management, security & compliance, featuring over 30 seminars, high-level keynotes, case studies and hands-on demonstrations. Hear from industry experts from the UK, US and Europe on email related issues including security & content filtering, e-discovery, storage & retrieval, compliance & policy management. www.inbox-outbox.com

28-29 November 2007 - Voice Biometrics Conference, Grange City Hotel, 8-14 Cooper’s Row, London, EC3N 2BQ. The event is organised by Opus Research in London. Opus Research is pleased to announce Voice Biometrics Conference London - a conference dedicated to building awareness and understanding of voice biometrics and speaker verification. This first-ever London event will highlight real-world deployments and address the security benefits and architecture challenges that arise when implementing speaker verification. VBC London will bring together the experts, technology providers and practitioners that are defining the applications and approaches that take advantage of the fact that each person’s voice is a unique and unobtrusive identifier, like a fingerprint. Deployment of such solutions will be crucial to growing phone-based banking and mobile commerce. www.voicebiocon.co.uk

28 November 2007 - FSTG Conference 2007, ‘New Directions in Complex Molecule Delivery’, at the new purpose built conference centre “The Edge” in Sheffield. The Formulation Science and Technology Group of the RSC will be holding a joint one day conference with the University of Sheffield on new Directions in Complex Molecule Delivery. Speakers will include:- Prof. D.S. Kohane, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, USA Dr. S. Stolnik-Trenkic, University of Nottingham.Dr Giuseppe Battaglia, University of Sheffield, The Kroto Research Institute.Dr D Benczédi, Corporate R&D, Firmenich SA, Geneva, Switzerland. Prof S. Biggs, University of Leeds.

Dr A Donnelly,AstraZeneca, UK. Dr I Shirley, Syngenta UK, Jealotts Hill International Research Station, UK www.polymercentre.org.uk/fstg/programme.php 29 November 2007 – Imperial College, Friends Seminar, ‘Switching Genes: How Our Cells Take Decisions and Remember Them’, Imperial College London. 7.00pm. Richard Festenstein, Professor of Molecular Medicine at Imperial, will be giving a broad overview of the most up-to-date knowledge of genes before focusing on his own work into how genes switch ‘on’ and ‘off’’ during their development, and in particular how cells remember what type they are. His early work was on mice: attracted by the idea of using mice models to answer human questions. His work has a bearing on a number of diseases including cancer and several inherited diseases, such as Friedreich’s ataxia, which are caused by inappropriate switching by genes. Changing the behaviour of genes in cells could slow or halt their advance. Friedreich’s ataxia is an inherited disease that causes progressive damage to the nervous system resulting in difficulties in walking, speech and problems including heart disease. After the lecture you will have the opportunity to meet Professor Festenstein, over a glass of wine, followed by supper at Hugo’s Restaurant. Members £10, Students £6, Imperial staff £6, Others £15. Email admin@friendsofimperial.org.uk

29 November 2007 – CETC meeting ‘Battling Bugs’, Ramsey Moon Conference Centre, TWI, Granta Park, Cambridgeshire. From 6pm. In this seminar they will be looking at how medical bugs can battle not just against us but for us. Speakers: Dr Basil Matta is the Clinical Director of Perioperative Care, one of the 13 directorates at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. By day, he is one of the country’s leading anaesthetic consultants and he lectures all over the world on his specialism, which is neuro-anaesthesia. Dr Adrian Parton is the chief executive of two local companies, Matrix MicroScience Ltd, an established detection diagnostics company, and Klinisep Ltd, founded at the start of this year to discover a range of novel diagnostics for the human healthcare industry. Dr Parton has developed an innovative “Capture & Concentration” platform technology that he has been able to use in the Water, Food and Healthcare sectors for the rapid detection of micro-organisms such as Cryptosporiduim, Salmonella and MRSA. He will describe how the novel technology he has developed can be applied to real industrial microbiology, food safety and clinical healthcare environments. Dr Sarah Holme has been a Research and Development Scientist at Phico Therapeutics Ltd since 2001, a year after the company was founded. Phico is a biotechnology company based at the Babraham BioCampus, where it is developing a novel anti-bacterial technology. In layman’s terms, Phico uses bacterial viruses to deliver a unique anti-bacterial agent to selected harmful bugs. The technology is aimed particularly at those types of bug that are resistant to drugs, such as MRSA and Clostridium Difficile. Contact: Jamie Murray, Hon Secretary, CETC - www.cetc.info 29 November 2007 - Liverpool Big Business Breakfast, ‘Bacon Eggs & Entrepreneurs’ networking event, Tate Gallery Cafe, Albert Dock, Liverpool, L3 4BB. 9am - 12.30pm. The company is an expanding business-to-business Speed Networking event organizer,

which claims to be fast paced and ‘proven to generate over £1/2 million of new business revenues. Member Cost :£50 + VAT; Non-Member Cost :£75 + VAT.http://www.business9am.co.uk/site/eventdetail.aspx?eventid=90

AND FINALLY

Podanza.com is a podcast search engine and directory. They aggregate audio and video podcasts from over 5,000 international producers including top radio, television, print and independent publishers.www.podanza.com

A simple idea that could save hundreds of lives?In October 2007 four RCA graduates devised the Tongue Sucker, which is designed to open the airway of a person who falls unconscious.It may look strange - a little like a plastic light bulb - but this simple device, which started out as a student project, has the potential to save many lives. The Tongue Sucker, created by four graduate designers from the Royal College of Art (RCA), is designed to open the airway of a person who falls unconscious. In an emergency situation, an untrained bystander can use the Tongue Sucker by squeezing the bulb and placing it over the tongue of the injured person. www.tonguesucker.com

PlanningAlerts.com sends out 21,686 alerts for 156 local authoritiesOne day you pass that quaint row of shops in your neighbourhood only to discover it is being demolished to make way for a car park. If only you’d known about the tear-down plans well enough in advance you could have lodged a protest. That’s where PlanningAlerts.com comes in. The UK startup functions as a targeted search engine, digitally scouring local government agencies’ online records for news of construction projects destined to affect the lives of local residents. Residents can sign up, enter a postal code and receive alerts by email. Result: if there’s a public meeting scheduled to discuss zoning changes in a nearby subdivision, users receive word of the meeting’s time and place. So far, the non-profit venture has sent out 21,686 alerts for 156 local authorities. Of course, this information is already made public - as required by law - in a local newspaper’s official notices section. It is not dissimilar to Cleanscores, which posts restaurant health inspection reports online.PlanningAlerts.com unlocks the information, making it easier for people to stay informed. Especially by adding social features like comments and discussion boards that would make it easy for neighbourhood residents to coordinate action. PlanningAlerts.com is currently in beta, covering only portions of the UK, but it doesn’t lack potential. The site’s super-local focus serves a role traditionally taken up by community newspapers and illustrates how the most mundane and obscure information can hold huge importance to those affected by it - something that publishers like Gannett are picking up on, and that many other established newspapers should take to heart. Contact: www.planningalerts.com - team@planningalerts.com

Four inventions to watchFour inventions at last month’s British Invention Show at Alexandra Palace, London in October, attracted some attention. Kim Weiler showed his Scott Holster – a device enabling target shooters to carry a shotgun broken yet ready for use, leaving both hands free for safety and comfort. Handmade in the UK in brown or tan leather, this sporting accessory is already attracting interest in the USA. www.shotgunholster.net Bob Jackson unveiled his LongLife Saw with its instantly replaceable blade. Made from high-quality steel in a range of different styles and sizes, Bob’s saw keeps its edge longer than conventional models, the blade is less expensive to replace – and a range of blades can be carried with just one saw. A UK distributor has already entered into an agreement for the product. bjack@btinternet.com Nick LeFeuvre demonstrated his patented SUHTL (Single point, Ultra-low-resonance, Half-wave Transmission-Line) loudspeaker technology, which makes it possible to recreate sound without the usual resonances and interferences. www.Resolution-Loudspeakers.co.uk Andy Manuel is showing the Milli-grip, a range of open-ended metric spanners in one precision tool. With its revolutionary ratchet system, the Milli-grip eliminates the slippage problems inherent in the 150 year-old traditional worm-gear design, and will not alter its setting during use – thus avoiding skinned knuckles and burred edges. The Ameri-grip, an imperial measure version for the US market, and UK applications such as vintage cars etc, was launched at BIS. www.milli-grip.co.uk - www.britishinventionshow.com

Skypephone is launched by mobile phone provider 3The youngest of the mobile phone networks has unveiled a new mobile handset that will allow users to make free calls over the internet via telephony service Skype. With Skypephone you don’t need a computer to make free calls anymore. The 3 Skypephone calls, texts and takes pictures and allows users to call and instant message Skype contacts for free. There is no monthly line rental, no BT line required and no limit to the amount of free minutes per month. All you need to pay out is this one-off payment for the Skype phone.SkypeIN technology is another clever feature. You can set up a ‘landline’ number anywhere in the world for a monthly fee of about £3. This means that your friends in that country can call you on a local rate using their normal phone.www.skypetelephones.eu

Having trouble being understood at an overseas call centre?The study found that 90% of callers who are put through to offshore call centres have difficulty in understanding the person on the other end of the phone, and uncovered an unusual solution to the problem. One crafty caller to a well-known high street bank asks to be put through to their Welsh-speaking service – and then asks for the call to be conducted in English. “I always end up speaking to a UK operator because there aren’t too many call centres across the world where the agents can speak Welsh,” he said, gleefully.

END